Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck

Highest Rated: 100% Executive Suite (1954)

Lowest Rated: 33% East Side, West Side (1949)

Birthday: Jul 16, 1907

Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA

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 Dal

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet Tcm Presents Double Indemnity Encore Actor — 2015
No Score Yet Tcm Presents Double Indemnity Actor — 2015
No Score Yet Why Be Good? Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema Actor — 2008
No Score Yet Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb Actor — 2007
No Score Yet Best of Film Noir Actor — 2000
No Score Yet Hollywood's Golden Era: Leading Ladies Actor — 1989
79% Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid Actor — 1982
No Score Yet The House That Would Not Die Ruth — 1970
No Score Yet The Night Walker Irene Trent — 1964
56% Roustabout Maggie Morgan — 1964
No Score Yet Walk on the Wild Side Jo Courtney — 1962
93% Forty Guns Jessica Drummond — 1957
No Score Yet Crime of Passion Kathy Ferguson Doyle — 1957
No Score Yet Trooper Hook Actor — 1957
No Score Yet These Wilder Years Ann Dempster — 1956
No Score Yet The Maverick Queen Kit Banion — 1956
No Score Yet There's Always Tomorrow Norma — 1956
No Score Yet The Violent Men Martha Wilkison — 1955
No Score Yet Escape to Burma Gwen Moore — 1955
100% Executive Suite Julia Tredway — 1954
No Score Yet Witness to Murder Cheryl Draper — 1954
No Score Yet Cattle Queen of Montana Sierra Nevada Jones — 1954
No Score Yet The Moonlighter Rela — 1953
91% Titanic Julia Sturges — 1953
No Score Yet Jeopardy Helen Stilwin — 1953
100% All I Desire Naomi Murdoch — 1953
No Score Yet Blowing Wild Marina Conway — 1953
No Score Yet The Man with a Cloak Lorna Bounty — 1952
73% Clash by Night Mae Doyle D'Amato — 1952
No Score Yet No Man of Her Own Helen Ferguson/Patrice Harkness — 1950
No Score Yet To Please a Lady Regina Forbes — 1950
83% The Furies Vance Jeffords — 1950
33% East Side, West Side Jessie Bourne — 1949
No Score Yet The Lady Gambles Joan Boothe — 1949
No Score Yet The File on Thelma Jordon Thelma Jordon — 1949
86% Sorry, Wrong Number Leona Stevenson — 1948
No Score Yet B.F.'S Daughter Actor — 1948
No Score Yet Variety Girl Herself — 1947
No Score Yet The Two Mrs. Carrolls Sally Morton Carroll — 1947
No Score Yet Cry Wolf Sandra Marshall — 1947
No Score Yet The Other Love Karen Duncan — 1947
No Score Yet California Lily Bishop — 1946
100% The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Martha Ivers — 1946
No Score Yet The Bride Wore Boots Sally Warren — 1946
No Score Yet My Reputation Jessica Drummond — 1946
88% Christmas in Connecticut Elizabeth Lane — 1945
97% Double Indemnity Phyllis Dietrichson — 1944
No Score Yet Hollywood Canteen Herself — 1944
No Score Yet Flesh And Fantasy Joan Stanley — 1943
60% Lady of Burlesque Deborah Hoople/Dixie Daisy — 1943
No Score Yet The Gay Sisters Fiona Gaylord — 1942
No Score Yet The Great Man's Lady Hannah Sempler — 1942
No Score Yet You Belong to Me Helen Hunt — 1941
100% The Lady Eve Jean Harrington — 1941
100% Ball of Fire Sugarpuss O'Shea — 1941
91% Meet John Doe Ann Mitchell — 1941
100% Remember the Night Lee Leander — 1940
No Score Yet Golden Boy Lorna Moon — 1939
No Score Yet Union Pacific Molly Monahan — 1939
No Score Yet The Mad Miss Manton Melsa Manton — 1938
88% Stella Dallas Stella Dallas — 1937
No Score Yet This Is My Affair Lil Duryea — 1937
No Score Yet Internes Can't Take Money (You Can't Take Money) Janet Haley — 1937
No Score Yet Breakfast For Two Valentine Ransome — 1937
No Score Yet The Plough and the Stars Nora Clitheroe — 1936
No Score Yet Banjo on My Knee Pearl Elliott Holley — 1936
No Score Yet His Brother's Wife Rita Wilson Claybourne — 1936
No Score Yet The Bride Walks Out Carolyn Martin — 1936
No Score Yet A Message to Garcia Raphaelita Maderos — 1936
No Score Yet Annie Oakley Annie Oakley — 1935
No Score Yet The Woman in Red Shelby Barret Wyatt — 1935
No Score Yet Red Salute Drue Van Allen — 1935
No Score Yet A Lost Lady Marian — 1934
No Score Yet Gambling Lady Lady Lee — 1934
No Score Yet Ever in My Heart Mary Archer Wilbrandt — 1933
100% Baby Face Lily Powers — 1933
No Score Yet Ladies They Talk About Nan Taylor / Nan Ellis / Mrs. Andrews — 1933
100% The Bitter Tea of General Yen Megan Davis — 1933
No Score Yet The Purchase Price Joan Gordon — 1932
No Score Yet So Big Selina Peake Dejong — 1932
No Score Yet Shopworn Kitty Lane — 1932
No Score Yet Forbidden Lulu — 1932
86% Night Nurse Lora Hart — 1931
100% The Miracle Woman Florence "Faith" Fallon — 1931
No Score Yet The Stolen Jools Actor — 1931
No Score Yet Ten Cents a Dance Barbara O'Neill — 1931
No Score Yet Illicit Anne Vincent Ives — 1931
No Score Yet Ladies of Leisure Kay Arnold — 1930
No Score Yet The Locked Door Ann Carter — 1929

