Barbara Stanwyck
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Barbara Stanwyck (Template:IPAc-en; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career, she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television. She received numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for four Academy Awards.
Orphaned at the age of four and partially raised in foster homes, she always worked. One of her directors, Jacques Tourneur, said of her, "She only lives for two things, and both of them are work."<ref>Basinger, Jeanine, The Star Machine, Knopf, 2007, p. 371</ref> She made her debut on stage in the chorus as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923 at age 16, and within a few years was acting in plays. Her first lead role, which was in the hit Burlesque (1927), established her as a Broadway star. In 1929, she transitioned from the stage to the film industry, and began acting in talking pictures. Frank Capra chose her for his romantic drama Ladies of Leisure (1930), and Stanwyck later became a favorite of Capra’s, leading to another three collaborations. This led to additional leading roles which raised her profile, such as Night Nurse (1931), Baby Face (1933), the controversial The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), and Gambling Lady (1934).
By the late 1930s, Stanwyck had moved to more mature roles in critically and commercially successful comedies and dramas. For her performance as the titular character in Stella Dallas (1937), she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1941, she starred in two screwball comedies: Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper, and The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda. She received her second Academy Award nomination for Ball of Fire, and in the decades since its release, The Lady Eve has come to be regarded as a comedic classic, with Stanwyck's performance widely hailed as one of the best in American comedy.<ref name=":0" /> Other successful films during this period are Remember the Night (1940), Meet John Doe (1940) and You Belong to Me (1941), reteaming her with Cooper and Fonda, respectively, The Gay Sisters (1942), and Lady of Burlesque (1943).
By 1944, Stanwyck had become the highest-paid actress in the United States. That year, she received a third Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in the seminal film noir Double Indemnity, playing a wife who persuades an insurance salesman to kill her husband. In 1945, she played a homemaker columnist in the holiday classic Christmas in Connecticut, and the following year, starred as the titular femme fatale in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. For the remainder of the decade, Stanwyck starred in additional successes ranging from romantic dramas and comedies, to suspenseful, crime-noirs. Her films during this period include My Reputation (1946), The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), for which she received her fourth and final Academy Award nomination, and East Side, West Side (1949). By the early 1950s, Stanwyck’s career began to decline, despite a fair number of leading and major supporting roles, the most successful being Clash by Night (1952), Jeopardy (1953), and Executive Suite (1954). In the 1960s, Stanwyck had made a successful transition to television, where she won three Emmy Awards, for The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961), the Western series The Big Valley (1966), and the miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).
She received an Honorary Oscar in 1982, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1986, and several other honorary lifetime awards. She was ranked as the 11th-greatest female star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web American Film Institute; retrieved November 17, 2011.</ref>
Early life
[edit]Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn She was the fifth and youngest child of Kathryn Ann "Kitty" (née McPhee) and Byron E. Stevens. Both parents' families had been in North America since the 1740s.Template:Sfn Byron, of English descent, was a native of Lanesville, Massachusetts, where his father was a significant landowner.Template:Sfn He had aimed to become a lawyer, but had dropped out of college in favor of work after his father's death, eventually becoming a bricklayer and stonesetter.Template:Sfn Stanwyck's mother Kitty was a Canadian immigrant of Scotch-Irish descent from Sydney, Nova Scotia.Template:Sfnm They had met when Kitty was visiting family in Boston.Template:Sfn
Stanwyck had three older sisters, Laura Mildred (called Millie, b. 1886), Viola Maud (b. 1889) and Mabel (b. 1890), and one older brother, Malcolm Byron (b. 1905).Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The family had relocated from New England to Flatbush, Brooklyn the year before Stanwyck was born in search of better work opportunities for Byron.Template:Sfn In July 1911, four-year-old Stanwyck and her six-year-old brother were riding a streetcar with their mother when a drunk passenger fell and pushed the mother off the vehicle.Template:Sfnm Kitty Stevens was heavily pregnant at the time, and the accident induced early labor, which caused fatal sepsis.Template:Sfnm Byron Stevens' alcoholism worsened after his wife's death, and he left the family soon after.Template:Sfn He joined a work crew digging the Panama Canal in 1912, dying there some years later in an epidemic.Template:Sfnm
