Editing Barbara Stanwyck (section)

==Career==
===Ziegfeld girl and Broadway success===
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck, Ziegfeld girl, by Alfred Cheney Johnston, ca. 1924.jpg|thumb|Stanwyck as a Ziegfeld girl in a 1924 photo by [[Alfred Cheney Johnston]]|alt=]]
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 [[Mark Strand Theatre|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 (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 theatre|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>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEnwCgAAQBAJ&q=barbara+stanwyck+in+barbara+frietchie+play&pg=PA999|title=A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907–1940|last=Wilson|first=Victoria|date=November 24, 2015|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781439194065|language=en}}</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 {{page needed|date=August 2012}}</ref> The same year, Stanwyck made her first film appearance as a [[fan dancer]] in ''[[Broadway Nights]]'' (1927).<ref>[http://www.arabella-and-co.com/5/bsmovies.htm "Barbara Stanwyck"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017053305/http://arabella-and-co.com/5/bsmovies.htm |date=October 17, 2007 }} ''Arabella-and-co.com''. Retrieved: June 19, 2012.</ref> While playing in ''Burlesque'', Stanwyck had begun a relationship with actor [[Frank Fay (American 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. {{page needed|date=November 2011}}</ref>

===Film career===
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck Photoplay.jpg|right|thumb|{{center|''[[Photoplay]]'' magazine cover}}]]
Stanwyck's first sound film was ''[[The Locked Door]]'' (1929), followed by ''[[Mexicali Rose (1929 film)|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 film)|Night Nurse]]'' (1931). In [[Edna Ferber]]'s novel brought to screen by [[William A. Wellman|William Wellman]], she portrays small-town teacher and valiant Midwest farm woman Selena in ''[[So Big (1932 film)|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 (film)|Baby Face]]'' (1933), a controversial [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-code]] classic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pomerance|first=Murray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-TAdSp0W1sC&q=baby+face+1933&pg=PA93|title=Cinema and Modernity|date=2006|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3816-7|language=en}}</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>{{cite news| url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9E01EEDC1E3BEF3ABC4A52DFB7668388629EDE | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | first=Mordaunt | last=Hall | author-link=Mordaunt Hall|title=Radio City Music Hall Shows a Melodrama of China as Its First Pictorial Attraction | date=January 12, 1933}}</ref> the lavish film is "dark stuff, and it's difficult to imagine another actress handling this&nbsp;... philosophical conversion as fearlessly as Ms. Stanwyck does. She doesn't make heavy weather of it."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/movies/22raff.html|title=Barbara Stanwyck – Movies|last=Rafferty|first=Terrence|date=April 22, 2007|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=November 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</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>{{cite news |last1=LaSalle |first1=Mick |title='Baby Face' now better (and racier) than ever before |url=http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Baby-Face-now-better-and-racier-than-ever-2505226.php |access-date=February 19, 2022 |work=SFGATE |date=February 3, 2006}}</ref>

[[File:Annex - Stanwyck, Barbara (Stella Dallas) 01.jpg|thumb|left|Stanwyck in her award-nominated role as [[Stella Dallas (1937 film)|''Stella Dallas'']] in 1937]]

In ''[[Stella Dallas (1937 film)|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 (film)|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 (film)|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 [[Herpetology|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 (film critic)|David Thomson]] described Stanwyck as "giving one of the best American comedy performances",<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jqODQAAQBAJ&q=barbara+stanwyck+lady+eve+dave+thomson&pg=PA994|title=The New Biographical Dictionary of Film|last=Thomson|first=David|date=2014|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=9780375711848|language=en}}</ref> and she was reviewed as brilliantly versatile in "her bravura double performance" by ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/14/the-lady-eve-review-preston-sturges-barbara-stanwyck-henry-fonda|title=The Lady Eve review – card sharp Barbara Stanwyck steals the show|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|date=February 14, 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=November 18, 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> ''The Lady Eve'' is among the top 100 movies of all time on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' and ''[[Entertainment Weekly|Entertainment Weekly's]]'' lists,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1953094,00.html |title=All-Time 100 Movies|via=[[Internet Archive]] |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=February 12, 2005 |access-date=December 5, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628234513/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0%2C29569%2C1953094%2C00.html |archive-date=June 28, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=http://www.filmsite.org/ew100.html |title=Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time |publisher=[[AMC (TV channel)|AMC FilmSite.org]] |access-date= December 5, 2013}}</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 [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions|100 Years...100 Passions]] list.<ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150533/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf |archive-date=2011-03-13 |url-status=live |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref>

Next, she was the extremely successful, independent doctor Helen Hunt in ''[[You Belong to Me (1941 film)|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>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYuACgAAQBAJ&q=ball+of+fire+gene+krupa&pg=PA13|title=Billy Wilder, American Film Realist|last=Armstrong|first=Richard|date=September 1, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0653-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMvpNEsuy1cC&q=ball+of+fire+gene+krupa&pg=PT39|title=Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder|last=Phillips|first=Gene D.|date=July 1, 2010|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-3951-7|language=en}}</ref>

