Barbara Stanwyck
Encyclopedia
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille
, Fritz Lang
and Frank Capra
. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.
Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Award
s and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Motion Picture Academy, the Film Society of Lincoln Center
, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
, and the Screen Actors Guild
, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star
of all time by the American Film Institute
.
, of English and Irish extraction, respectively. When Ruby was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal
and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort
showgirl
, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away.
During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Another influence toward performing was watching the movies of Pearl White
, whom Ruby idolized. At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a Brooklyn department store. Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attend Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School
"
Soon after she took a job filing cards at the Brooklyn telephone office for a salary of $14 a week, a salary that allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked both jobs; her real interest was to enter show business even as her sister Mildred discouraged the idea. She next took a job cutting dress patterns for Vogue
but because customers complained about her work, she was fired. Her next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company, a job she reportedly enjoyed. But her continuing ambition was to work in show business and her sister gave up trying to dissuade her.
in Times Square
. A few months later she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies
. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan
. She also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy
for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan.
In 1926, Ruby was introduced to Willard Mack
by Billy LaHiff who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople. Mack was casting his play The Noose
and LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl be played by a real chorus girl. Mack agreed and gave the part to Ruby after a successful audition. She co-starred with actors Rex Cherryman
and Wilfred Lucas
. The play was not a success. In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Ruby's part to include more pathos. The Noose re-opened on October 20, 1926 and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running for nine months and 197 performances. At the suggestion of either Mack or David Belasco
, Ruby changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck by combining her character's first name, Barbara Frietchie, and Stanwyck, after the name another actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck.
Stanwyck received rave reviews for her performance in The Noose and was summoned by film producer Bob Kane to make a screen test for his upcoming 1927 silent film Broadway Nights
. She lost the lead role because she could not cry in the screen test but got a minor part as a fan dancer. This marked Stanwyck's first film appearance. She played her first lead part on stage that year in Burlesque. The play was panned by the critics but Stanwyck received acclaim for her performance. While playing in Burlesque, Stanwyck was introduced to her future husband, actor Frank Fay
, by Oscar Levant
. She and Fay later claimed that they disliked each other at first but became close after the sudden death of Rex Cherryman
, Stanwyck's fellow actor and amour. Cherryman had become ill early in 1928 and his doctor advised him to take a sea voyage to Paris where he and Stanwyck had arranged to meet. He died soon thereafter at the age of 30. Stanwyck's and Fay's relationship developed into a romance and they married on August 26, 1928. They soon moved to Hollywood where their careers took different paths.
Stanwyck's first sound film was The Locked Door
(1929), followed by Mexicali Rose in 1929. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra
chose Stanwyck for his Ladies of Leisure
(1930). Numerous memorable roles followed, among them the children's nurse who saves two would be juvenile murder victims in Night Nurse
(1931), the ambitious woman from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Baby Face
(1933), the self-sacrificing mother in Stella Dallas
(1937), Molly Monahan in 'Union Pacific' (1939 with Joel McCrea, the con artist who falls for her would-be victim (played by Henry Fonda
) in The Lady Eve
(1941), the woman who talks an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred McMurray) into killing her husband in Double Indemnity (1944), the columnist caught up in white lies and Christmas romance in Christmas in Connecticut
(1945) and the doomed wife in Sorry, Wrong Number
(1948). Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara
in Gone With The Wind
(1939), although she wasn't given a screen test. In 1944, Stanwyck was the highest-paid woman in the United States.
Pauline Kael
described Stanwyck's acting, "[she] seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera" and in reference to her early 1930s film work, "early talkies sentimentality ... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."
Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children, and asked after them by name. Frank Capra
said she was "destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest she would win first prize hands down."
was not a ratings success but earned her first Emmy Award
. The – Western
series The Big Valley
on ABC
made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck", and her role as frontier family matron Victoria Barkley was likened to that of Ben Cartwright, played by Lorne Greene
in the series Bonanza
. Stanwyck's costars included Richard Long
as Jarrod Thomas Barkley, (who had been in Stanwyck's 1953 film All I Desire), Peter Breck
as the hot-headed Nick Barkley, Linda Evans
as the seductress Audra Barkley, and Lee Majors
as Heath Barkley, the son fathered out-of-wedlock by the Stanwyck character's husband.
Years later, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for The Thorn Birds
. In , she made three guest appearances on the hit primetime soap opera Dynasty
prior to the launch of its ill-fated spin-off series The Colbys
in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston
, Stephanie Beacham
and Katharine Ross
. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only one season (it lasted for two), and her role as Constance Colby Patterson would prove to be her last. Earl Hamner Jr.
(producer of The Waltons
) had initially wanted Stanwyck for the lead role of Angela Channing on the successful 1980s soap opera, Falcon Crest
, but she turned it down; the role was ultimately given to her best friend Jane Wyman
.
William Holden
credited her with saving his career when they co-starred in Golden Boy
(1939). They remained lifelong friends. When Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar
, Holden paused to pay a special tribute to Stanwyck. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck returned the favor. Upon receiving her honorary Oscar, she said aloud: "And tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."
Stanwyck married her first husband, actor Frank Fay
, on August 26, 1928. They adopted a son, Dion Anthony "Tony" Fay, on December 5, 1932. The marriage was a troubled one. Fay's successful career on Broadway did not translate to the big screen, whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom. Fay did not shy from physical confrontations with his young wife, especially when he was inebriated. Some claim that this union was the basis for A Star is Born
. The couple divorced on December 30, 1935. Stanwyck won custody of their adoptive son.
In 1936, while making the film His Brother's Wife (1936), Stanwyck met and fell in love with her co-star, Robert Taylor
. Following a whirlwind romance, the couple began living together. Their 1939 marriage was arranged with the help of Taylor's studio MGM, a common practice in Hollywood's golden age. She and Taylor enjoyed time together outdoors during the early years of their marriage, and were the owners of acres of prime West Los Angeles property. Their large ranch and home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles
is to this day referred to by locals as the old "Robert Taylor ranch".
In 1941, while making the Preston Sturges film The Lady Eve with co-star Henry Fonda, Stanwyck and Fonda had a tempestuous affair, which was kept secret at the time. Years later, Fonda confided to his then fourth wife Afdera that "Barbara was ... gay [and had] no inhibitions. She'd do anything in bed to please a man." Taylor himself reportedly had affairs during the marriage. When Stanwyck learned of Taylor's fling with Lana Turner
, she filed for divorce in 1950 when a starlet made Turner's romance with Taylor public. The decree was granted on February 21, 1951. After the divorce, they acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film The Night Walker
(1964). Stanwyck never remarried, collecting alimony
of 15 percent of Taylor's salary until Taylor's death in 1969.
Stanwyck had an affair with actor Robert Wagner
, whom she met on the set of Titanic
. Wagner, who was 22, and Stanwyck, who was 45 at the beginning of the affair, had a four-year romance, as described in Wagner's 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart. Stanwyck broke off the relationship.
She was a conservative-minded Republican
along with such contemporaries as William Holden
, Ginger Rogers
, Gary Cooper
, and Double Indemnity co-star Fred McMurray.
, the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set may have caused her to contract bronchitis
. The illness was perhaps compounded by her cigarette habit; she had been a smoker since age 9 until four years before her death.
Barbara Stanwyck died on January 20, 1990 of congestive heart failure
and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
at Saint John's Health Center
, in Santa Monica, California
. Her body was cremated, and her ashes scattered in Lone Pine, California
.
Emmy Awards
Golden Globes
Other awards
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
, Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
and Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.
Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Motion Picture Academy, the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The Film Society of Lincoln Center based in New York City, United States, is one of the world's most prominent film presentation organizations. Founded in 1969 by three Lincoln Center executives - William F. May, Martin E. Segal and Schuyler G...
, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
, and the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars
Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is a list of the top 50 greatest screen legends of American cinema, 25 male and 25 female...
of all time by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
.
Early life
Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907. She was the fifth and youngest child of Byron and Catherine (née McGee) Stevens; the couple were working-class natives of Chelsea, MassachusettsChelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...
, of English and Irish extraction, respectively. When Ruby was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort
John Cort (impresario)
John Cort was an American impresario; his Cort Circuit was one of the first national theater circuits. Along with John Considine and Alexander Pantages, Cort was one of the Seattle-based entrepreneurs who parlayed their success in the years following the Klondike Gold Rush into an impact on...
showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away.
"I knew that after fourteen I'd have to earn my own living, but I was willing to do that ... I've always been a little sorry for pampered people, and of course, they're 'very' sorry for me." |
| Barbara Stanwyck, 1937 |
During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Another influence toward performing was watching the movies of Pearl White
Pearl White
Pearl Fay White was an American film actress, the so-called "Stunt Queen" of silent films, most notably in The Perils of Pauline.-Early life:...
, whom Ruby idolized. At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a Brooklyn department store. Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attend Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....
"
Soon after she took a job filing cards at the Brooklyn telephone office for a salary of $14 a week, a salary that allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked both jobs; her real interest was to enter show business even as her sister Mildred discouraged the idea. She next took a job cutting dress patterns for Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
but because customers complained about her work, she was fired. Her next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company, a job she reportedly enjoyed. But her continuing ambition was to work in show business and her sister gave up trying to dissuade her.
Ziegfeld girl
In 1923, a few months short of her 16th birthday, Ruby auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a night club over the Strand TheatreStrand Theatre
- England :* Royal Strand Theatre, London* Strand Theatre , London in the United States...
in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
. A few months later she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan
Texas Guinan
Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American saloon keeper, actress, and entrepreneur.-Early life:...
. She also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan.
In 1926, Ruby was introduced to Willard Mack
Willard Mack
Willard Mack was a Canadian-born actor, director, and playwright.Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. After two years, they relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where McLaughlin finished high school...
by Billy LaHiff who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople. Mack was casting his play The Noose
The Noose (play)
The Noose is a play written by Willard Mack. It was later adapted as the film The Noose.The play opened on Broadway the night of October 20, 1926 at the Hudson Theatre. It is perhaps best known today for introducing the previously unknown Barbara Stanwyck. It also featured actors Rex Cherryman and...
and LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl be played by a real chorus girl. Mack agreed and gave the part to Ruby after a successful audition. She co-starred with actors Rex Cherryman
Rex Cherryman
Rexford Raymond "Rex" Cherryman was an American actor of the stage and screen whose career was most prolific during the 1920s....
and Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas was a Canadian stage and film actor, film director, and screenwriter.-Career:A native of Ontario, Canada, Lucas headed to New York City to work in the theater, making his Broadway acting debut in 1904 at the Savoy Theater in the production of The Superstition of Sue...
. The play was not a success. In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Ruby's part to include more pathos. The Noose re-opened on October 20, 1926 and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running for nine months and 197 performances. At the suggestion of either Mack or David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
, Ruby changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck by combining her character's first name, Barbara Frietchie, and Stanwyck, after the name another actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck.
Stanwyck received rave reviews for her performance in The Noose and was summoned by film producer Bob Kane to make a screen test for his upcoming 1927 silent film Broadway Nights
Broadway Nights
Broadway Nights is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film directed by Joseph C. Boyle. The film stars Louis John Bartels and Lois Wilson. The film marked the debuts of Barbara Stanwyck and Ann Sothern who had small roles as fan dancers.-Cast:...