Stanwyck's sisters were already adults when their mother died, but while they stayed closely involved in their younger siblings' lives, they could not take care of them full-time.Template:Sfn In the years following the disintegration of their family, Stanwyck and her brother lived in a series of unofficial foster homes (mostly friends of the family) in Flatbush.Template:Sfn As the foster homes could only accommodate one child at a time, the siblings were separated, which caused them additional distress.Template:Sfn Around 1919, Stanwyck and her brother moved in with their older sister Viola Maud and her family.Template:Sfn
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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<ref name="M12">Madsen 1994, pp. 11-13.</ref> |
Stanwyck attended Public School 152 in Brooklyn.Template:Sfn She hated school with the exception of literature, and received generally poor grades.Template:Sfnm She was bullied and routinely picked fights with the other students.Template:Sfnm Stanwyck started to dream about entering show business in childhood. Her sister Millie had become a successful vaudeville dancer and took Stanwyck with her on summer tours.Template:Sfnm She also idolized film star Pearl White, whose serial The Perils of Pauline (1914) was popular at the time.Template:Sfnm As a teenager, Stanwyck began performing in amateur theater and in shows at film theaters in Flatbush.Template:Sfn
After graduating from P.S. 152, Stanwyck decided to not attend high school.Template:Sfnm Starting at 14, she took a series of customer-service and secretarial positions, which allowed her to gain financial independence while pursuing her goal of becoming a celebrated dancer.Template:Sfnm
Career
[edit]Ziegfeld girl and Broadway success
[edit]
In 1923, a few months before her 16th birthday, Stanwyck auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a nightclub over the Strand Theatre in Times Square.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 13.</ref> A few months later, she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies, dancing at the New Amsterdam Theater.<ref name=Callahan>Callahan 2012, p. 9.</ref><ref name="Prono241">Prono 2008, p. 241.</ref> For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven in the morning at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan. She also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan.<ref>Madsen 1994, pp. 17–18.</ref> One of her good friends during those years was pianist Oscar Levant, who described her as being "wary of sophisticates and phonies".<ref name=Callahan/>
Billy LaHiff, who owned a popular pub frequented by show people, introduced Stanwyck in 1926 to impresario Willard Mack, who was casting his play The Noose.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 21.</ref> Stanwyck successfully auditioned for the part of the chorus girl.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 22.</ref> As initially staged, the play was not a success.<ref name="M26" /> In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Stanwyck's part to include more pathos.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 25.</ref> The Noose reopened in October 1926, and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running on Broadway for nine months and 197 performances.<ref name="Prono241" /> At the suggestion of David Belasco, Stanwyck changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck by combining the first name of the title character in the play Barbara Frietchie with the last name of the actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck; both were found on a 1906 theater program.<ref name="M26">Madsen 1994, p. 26.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Stanwyck had her first leading role in Burlesque (1927), which was a critical and commercial success.<ref>Smith 1985, p. 8.</ref> Its producer Arthur Hopkins later described casting her because she had "a sort of rough poignancy. She at once displayed more sensitive, easily expressed emotion than I had encountered since Pauline Lord."<ref>Hopkins 1937 Template:Page needed</ref> The same year, Stanwyck made her first film appearance as a fan dancer in Broadway Nights (1927).<ref>"Barbara Stanwyck". Template:Webarchive Arabella-and-co.com. Retrieved: June 19, 2012.</ref> While playing in Burlesque, Stanwyck had begun a relationship with actor Frank Fay.<ref>Wayne 2009, p. 20.</ref> Soon after marrying on August 26, 1928, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where Stanwyck hoped to pursue a career in films.<ref name="Nas">Nassour and Snowberger 2000. Template:Page needed</ref>
Film career
[edit]