TV

Credit
No Score Yet Charlie's Angels
1976-1981 		1980
No Score Yet Rawhide
1959-1965 		Wife 1962
No Score Yet The Thorn Birds
1983 		Mary Carson

QUOTES FROM Barbara Stanwyck CHARACTERS

Elisabeth Lane says: Wouldn't you look different if you swallowed a watch?

Elisabeth Lane says: John, darling, when you're kissing me, don't talk about plumbing.

Elisabeth Lane says: My farm--I don'r even have a window box.

Sugarpuss O'Shea says: red as the Daily Worker and just as sore

Sugarpuss O'Shea says: Red as the Daily Worker and just as sore.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Walter, I don't want to kill him. I never did. Not even when he gets drunk and slaps my face.

Walter Neff says: Only sometimes you wish he was dead.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Perhaps I do.

Walter Neff says: And you wish it was an accident and you had that policy for $50,000 dollars. Is that it?

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Perhaps that too.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: It's straight down the line for both of us, remember?

Phyllis Dietrichson says: And you don't really care if we see each other or not.

Walter Neff says: Shut up, baby.

Martha Ivers says: Its the only room I didn't change. [on showing her childhood room to Sam]

Sam Masterson says: We were just a couple of kids.

Mrs. Ivers says: Sorry that you ever left here. [to Sam]

Walter O'Neil says: And you. What have you done?

Walter O'Neil says: All life is a gamble.

Sam Masterson says: You'll do it for old times sake.

Martha Ivers says: A sure thing is never a gamble.

Martha Ivers says: There's only way you'll find out, release the girl.

Sam Masterson says: I haven't been on the rubberneck tour for years. [on being shown the house of Martha]

Phyllis Dietrichson says: I think you're rotten.

Walter Neff says: I think you're swell - so long as I'm not your husband.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Get out of here.

Walter Neff says: You bet I'll get out of here, baby. I'll get out of here but quick.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. 45 miles an hour.

Walter Neff says: How fast was I going, officer?

Phyllis Dietrichson says: I'd say around 90.

Walter Neff says: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.

Walter Neff says: Suppose it doesn't take.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.

Walter Neff says: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.

Phyllis Dietrichson says: Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.

Walter Neff says: That tears it...

Jean Harrington says: I need him like the axe needs the turkey.

Sugarpuss O'Shea says: I love him because he's the kind of guy who gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. I love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk!