Barbara Stanwyck: The Life Story Behind Hollywood's Toughest Star
In this post
Barbara Stanwyck was the toughest woman in Hollywood, and she was also one of the kindest. She could play a murderess, a dance-hall girl, a mother, a cowgirl, or a con artist, and each time she made the character feel like a real person, a person who had lived, who had suffered, and who had learned how to survive. She worked for more than sixty years, on stage, in films, and on television, and she was nominated for four Academy Awards, and she won an honorary Oscar, and she was loved by directors and actors alike, because she was professional, because she was prepared, and because she never complained.
She was born Ruby Stevens, in Brooklyn, in 1907, and she was orphaned when she was four years old. Her mother died, her father left, and she was raised by her older sister, in a poor neighbourhood, working as a chorus girl, dancing in nightclubs, and dreaming of a better life. She went to Hollywood, she became a star in Stella Dallas, and then she played Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, one of the most famous villains in the history of film, a woman who murders her husband for insurance money, and who does it with a smile.
The story of her life is a story of a girl who had nothing, and who made herself into a star, by working hard, by being honest, and by never giving up. She was married twice, she adopted a son, and she died in 1990, at the age of eighty-two, in Santa Monica, after a long and full life that was rich in work, in love, in loss, and in laughter, and her films are still watched today, by people who wonder how one woman could do so much with so little.
An Orphan in Brooklyn Who Learned to Dance
Ruby Catherine Stevens was born on 16 July 1907 in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father, Byron, was a bricklayer, and her mother, Catherine, was a woman who loved her children, and the family was poor, and the girl grew up in a crowded flat, with her parents, her brother, and her older sister, Mildred, in a neighbourhood where many families were struggling to make a living. When Ruby was four years old, her mother died, after being pushed from a moving streetcar, and her father left the family soon after, going to work on the Panama Canal, and never coming back. Ruby and her brother were raised by Mildred, who was only a few years older, and who worked as a chorus girl to support them.
As a girl, Ruby was small, thin, and tough, and she learned early how to survive, how to work, and how to look after herself. She went to school when she could, but her schooling was broken up by work, and by moves, and she did not have the chance to show how clever she was in school, because she was always working, always tired, always thinking about the next meal. She learned to dance, because dancing was a way to earn money, and because it gave her a way to express feelings that she could not put into words, and she danced in nightclubs, in revues, and on Broadway, as a chorus girl, in shows that were popular with audiences who liked a good dance, a good song, and a pretty girl.
She changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck, taking Barbara from a character in a play, and Stanwyck from a name she saw on a theatre programme, and she began the long work of becoming an actress. She was a young woman with no money, no family to help her, and no education to fall back on, but she had a will, and she had a talent, and she had a belief that she could make a better life for herself, if she worked hard enough. That belief stayed with her for the rest of her life, through Hollywood, through two marriages, through motherhood, and through old age, and it is the reason that her story is still told today.
She worked as a chorus girl in New York, in the Ziegfeld Follies, a famous revue, and she was noticed by a director, who saw that she had something more than a pretty face, that she had a fire, an honesty, and a ability to make an audience believe her. He gave her a part in a play, Burlesque, in which she played a dancer, and her performance was praised, and she knew, at last, that acting was what she wanted to do with her life.
Burlesque, Broadway, and the Road to Hollywood
Stanwyck worked on Broadway for a time, appearing in plays, and she built a reputation as a serious, hard-working actress who could play many kinds of parts. She played in Burlesque, in which she played a dancer who falls in love with a comedian, and her performance was praised for its warmth, its humour, and its honesty. She was a young actress, and she was learning fast, and she was beginning to understand that acting was not only a job. It was a way of life, a way of seeing the world, and a way of telling the truth about people.
In 1927, she went to Hollywood, because the film business was growing fast, and because it offered more money and a larger audience than the theatre. Her first films were small, and she played small parts, and she learned how to act for the camera, which was different from acting for the stage, because the camera was close, and it could see everything, every small movement, every small change in the face. She learned to be still, to be quiet, to let the camera come to her, and that stillness became one of her greatest tools.