Stanwyck's first sound film was The Locked Door (1929), followed by Mexicali Rose, released in the same year. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra chose Stanwyck for his film Ladies of Leisure (1930). Her work in that production established an enduring friendship with the director and led to future roles in his films.<ref name="Prono241" /> Other prominent roles followed, among them as a nurse who saves two little girls from the villainous chauffeur (Clark Gable) in Night Nurse (1931). In Edna Ferber's novel brought to screen by William Wellman, she portrays small-town teacher and valiant Midwest farm woman Selena in So Big! (1932). She followed with a performance as an ambitious woman "sleeping" her way to the top from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Baby Face (1933), a controversial pre-code classic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), another controversial pre-code film by director Capra, Stanwyck portrays an idealistic Christian caught behind the lines of Chinese civil war kidnapped by warlord Nils Asther. A flop at the time, though it received some critical success,<ref name=mordaunt>Template:Cite news</ref> the lavish film is "dark stuff, and it's difficult to imagine another actress handling this ... philosophical conversion as fearlessly as Ms. Stanwyck does. She doesn't make heavy weather of it."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Regarding her pre-code work, Mick LaSalle, movie critic for the San Francisco Chronicle said, "If you've never seen Stanwyck in a pre-code film, you've never seen Stanwyck". (The code began to be enforced seriously beginning in July 1934.) Never in her career, including Double Indemnity, was she ever as hard-boiled as she was in the early 1930s. She had a wonderful quality of being both incredibly cool and yet blazingly passionate. Her cynicism was profound, and then, without warning, she would explode into shrieking, sobbing."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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In Stella Dallas (1937), she plays the self-sacrificing title character who eventually allows her teenaged daughter to live a better life somewhere else. She landed her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress when she was able to portray her character as vulgar, yet sympathetic, as required by the movie. Next, she played Molly Monahan in Union Pacific (1939) with Joel McCrea. Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), although she did not receive a screen test.<ref name="Prono241" /> In Meet John Doe, she plays an ambitious newspaperwoman with Gary Cooper (1941).
In Preston Sturges's romantic comedy The Lady Eve (1941), she plays a slinky, sophisticated confidence woman who "gives off an erotic charge that would straighten a boa constrictor",<ref name="Michael Gebert 1996, pg. 102">Michael Gebert, The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards, St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York, 1996, pg. 102.</ref> while falling in love with her intended mark, a guileless, wealthy herpetologist, played by Henry Fonda.<ref>Schneider, Steven Jay, Ed. (London, 2003). "1000 Movies You Must See Before You Die", Quintessence Editions Limited, pg. 141</ref> Film critic David Thomson described Stanwyck as "giving one of the best American comedy performances",<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> and she was reviewed as brilliantly versatile in "her bravura double performance" by The Guardian.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Lady Eve is among the top 100 movies of all time on Time and Entertainment Weekly's lists,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and is considered to be both a great comedy and a great romantic film with its placement at #55 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list and #26 on its 100 Years...100 Passions list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Next, she was the extremely successful, independent doctor Helen Hunt in You Belong to Me (1941), also with Fonda. Stanwyck then played nightclub performer Sugarpuss O'Shea in the Howard Hawks-directed, but Billy Wilder-written comedy Ball of Fire (1941). In this update of the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs tale, she gives professor Bertram Potts (played by Gary Cooper) a better understanding of "modern English" in the performance for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
"That is the kind of woman that makes whole civilizations topple." -- Kathleen Howard of Stanwyck's character in Ball of Fire.<ref>Beifuss, John. "A Century of Stanwyck". Template:Webarchive The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), July 16, 2007.</ref>
In Double Indemnity (1944), the seminal film noir thriller directed by Billy Wilder, she plays the sizzling blonde tramp<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>/"destiny in high heels"<ref name="Michael Gebert 1996, pg. 114">Michael Gebert, The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards, St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York, 1996, pg. 114.</ref> who lures an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray), into killing her husband.<ref name=":1"/> Stanwyck brings out the cruel nature of the "grim, unflinching murderess", marking her as the "most notorious femme fatale" in the film noir genre.<ref>Hannsberry 2009, p. 3.</ref> Her performance as the "insolent, self-possessed wife is one of the screen's definitive studies of villainy.<ref name="Michael Gebert 1996, pg. 114" /> Double Indemnity is usually considered to be among the top 100 films of all time, though it did not win any of its seven Academy Award nominations. It is the number 38 film of all time on the American Film Institute's list, as well as the number 24 on its 100 Years...100 Thrills list and number 84 on its 100 Years...100 Passions list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