<blockquote>
"That is the kind of woman that makes whole civilizations topple." -- Kathleen Howard of Stanwyck's character in ''Ball of Fire''.<ref>Beifuss, John. [http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/the_bloodshot_eye/2007/07/a-century-of-stanwyck.html "A Century of Stanwyck"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615173427/http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/the_bloodshot_eye/2007/07/a-century-of-stanwyck.html |date=June 15, 2011 }} ''The Commercial Appeal'' (Memphis, Tennessee), July 16, 2007.</ref></blockquote>

In ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944), the seminal [[film noir]] thriller directed by [[Billy Wilder]], she plays the sizzling blonde tramp<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Shipman|first=David|title=The Great Movie Stars|publisher=Angus & Robertson|year=1982|isbn=978-0207147951|pages=514}}</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 [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills|100 Years...100 Thrills]] list and number 84 on its 100 Years...100 Passions list.<ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrillers|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/lthrillers100.pdf |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/passions100.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150603/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/passions100.pdf |archive-date=2011-03-13 |url-status=live |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Double-Indemnity-LIFE-1944-2.jpg|thumb|right|Fred MacMurray and Stanwyck in the seminal noir film ''[[Double Indemnity]]'']]

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>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/611/christmas-in-connecticut#articles-reviews|title=Christmas-in-Connecticut "Articles & Reviews: 'Christmas in Connecticut' (1945)"] ''Turner Classic movies''</ref> It was a hit upon release and remains a treasured holiday classic today.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/611/christmas-in-connecticut#articles-reviews|title=Christmas-in-Connecticut "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">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/30/lady-be-good|title=Lady Be Good|last=Lane|first=Anthony|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=April 23, 2007|access-date=November 16, 2019|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/barbarastanwyckm00call|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/barbarastanwyckm00call/page/151 151]|title=Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman|last=Callahan|first=Dan|date=February 3, 2012|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781617031847|language=en}}</ref> Stanwyck was also the vulnerable, invalid wife who overhears her own murder being plotted in ''[[Sorry, Wrong Number]]'' (1948)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1947/film/reviews/sorry-wrong-number-3-1200415775/|title=Sorry, Wrong Number|date=January 1, 1948|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</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>[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/518056 "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. [http://www.cinemagraphe.com/barbara-stanwyck.php "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 film|sound]] era, Kael observed that the "[e]arly talkies sentimentality&nbsp;... only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."<ref name="Kael"/>
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck in Meet John Doe trailer.jpg|left|thumb|{{center|''[[Meet John Doe]]'' (1941)}}]]
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 (U.S.)|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>{{cite web | url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/this-month/article.html?isPreview=&id=518184%7C517996&name=Forty-Guns | title=Barbara Stanwyck: Forty Guns | publisher=Turner Classic Movies | access-date=November 22, 2016}}</ref> She was later named an honorary member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stuntmen.org/members.html |title=Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame |publisher=stuntmen.org |access-date=April 7, 2017 }}</ref>

[[William Holden]] and Stanwyck were longtime friends, and when they were presenting the [[Academy Award for Sound|Best Sound Oscar]] for [[50th Academy Awards|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 film)|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===
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 (genre)|Western]] [[anthology series]] ''[[Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre]]'', playing a wife who kills a man to avenge her husband.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=swlieO1Z2Ps "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>[https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/zane-grey-theatre/episode-1-season-3/trail-to-nowhere/205710/ "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>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/30/lady-be-good|title=Lady Be Good|last=Lane|first=Anthony|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en|access-date=January 24, 2020}}</ref> During this period, she also guest-starred on other television series, such as ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'' and four episodes of ''[[Wagon Train]]''.

She stepped back into film for the 1964 [[Elvis Presley]] film ''[[Roustabout (film)|Roustabout]]'', in which she plays a carnival owner.

[[File:Barbara Stanwyck Big Valley 1965.jpg|left|thumb|Stanwyck as matriarch Victoria Barkley on ''[[The Big Valley]]'']]
 
The Western television series ''[[The Big Valley]]'', which was broadcast on [[American Broadcasting Company|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 [[Matriarchy|matriarch]] of the wealthy Barkley family.

In 1983, Stanwyck won an Emmy for ''[[The Thorn Birds (miniseries)|The Thorn Birds]]'', her third such award.<ref name="Prono241" /> In 1985, she made three guest appearances in the primetime soap opera ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|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>{{Cite book|last1=Bawden|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkKWCwAAQBAJ&q=barbara+stanwyck+falcon+crest&pg=PA287|title=Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era|last2=Miller|first2=Ron|date=March 4, 2016|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-6712-1|language=en}}</ref>