. She lost the lead role because she could not cry in the screen test but got a minor part as a fan dancer. This marked Stanwyck's first film appearance. She played her first lead part on stage that year in Burlesque. The play was panned by the critics but Stanwyck received acclaim for her performance. While playing in Burlesque, Stanwyck was introduced to her future husband, actor Frank Fay
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
, by Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant was an American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and actor. He was more famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and in movies and television, than for his music.-Life and career:...
. She and Fay later claimed that they disliked each other at first but became close after the sudden death of Rex Cherryman
Rex Cherryman
Rexford Raymond "Rex" Cherryman was an American actor of the stage and screen whose career was most prolific during the 1920s....
, Stanwyck's fellow actor and amour. Cherryman had become ill early in 1928 and his doctor advised him to take a sea voyage to Paris where he and Stanwyck had arranged to meet. He died soon thereafter at the age of 30. Stanwyck's and Fay's relationship developed into a romance and they married on August 26, 1928. They soon moved to Hollywood where their careers took different paths.
Film career
The Locked Door
The Locked Door is an American drama film featuring Barbara Stanwyck in her second film appearance, first starring role, and first talking picture. The film is based on the play The Sign on the Door by Channing Pollock. A previous version was the silent film The Sign on the Door starring Norma...
(1929), followed by Mexicali Rose in 1929. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
chose Stanwyck for his Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure is an American romantic drama film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ralph Graves. The screenplay by Jo Swerling is based on the 1924 play Ladies of the Evening by Milton Herbert Gropper.-Plot:...
(1930). Numerous memorable roles followed, among them the children's nurse who saves two would be juvenile murder victims in Night Nurse
Night Nurse (1931 film)
Night Nurse is a 1931 Pre-Code, Prohibition-era, Warner Bros. crime drama and mystery film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell and Clark Gable. The film was considered risqué at the time of its release, particularly the scene where Stanwyck and...
(1931), the ambitious woman from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Baby Face
Baby Face (film)
Baby Face is a 1933 American dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck , this sexually-charged, Pre-Code Hollywood film is about an attractive young woman who uses sex to advance her social and financial status...
(1933), the self-sacrificing mother in Stella Dallas
Stella Dallas (1937 film)
Stella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor, and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Shirley for Best Actress in a Supporting Role...
(1937), Molly Monahan in 'Union Pacific' (1939 with Joel McCrea, the con artist who falls for her would-be victim (played by Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
) in The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The film is based on a story by Monckton Hoffe about a mismatched couple who meet on board a luxury liner...
(1941), the woman who talks an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred McMurray) into killing her husband in Double Indemnity (1944), the columnist caught up in white lies and Christmas romance in Christmas in Connecticut
Christmas in Connecticut
Christmas in Connecticut is a 1945 American Christmas film and romantic comedy directed by Peter Godfrey, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet.-Plot:...
(1945) and the doomed wife in Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American suspense film noir directed by Anatole Litvak. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a plot for murder. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley, Leif Erickson and William Conrad.The film was adapted by Lucille...
(1948). Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
in Gone With The Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
(1939), although she wasn't given a screen test. In 1944, Stanwyck was the highest-paid woman in the United States.
"That is the kind of woman that makes whole civilizations topple." |
| Kathleen Howard of Stanwyck's character in Ball of Fire |
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
described Stanwyck's acting, "[she] seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera" and in reference to her early 1930s film work, "early talkies sentimentality ... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."
Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children, and asked after them by name. Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
said she was "destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest she would win first prize hands down."
Television career
When Stanwyck's film career declined in 1957, she moved to television. Her – series The Barbara Stanwyck ShowThe Barbara Stanwyck Show
The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...
was not a ratings success but earned her first Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. The – Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck", and her role as frontier family matron Victoria Barkley was likened to that of Ben Cartwright, played by Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
in the series Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. Stanwyck's costars included Richard Long
Richard Long (actor)
Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
as Jarrod Thomas Barkley, (who had been in Stanwyck's 1953 film All I Desire), Peter Breck
Peter Breck
Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...
as the hot-headed Nick Barkley, Linda Evans
Linda Evans
Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
as the seductress Audra Barkley, and Lee Majors
Lee Majors
Lee Majors is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his starring role as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy ....
as Heath Barkley, the son fathered out-of-wedlock by the Stanwyck character's husband.
