Barbra Streisand Kept Pentagon Papers Leaker Daniel Ellsberg Out of Jail, Says Filmmaker

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after Daniel Ellsberg’s death at 92, Paul Jay revealed that Barbra Streisand played a crucial role in keeping Ellsberg’s 1973 trial alive. Streisand threw a fundraiser birthday party that year that helped underwrite his legal defense — without those funds, Jay told THR, Ellsberg and co-defendant Anthony Russo would likely have run out of money before the case against them was dismissed on grounds of government misconduct.

Jay had completed roughly 40 hours of interviews with Ellsberg by May 1, just weeks before his death. The Barbra Streisand Foundation is among the early backers of How to Stop a Nuclear War, which is now assembling a rough cut that sales agent UTA can shop to cable and streaming platforms.