She plays a columnist touted as the "greatest cook in the country" caught up in white lies while trying to pursue a romance in the comedy Christmas in Connecticut (1945).<ref>"Articles & Reviews: 'Christmas in Connecticut' (1945)" Turner Classic movies</ref> It was a hit upon release and remains a treasured holiday classic today.<ref>"Articles & Reviews: 'Christmas in Connecticut' (1945)" Turner Classic movies</ref> In 1946, she was "liquid nitrogen" as Martha, a manipulative murderess, starring with Van Heflin and newcomer Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.<ref name="Lane">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Stanwyck was also the vulnerable, invalid wife who overhears her own murder being plotted in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the doomed concert pianist in The Other Love (1947). In the latter film's soundtrack, the piano music is actually being performed by Ania Dorfmann, who drilled Stanwyck for three hours a day until the actress was able to synchronize the motion of her arms and hands to match the music's tempo, giving a convincing impression that Stanwyck is playing the piano.<ref>"Overview: 'The Other Love' (1947)". Turner Classic movies. Retrieved: October 27, 2014.</ref>
Pauline Kael, a longtime film critic for The New Yorker, admired the natural appearance of Stanwyck's acting style on screen, noting that she "seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera".<ref name="Kael">Kael, Pauline. "Quotation of review of the film Ladies of Leisure". 5001 Nights At The Movies, 1991, p. 403.</ref> In reference to the actress's film work during the early sound era, Kael observed that the "[e]arly talkies sentimentality ... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."<ref name="Kael"/>
Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of many of their wives and children. Frank Capra said of Stanwyck: "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."<ref name="Eyman">Eyman, Scott. "The Lady Stanwyck". The Palm Beach Post (Florida), July 15, 2007, p. 1J. Retrieved via Access World News: June 16, 2009.</ref> While working on 1954's Cattle Queen of Montana (also starring Ronald Reagan) on location in Glacier National Park, she performed some of her own stunts, including a swim in the icy lake.<ref name="Lane"/> At the age of 50, she performed an extremely difficult stunt in Forty Guns. The scene called for her character to fall from and be dragged by a horse, and the stunt was so dangerous that the film's professional stuntman refused to perform it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was later named an honorary member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
William Holden and Stanwyck were longtime friends, and when they were presenting the Best Sound Oscar for 1977, he paused to pay a special tribute to her for saving his career when Holden was cast in the lead for Golden Boy (1939). After a series of unsteady daily performances, he was about to be fired, but Stanwyck staunchly defended him, successfully standing up to the film producers. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck recalled the moment when receiving her honorary Oscar: "A few years ago, I stood on this stage with William Holden as a presenter. I loved him very much, and I miss him. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. And so, tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."<ref>Capua 2009, p. 165.</ref>
Television career
[edit]As Stanwyck's film career declined during the 1950s, she moved to television. In 1958, she guest-starred in "Trail to Nowhere", an episode of the Western anthology series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, playing a wife who kills a man to avenge her husband.<ref>"Trail to Nowhere", full episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre guest-starring Barbara Stanwyck, S03E01, originally broadcast October 2, 1958. Episode uploaded or "published" September 21, 2018, by RocSoc Classic TV on YouTube. Retrieved December 14, 2018.</ref><ref>"Trail to Nowhere", Zane Grey Theatre, episode guide (S03E01). TV Guide, CBS Interactive, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved December 14, 2018.</ref> In 1961, she hosted an anthology drama series titled The Barbara Stanwyck Show that was not a ratings success, but earned her an Emmy Award.<ref name="Prono241"/> The show ran for a total of 36 episodes.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> During this period, she also guest-starred on other television series, such as The Untouchables and four episodes of Wagon Train.
She stepped back into film for the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout, in which she plays a carnival owner.