Years later, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)
The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons...
. In , she made three guest appearances on the hit primetime soap opera Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
prior to the launch of its ill-fated spin-off series The Colbys
The Colbys
The Colbys is an American prime time soap opera, which originally aired on ABC from November 20, 1985 to March 26, 1987. The Aaron Spelling-produced series was a spin-off of Dynasty, which had been the highest rated series for the 1984-1985 U.S. television season...
in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
, Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
and Katharine Ross
Katharine Ross
Katharine Juliet Ross is an American film and stage actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate, opposite Dustin Hoffman, which won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and her role...
. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only one season (it lasted for two), and her role as Constance Colby Patterson would prove to be her last. Earl Hamner Jr.
Earl Hamner Jr.
Earl Henry Hamner, Jr. is an American television writer and producer , best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s on the long-running CBS series The Waltons and Falcon Crest...
(producer of The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
) had initially wanted Stanwyck for the lead role of Angela Channing on the successful 1980s soap opera, Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
, but she turned it down; the role was ultimately given to her best friend Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
.
William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
credited her with saving his career when they co-starred in Golden Boy
Golden Boy (film)
Golden Boy is a 1939 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama film based on the Clifford Odets play of the same name. It features William Holden in the role that made him a star: a promising violinist who wants to be a boxer. Barbara Stanwyck plays his love interest. The supporting cast included Lee J...
(1939). They remained lifelong friends. When Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar
Academy Award for Sound
The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. Compare this award to the Academy Award for Sound Editing...
, Holden paused to pay a special tribute to Stanwyck. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck returned the favor. Upon receiving her honorary Oscar, she said aloud: "And tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."
Personal life
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
, on August 26, 1928. They adopted a son, Dion Anthony "Tony" Fay, on December 5, 1932. The marriage was a troubled one. Fay's successful career on Broadway did not translate to the big screen, whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom. Fay did not shy from physical confrontations with his young wife, especially when he was inebriated. Some claim that this union was the basis for A Star is Born
A Star Is Born (1937 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who...
. The couple divorced on December 30, 1935. Stanwyck won custody of their adoptive son.
In 1936, while making the film His Brother's Wife (1936), Stanwyck met and fell in love with her co-star, Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
. Following a whirlwind romance, the couple began living together. Their 1939 marriage was arranged with the help of Taylor's studio MGM, a common practice in Hollywood's golden age. She and Taylor enjoyed time together outdoors during the early years of their marriage, and were the owners of acres of prime West Los Angeles property. Their large ranch and home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
is to this day referred to by locals as the old "Robert Taylor ranch".
In 1941, while making the Preston Sturges film The Lady Eve with co-star Henry Fonda, Stanwyck and Fonda had a tempestuous affair, which was kept secret at the time. Years later, Fonda confided to his then fourth wife Afdera that "Barbara was ... gay [and had] no inhibitions. She'd do anything in bed to please a man." Taylor himself reportedly had affairs during the marriage. When Stanwyck learned of Taylor's fling with Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
, she filed for divorce in 1950 when a starlet made Turner's romance with Taylor public. The decree was granted on February 21, 1951. After the divorce, they acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film The Night Walker
The Night Walker (film)
The Night Walker is a black-and-white psychological suspense thriller by genre specialist William Castle, with a screenplay by Robert Bloch, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Hayden Rorke, Judi Meredith, and Lloyd Bochner as "The Dream." The film was one of the last black and white...
(1964). Stanwyck never remarried, collecting alimony
Alimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
of 15 percent of Taylor's salary until Taylor's death in 1969.