She played in many films in the late 1920s and early 1930s, in Ladies of Leisure, in Night Nurse, in Baby Face, and in each of them she brought the same energy, the same honesty, and the same belief that a woman should be free to live her own life. She was a star, but she was not a star in the usual sense. She was a working actress who happened to be famous, and she treated her fame as a job, not as a life, and she went home to her family at the end of the day, and she lived a plain, decent life.
She was married, in those years, to Frank Fay, a comedian, and the marriage was difficult, because Fay was jealous of her success, and because he drank, and because he did not like the fact that his wife was more famous than he was. The marriage ended in divorce in 1935, and Stanwyck was left alone, with a son she had adopted, Dion, and with a career that was growing, and with a belief that she could make a better life for herself, if she worked hard enough.
Stella Dallas and the Mother Who Gives Everything
In 1937, Stanwyck played Stella Dallas, a mother who gives everything for her daughter, in a film based on a famous novel. Stella was a working-class woman, who marries a rich man, who has a daughter, and who realises that her daughter will have a better life if she leaves her, if she lets her go to live with her father, in a world that Stella cannot enter. Stanwyck played her with a power, a sadness, and an honesty that audiences had never seen before, and the film became a great success, and Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work, the first of four nominations in her career.
The film was a success, and it showed that Stanwyck could play a mother, a woman who loves, a woman who sacrifices, and a woman who is broken by that sacrifice, with a truth that younger actresses could not match. She did not try to be beautiful. She played Stella as a woman who is plain, who is loud, who is vulgar, and who is loving, all at the same time, and audiences loved her for it, because they recognised something true in her, something that felt like real life.
After the film, she played in many other films, in Union Pacific, in Golden Boy, in The Lady Eve, and in each of them she brought the same fire, the same honesty, and the same belief that a character should feel like a real person, not a type. She was one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood, and she was known for her hard work, her discipline, and her professionalism. She arrived on set on time, she knew her lines, she did her work, and she expected others to do the same. Directors loved her, because she made their jobs easier, and actors loved her, because she made them better.
She was married again, in 1939, to Robert Taylor, a handsome actor, and the marriage lasted for twelve years, until 1951, when they were divorced. They had no children together, and they loved each other, but they wanted different things, and they grew apart, as many couples do. Stanwyck did not complain in public, and she did not blame Taylor, and she kept working, kept living, and kept believing that her work mattered, even when her personal life was hard.
Phyllis Dietrichson and Double Indemnity
In 1944, Stanwyck played her most famous role, Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, a film noir directed by Billy Wilder and based on a novel by James M. Cain. Phyllis was a woman who murders her husband for insurance money, with the help of an insurance salesman, played by Fred MacMurray, and who is slowly revealed to be a cold, calculating, and dangerous woman. Stanwyck played her with a smile, with a blonde wig, with an ankle bracelet, and with a voice that was sweet and deadly at the same time, and her performance became one of the most famous in the history of film noir.
The film was a great success, and it is now seen as one of the greatest films ever made, a film about greed, about lust, about murder, and about the price of wanting more than the world will give you. Stanwyck’s performance is at its centre, because she makes Phyllis feel like a real woman, not a cartoon villain, a woman who is charming, who is clever, and who is willing to kill to get what she wants. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, her third nomination, and the film is still watched today, by people who wonder how one woman could play a murderess with such charm, and such honesty.
She played in many other films in the 1940s, in Sorry, Wrong Number, in which she played a woman who overhears a plot to murder her, and who tries to save herself, in Ball of Fire, in which she played a nightclub singer, and in The Lady Eve, in which she played a con artist, and in each of them she brought the same fire, the same honesty, and the same belief that a woman should be free to live her own life, even if that life is dangerous, even if it is wrong.
