Best Known As: Savvy, no-nonsense leading lady of the silver screen
Name at birth: Ruby Stevens
Barbara Stanwyck left the vaudeville stage for the movies in the late 1920s, but her career didn't take off until the '30s, thanks in part to director Frank Capra. Known as a hard-working professional, Stanwyck played a variety of roles in comedy and dramas, and by the end of the 1930s she was a reliable leading lady. Her characters were usually tough, smart and resolute, giving the impression of having been around the block, as Stanwyck herself had: orphaned at the age of four, she was raised by an older sister and quit school at the age of 13. In the 1940s she was at her career peak, starring in Lady Eve (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Double Indemnity (1944) and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). She seemed to play mostly matriarchs and cattle baronesses in the '50s, and later had a second career in television, with The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1960-61) and The Big Valley (1965-69) and The Thorn Birds (1983). Stanwyck was nominated for an Oscar four times, but never won; she was, however, given an Academy Award in 1981 for Lifetime Achievement.
Stanwyck was married to actor Frank Fay from 1928-1935, and to actor Robert Taylor from 1951. Both marriages ended in divorce... Actor Robert Wagner revealed in 2008 that he and Stanwyck had a four-year romance after her divorce from Taylor, beginning when he Wagner was 22 and Stanwyck was 45... She was reportedly given her stage name in 1926 by director William Mack, who was inspired by a theater poster advertising "Jane Stanwyck in Barbara Frietchie."
(born July 16, 1907, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S. — died Jan. 20, 1990, Santa Monica, Calif.) U.S. film actress. She made her screen debut in 1927 and went on to appear in over 80 films, often portraying strong-willed, independent women. Her movies include Stella Dallas (1937), Union Pacific (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1944), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), and Executive Suite (1954). She later starred in the television series The Big Valley (1965 – 69), and she appeared in the popular miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983). She received several Academy Award nominations, but she failed to win an award until she was granted an honorary award in 1981.
In an industry of prima donnas, actress Barbara Stanwyck was universally recognized as a consummate professional; a supremely versatile performer, her strong screen presence established her as a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. De Mille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra. Born Ruby Stevens July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, NY, she was left orphaned at the age of four and raised by her showgirl sister. Upon quitting school a decade later, she began dancing in local speakeasies and at the age of 15 became a Ziegfeld chorus girl. In 1926, Stanwyck made her Broadway debut in The Noose, becoming a major stage star in her next production, Burlesque. MGM requested a screen test, but she rejected the offer. She did, however, agree to a supporting role in 1927's Broadway Nights, and after completing her stage run in 1929 appeared in the drama The Locked Door. With her husband, comedian Frank Fay, Stanwyck traveled to Hollywood. After unsuccessfully testing at Warner Bros., she appeared in Columbia's low-budget Mexicali Rose, followed in 1930 by Capra's Ladies of Leisure, the picture which shot her to stardom. A long-term Columbia contract was the result, and the studio soon loaned Stanwyck to Warners for 1931's Illicit. It was a hit, as was the follow-up Ten Cents a Dance. Reviewers were quite taken with her, and with a series of successful pictures under her belt, she sued Columbia for a bigger salary; a deal was struck to share her with Warners, and she split her time between the two studios for pictures including Miracle Woman, Night Nurse, and Forbidden, a major hit which established her among the most popular actresses in Hollywood. Over the course of films like 1932's Shopworn, Ladies They Talk About, and Baby Face, Stanwyck developed an image as a working girl, tough-minded and often amoral, rarely meeting a happy ending; melodramas including 1934's Gambling Lady and the following year's The Woman in Red further established the persona, and in Red Salute she even appeared as a student flirting with communism. Signing with RKO, Stanwyck starred as Annie Oakley; however, her contract with the studio was non-exclusive, and she also entered into a series of multi-picture deals with the likes of Fox (1936's A Message to Garcia) and MGM (His Brother's Wife, co-starring Robert Taylor, whom she later married).
For 1937's Stella Dallas, Stanwyck scored the first of four Academy Award nominations. Refusing to be typecast, she then starred in a screwball comedy, Breakfast for Two, followed respectively by the downcast 1938 drama Always Goodbye and the caper comedy The Mad Miss Manton. After the 1939 De Mille Western Union Pacific, she co-starred with William Holden in Golden Boy, and with Henry Fonda she starred in Preston Sturges' outstanding The Lady Eve. For the 1941 Howard Hawks comedy Ball of Fire, Stanwyck earned her second Oscar nomination. Another superior film, Capra's Meet John Doe, completed a very successful year. Drama was the order of the day for the next few years, as she starred in pictures like The Gay Sisters and The Great Man's Lady. In 1944, she delivered perhaps her most stunning performance in Billy Wilder's classic noir Double Indemnity. Stanwyck's stunning turn as a femme fatale secured her a third Oscar bid and helped make her, according to the IRS, the highest-paid woman in America. It also won her roles in several of the decade's other great film noirs, including 1946's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and 1949's The File on Thelma Jordon.