Stanwyck had an affair with actor Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
, whom she met on the set of Titanic
Titanic (1953 film)
Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...
. Wagner, who was 22, and Stanwyck, who was 45 at the beginning of the affair, had a four-year romance, as described in Wagner's 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart. Stanwyck broke off the relationship.
She was a conservative-minded Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
along with such contemporaries as William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, and Double Indemnity co-star Fred McMurray.
Later life
Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight. Her decline began after she was robbed and assaulted inside her Beverly Hills home in 1981. The following year, while filming The Thorn BirdsThe Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, an Australian author.In 1983 it was adapted as a television mini-series that, during its television run 27–30 March, became the United States' second highest rated mini-series of all time behind Roots; both series were produced by...
, the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set may have caused her to contract bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
. The illness was perhaps compounded by her cigarette habit; she had been a smoker since age 9 until four years before her death.
Barbara Stanwyck died on January 20, 1990 of congestive heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , also known as chronic obstructive lung disease , chronic obstructive airway disease , chronic airflow limitation and chronic obstructive respiratory disease , is the co-occurrence of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases...
at Saint John's Health Center
Saint John's Health Center
Saint John's Health Center is a hospital in Santa Monica, California, United States. The hospital was founded in 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.-List of famous patients:*Former US President Ronald Reagan, 2001, taken to St...
, in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. Her body was cremated, and her ashes scattered in Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the...
.
Awards and honors
Academy Awards- 1938 – Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for Stella DallasStella Dallas (1937 film)Stella Dallas is a 1937 film based on the Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor, and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Shirley for Best Actress in a Supporting Role... - 1942 – Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Ball of FireBall of FireBall of Fire is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The RKO Pictures film is about a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...
- 1945 – Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Double Indemnity
- 1949 – Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sorry, Wrong NumberSorry, Wrong NumberSorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American suspense film noir directed by Anatole Litvak. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a plot for murder. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley, Leif Erickson and William Conrad.The film was adapted by Lucille...
- 1982 – Won, Academy Honorary AwardAcademy Honorary AwardThe Academy Honorary Award, instituted in 1948 for the 21st Academy Awards , is given by the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of...
"for superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting"
Emmy Awards
- 1961 – Won, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) for The Barbara Stanwyck ShowThe Barbara Stanwyck ShowThe Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...
- 1966 – Won, Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for The Big ValleyThe Big ValleyThe Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
- 1967 – Nominated, Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for The Big Valley
- 1968 – Nominated, Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for The Big Valley
- 1983 – Won, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for The Thorn BirdsThe Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons...
Golden Globes
- 1966 – Nominated, Best TV Star – Female for The Big Valley
- 1967 – Nominated, Best TV Star – Female for The Big Valley
- 1968 – Nominated, Best TV Star – Female for The Big Valley
- 1984 – Won, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for The Thorn Birds
- 1986 – Won, Cecil B. DeMille AwardGolden Globe Cecil B. DeMille AwardThe Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe Award bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". It was first presented on February 21, 1952 at the 9th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony and is named in honor of its...
Other awards
- 1941 – Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, star located at 1751 Vine Street - 1967 – Screen Actors GuildScreen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
Life Achievement Award - 1973 – Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage MuseumNational Cowboy & Western Heritage MuseumThe National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo, photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies...
in Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma... - 1981 – Film Society of Lincoln CenterFilm Society of Lincoln CenterThe Film Society of Lincoln Center based in New York City, United States, is one of the world's most prominent film presentation organizations. Founded in 1969 by three Lincoln Center executives - William F. May, Martin E. Segal and Schuyler G...
Gala Tribute - 1981 – Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationLos Angeles Film Critics AssociationThe Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
Career Achievement Award - 1987 – American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Life Achievement Award
External links
- That Old Feeling: Ruby in the Rough Time Magazine, 2001
- Saluting Stanwyck: A Life On Film Los Angeles Times, 1987