The Western television series The Big Valley, which was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1969, made Stanwyck one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy.<ref name="Prono241"/> She was billed in the series' opening credits as Miss Barbara Stanwyck for her role as Victoria, the widowed matriarch of the wealthy Barkley family.
In 1983, Stanwyck won an Emmy for The Thorn Birds, her third such award.<ref name="Prono241" /> In 1985, she made three guest appearances in the primetime soap opera Dynasty prior to the launch of its short-lived spinoff 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 the first season, and her role as Constance Colby Patterson was her last.<ref name="Prono241" /> Earl Hamner Jr., former producer of The Waltons, was rumored to have initially wanted Stanwyck for the role of Angela Channing in the 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest, and she turned it down, with the role going to her friend Jane Wyman, but Hamner assured Wyman that it was only a rumor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Personal life
[edit]Marriages and relationships
[edit]
While playing in The Noose, Stanwyck reportedly fell in love with her married co-star Rex Cherryman.<ref name="Nas"/><ref>Madsen 1994, p. 27.</ref> When Cherryman took ill in early 1928, his doctor advised him to take a sea voyage, so Cherryman set sail for Le Havre intending to continue on to Paris, where Stanwyck and he had arranged to meet. While at sea, he contracted septic poisoning and died shortly after arriving in France at the age of 31.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 32.</ref>
On August 26, 1928, Stanwyck married her Burlesque co-star Frank Fay. Fay and she later claimed that they had disliked each other at first, but became close after Cherryman's death.<ref name="Nas"/> Fay was Catholic, so Stanwyck converted for their marriage. She was reportedly unable to have children, and one biographer alleges the cause of her infertility was a botched abortion at the age of 15 that resulted in complications.<ref>Wilson 2013, p. 51.</ref> After moving to Hollywood, the couple adopted a 10-month-old boy on December 5, 1932. They named him Dion, later amending the name to Anthony Dion, nicknamed Tony. The marriage was troubled; Fay's successful Broadway career did not translate to the big screen, whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom. Fay was reportedly physically abusive to Stanwyck, especially when he was inebriated.<ref>Wayne 2009, p. 37.</ref><ref>Callahan 2012, pp. 36, 38.</ref> Some claim that the marriage was the basis for dialogue written by William Wellman, a friend of the couple's, for A Star Is Born (1937) starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.<ref name="Prono242">Prono 2008, p. 242.</ref> The couple divorced on December 30, 1935. Stanwyck won custody of their son, whom she raised with a strict, authoritarian hand and demanding expectations.<ref>Callahan 2012, p. 85.</ref> Stanwyck and her son became estranged after his childhood, meeting only a few times after he became an adult. He died in 2006. Wrote Richard Corliss, the child "resembled her in just one respect: both were, effectively, orphans."<ref>Corliss, Richard. "That Old Feelin': Ruby in the Rough". Time, August 12, 2001.</ref>
In 1936, while making the film His Brother's Wife (1936), Stanwyck became involved with her co-star, Robert Taylor. Rather than a torrid romance, their relationship was more one of mentor and pupil. Stanwyck served as support and adviser to the younger Taylor, who had come from a small Nebraska town; she guided his career and acclimated him to the sophisticated Hollywood culture. The couple began living together, sparking newspaper reports. Stanwyck was hesitant to remarry after the failure of her first marriage, but their 1939 marriage was arranged with the help of Taylor's studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a common practice in Hollywood's golden age. Louis B. Mayer had insisted that Stanwyck and Taylor marry and went as far as presiding over arrangements at the wedding.<ref>Callahan 2012, p. 75.</ref><ref>Wayne 2009, p. 76.</ref> Stanwyck and Taylor enjoyed time together outdoors during the early years of their marriage and owned acres of prime West Los Angeles property. Their large ranch and home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles, is still referred to by the locals as "the old Robert Taylor ranch".<ref>"The 10 most expensive homes in the US: 2005". Forbes (2005); retrieved November 17, 2011.</ref>
Stanwyck and Taylor decided in 1950 to divorce, and at his insistence, she proceeded with the official filing of the papers.<ref>Wayne 2009, p. 87.</ref> Many rumors exist regarding the cause of the divorce, but after World War II, Taylor attempted to create a life away from the entertainment industry, and Stanwyck did not share that goal.<ref>Callahan 2012, pp. 87, 164.</ref> Taylor allegedly had extramarital affairs, and unsubstantiated rumors suggested that Stanwyck had, also. After the divorce, they remained friendly and acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film, The Night Walker (1964). She never remarried. According to her friend and Big Valley co-star Linda Evans, Stanwyck cited Taylor as the love of her life. She took his death in 1969 very hard, and took a long break from film and television work.<ref>Callahan 2012, p. 77.</ref>
Stanwyck was one of the best-liked actresses in Hollywood and maintained friendships with many of her fellow actors (as well as crew members of her films and TV shows), including Joel McCrea and his wife Frances Dee, George Brent, Robert Preston, Henry Fonda (who had a longtime crush on her),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> James Stewart, Linda Evans, Joan Crawford, Jack Benny and his wife Mary Livingstone, William Holden, Gary Cooper, and Fred MacMurray.<ref>Wayne 2009, pp. 146, 166.</ref> During filming of To Please a Lady, Stanwyck refused to leave her African-American maid Harriet Coray in a hotel only for African-American people and insisted that Harriet stay in the same hotel as she did. After much pressure from Stanwyck, Coray was allowed to stay in the best hotel in Indianapolis with Stanwyck and the rest of the cast and crew.<ref>Movie Anecdotes; Peter Hay, 1990.</ref>
Stanwyck, at age 45, had a four-year romantic affair with 22-year-old actor Robert Wagner that had begun on the set of Titanic (1953)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> before Stanwyck ended the relationship.<ref>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.</ref> The affair is described in Wagner's 2008 memoir Pieces of My Heart.<ref>Wagner and Eyman 2008, p. 64.</ref>
Political views
[edit]A conservative Republican, Stanwyck opposed the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. She felt that if someone from her disadvantaged background had risen to success, others should be able to prosper without government intervention or assistance.<ref name="WilsonVictoria">Wilson 2013, p. 266.</ref> For Stanwyck, "hard work with the prospect of rich reward was the American way." She became an early member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) after its founding in 1944. The mission of this group was to "combat ... subversive methods [used in the industry] to undermine and change the American way of life."<ref>Ross 2011, p. 108.</ref><ref>Wilson 2013, p. 858.</ref> It opposed communist influences in Hollywood. She publicly supported the investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and her husband Robert Taylor testified as a friendly witness.<ref>Frost 2011, p. 127.</ref> Stanwyck supported Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 and 1948 United States presidential elections.<ref>DEWEY FETED BY CECIL B. DEMILLE; Strange Things Going on At Los Angeles; The Argus, September 25, 1944</ref><ref name=Thomas>Template:Cite news</ref>
A fan of Objectivist author Ayn Rand, Stanwyck persuaded Warner Bros. head Jack L. Warner to purchase the rights to The Fountainhead before it became a bestseller, and she wrote to Rand of her admiration of Atlas Shrugged.<ref name="WilsonVictoria"/><ref>Peikoff 1997, pp. 403, 497.</ref>
Religion
[edit]Stanwyck was originally a Protestant, and was baptized in June 1916 by the Reverend J. Frederic Berg of the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church.<ref>Wilson 2013, p. 23.</ref> She converted to Roman Catholicism when she married first husband Frank Fay, but does not appear to have remained an adherent after the marriage ended.<ref>Wilson 2013, p. 123.</ref>
Brother
[edit]Stanwyck's older brother, Malcolm Byron Stevens (1905–1964), became an actor, using the name Bert Stevens. He appeared mostly in supporting roles, often uncredited. He appeared in two films that starred Stanwyck: The File on Thelma Jordon and No Man of Her Own, both released in 1950.Template:Sfn He appeared in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: (season six, episode eight (1960): "O Youth and Beauty!" as uncredited Club Member) and (season seven, episode 21 (1962): "Burglar Proof" as uncredited Demonstration Guest). He also appeared in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: (season two, episode 25 (1964): "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" as uncredited Carl the Butler).
Later years and death
[edit]Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight.Template:Citation needed
In 1981, in her home in the exclusive Trousdale section of Beverly Hills, she was awakened during the night by an intruder who struck her on the head with his flashlight, forced her into a closet, and absconded with $40,000 in jewelry.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 1982, while filming The Thorn Birds, Stanwyck inhaled special-effects smoke on the set that may have caused her to contract bronchitis, which was compounded by her cigarette-smoking habit. She began smoking at the age of nine and stopped just four years before her death.<ref name=People020590>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Stanwyck died on January 20, 1990, at the age of 82, from congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She had indicated that she wanted no funeral service.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In accordance with her wishes, her remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from a helicopter over Lone Pine, California, where she had made some of her Western films.<ref>Callahan (2012), p. 220.</ref><ref>Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 44716). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.</ref>
Filmography
[edit]Awards and nominations
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Bachardy, Don. Stars in My Eyes. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. Template:ISBN.
- Balio, Tino. Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930–1939. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Template:ISBN.
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- Callahan, Dan. Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. Template:ISBN.
- Capua, Michelangelo. William Holden: A Biography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2010. Template:ISBN.
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- Chierichetti, David and Edith Head. Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Template:ISBN.
- Diorio, Al. Barbara Stanwyck: A Biography. New York: Coward, McCann, 1984. Template:ISBN.
- Frost, Jennifer. Hedda Hopper's Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism. New York: NYU Press, 2011. Template:ISBN.
- Granger, Farley and Robert Calhoun. Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. Template:ISBN.
- Hall, Dennis. American Icons: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, and Things that have Shaped our Culture. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. Template:ISBN.
- Hannsberry, Karen Burroughs. Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2009. Template:ISBN.
- Hirsch, Foster. The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir. New York: Da Capo Press, 2008. Template:ISBN.
- Hopkins, Arthur. To a Lonely Boy. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., First edition 1937.
- Kael, Pauline. 5001 Nights At The Movies. New York: Henry Holt, 1991. Template:ISBN.
- Lesser, Wendy. His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1992. Template:ISBN.
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- Metzger, Robert P. Reagan: American Icon. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. Template:ISBN.
- Muller, Eddie. Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998. Template:ISBN.
- Nassour, Ellis and Beth A. Snowberger. "Stanwyck, Barbara". American National Biography Online (subscription only), February 2000. Retrieved: July 1, 2009.
- Peikoff, Leonard. Letters of Ayn Rand. New York: Plume, 1997. Template:ISBN.
- "The Rumble: An Off-the-Ball Look at Your Favorite Sports Celebrities". New York Post, December 31, 2006. Retrieved: June 16, 2009.
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- Ross, Steven J. Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011. Template:ISBN.
- Schackel, Sandra. "Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine". Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, 1998. Template:ISBN.
- Smith, Ella. Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck. New York: Random House, 1985. Template:ISBN.
- Thomson, David. Gary Cooper (Great Stars). New York: Faber & Faber, 2010. Template:ISBN.
- Wagner, Robert and Scott Eyman. Pieces of My Heart: A Life. New York: HarperEntertainment, 2008. Template:ISBN.
- Wayne, Jane. Life and Loves of Barbara Stanwyck. London: JR Books Ltd, 2009. Template:ISBN.
- Template:Cite book
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External links
[edit]Template:Commons Template:Wikiquote
- Template:AFI person
- Template:IMDb name
- Template:Tcmdb name
- Barbara Stanwyck Papers at the American Heritage Center
- Blog entries based on the AHC archives related to Barbara Stanwyck
- Template:IBDB name
- video: Template:YouTube
- Barbara Stanwyck at Virtual History
- That Old Feeling: Ruby in the Rough and The Four Phases of Eve by Richard Corliss for Time magazine, 2001
- Saluting Stanwyck: A Life On Film Los Angeles Times, 1987
- Lady Be Good – A centenary season of Barbara Stanwyck by Anthony Lane for The New Yorker, 2007
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