In between, Stanwyck also starred in the 1948 thriller Sorry, Wrong Number, her final Academy Award-nominated performance. The 1950s, however, were far less kind, and strong roles came her way with increasing rarity. With Anthony Mann she made The Furies and with Lang she appeared opposite Marilyn Monroe in 1952's Clash by Night, but much of her material found her typecast -- in 1953's All I Desire, she portrayed a heartbroken mother not far removed from the far superior Stella Dallas, while in 1954's Blowing Wild she was yet another tough-as-nails, independent woman. Outside of the all-star Executive Suite, Stanwyck did not appear in another major hit; she let her hair go gray, further reducing her chances of winning plum parts, and found herself cast in a series of low-budget Westerns. Only Samuel Fuller's 1957 picture Forty Guns, a film much revered by the Cahiers du Cinema staff, was of any particular notice. It was also her last film for five years. In 1960, she turned to television to host The Barbara Stanwyck Show, winning an Emmy for her work.
Stanwyck returned to cinemas in 1962, portraying a lesbian madam in the controversial Walk on the Wild Side. Two years later, she co-starred with Elvis Presley in Roustabout. That same year, she appeared in the thriller The Night Walker, and with that, her feature career was over. After rejecting a role in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, she returned to television to star in the long-running Western series The Big Valley, earning another Emmy for her performance as the matriarch of a frontier family. Upon the show's conclusion, Stanwyck made a TV movie, The House That Would Not Die. She then appeared in two more, 1971's A Taste of Evil and 1973's The Letters, before vanishing from the public eye for the remainder of the decade. In 1981, she was awarded an honorary Oscar; two years later, she was also the recipient of a Lincoln Center Life Achievement Award. Also in 1983, Stanwyck returned to television to co-star in the popular miniseries The Thorn Birds. Two years later, she headlined The Colbys, a spin-off of the hugely successful nighttime soap opera Dynasty. It was her last project before retiring. Stanwyck died January 20, 1990. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) 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.
Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907.[2] She was the fifth and youngest child of Byron and Catherine (née McGee) Stevens; the couple were working-class natives of Chelsea, Massachusetts, of English and Scottish extraction, respectively.[2] When Ruby was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar.[3] Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal[4] and was never seen again.[3] Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior.[4] When Mildred got a job as a John Cortshowgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away.[5][N 1]
"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."
During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage.[6] Another influence toward performing was watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized.[8] At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a Brooklyn department store.[9] Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attend Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School" [10] 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.[11] 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.[7] 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.[12]
Ziegfeld girl
Barbara Stanwyck as a Ziegfeld girl (c. 1924)
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 Theatre in Times Square.[13] A few months later she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies.[clarification needed][14] 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.[15]
In 1926, Ruby was introduced to Willard Mack by Billy LaHiff who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople.[16] 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.[17] She co-starred with actors Rex Cherryman and Wilfred Lucas.[18] The play was not a success. In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Ruby's part to include more pathos.[19]The Noose re-opened on October 20, 1926[20] and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running for nine months and 197 performances.[14] 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 of another actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck.[20]
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.[21] 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.[5] 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.[5] 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 31.[22] Stanwyck's and Fay's relationship developed into a romance and they married on August 26, 1928. They soon moved to Hollywood[5] 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).[14] Numerous memorable roles followed, among them the children's nurse who saves two little girls from being gradually starved to death by a vicious Clark Gable 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.[14]
"That is the kind of woman that makes whole civilizations topple."
Kathleen Howard of Stanwyck's character in Ball of Fire[23]
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."[24] 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."[25]
Television career
When Stanwyck's film career declined in 1957, she moved to television. Her 1961–1962 series The Barbara Stanwyck Show was not a ratings success but earned her first Emmy Award.[14] The 1965–1969Western series The Big Valley on ABC made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy.[14] 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.[14] In 1985, 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 [14] (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."[26]
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.[citation needed] Some claim that this union was the basis for A Star is Born.[27] 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".[28]
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.[29] 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."[29] 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.[30]
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 Birds, 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.[34]
^ King, Susan. "Wagner Memoir Tells of Wood Death, Stanwyck Affair." San Jose Mercury News (California) October 5, 2008, p. 6D. Retrieved: via Access World News: June 16, 2009.
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