She was one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, and she was one of the most respected, because she was professional, because she was prepared, and because she never complained. She worked with some of the best directors of her time, and she learned from them, and she grew as an actress, film by film, year by year, and she became, in the words of many who knew her, the finest actress in Hollywood, a woman who could play anything, and who could make anything feel real.
The Big Valley and a Television Star in Old Age
In the 1950s, Stanwyck’s film career slowed, as it does for many actresses when they grow older, and the parts grew smaller, and the films grew less important, but Stanwyck did not give up. She worked in television, she worked on stage, she worked in films made in other countries, and she kept looking for parts that would let her show what she could do. She was a professional, and she behaved like one, even when the work was not what she had hoped for.
In 1965, she was cast as Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley, a television western about a family of ranchers in California, and she played the matriarch, a strong, wise woman who runs the ranch, who looks after her children, and who fights for what she believes in. The series ran for four years, from 1965 to 1969, and it made Stanwyck a television star, known to millions of viewers who watched the show every week, and it won her an Emmy Award, for her work as Victoria, a woman who was tough, who was kind, and who was real.
The series was a success because of Stanwyck. She played Victoria as a woman who was old, who was tired, and who was still strong, and who taught her children how to live, how to work, and how to be honest. She did not try to be young. She played her age, and she played it with dignity, and audiences loved her for it, because they recognised something true in her, something that felt like real life. She was fifty-eight years old when the series began, and she was still one of the best actresses in the world, and she proved it, week after week, for four years.
After the series ended, she kept working, appearing in films and on television, and she was given an honorary Academy Award in 1982, for her lifetime of work in film. She accepted the award with humour and grace, and she thanked her fellow actors, her directors, and the many people she had worked with. It was a rare honour, given to only a few actors, and it was a sign that the film world had finally recognised what theatre audiences had known for fifty years, that Barbara Stanwyck was one of the great actresses of her time.
A Quiet Life and a Goodbye in Santa Monica
Stanwyck lived a quiet life in her later years, in a home in Beverly Hills, with her dogs, with her books, and with her friends. She was a private woman, and she did not talk much about her personal life in public, but those who knew her spoke of her warmth, her humour, and her kindness, and of the way she treated young actors with respect and with care. She was a teacher, in her own way, and she passed on what she had learned from the chorus, from Broadway, and from Hollywood, to a new generation of actors.
She died on 20 January 1990, in Santa Monica, California, of heart failure, at the age of eighty-two. She had been ill, and she had been under treatment, and her health had failed, but she had kept working, and she had kept living, until the end. Her death was mourned by actors and directors all over the world, and tributes came from people who had worked with her in every decade of her career. She had been nominated for four Academy Awards, she had won an honorary Oscar, she had won three Emmy Awards, and she had played in some of the most famous films ever made, and she was remembered as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hollywood.
In the years since her death, her films have continued to be watched, and her work has continued to be praised. Stella Dallas is still one of the most famous films about motherhood, Double Indemnity is still one of the most famous films noir ever made, and The Big Valley is still remembered by people who watched it as children. Her work has lasted, and it will keep lasting, because it was honest work, done by an honest woman, and honest work does not fade.
She also played in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers in 1946, a film noir in which she played Martha Ivers, a woman who kills her aunt, and who is blackmailed by a man who knows her secret, and who tries to live with that secret for the rest of her life. The film was a success, and Stanwyck’s performance was praised for its cold, quiet power, a power that was more frightening than any shouting, because it was so controlled, so polite, so calm. She was thirty-nine years old, and she was at the height of her fame, and the best years of her career were still ahead of her.
She played in The Furies in 1950, a western in which she played Vance Jeffords, a woman who runs a ranch, who is tough, who is independent, and who will not be controlled by her father, or by any man. The film was a success, and Stanwyck’s performance was praised, because she played Vance as a woman who is strong, who is proud, and who will not give in, even when the whole world is against her. She was forty-three years old, and she was still one of the best actresses in the world, and she proved it, film after film, year after year.
She played in Executive Suite in 1954, a film about a company that must choose a new president after the old one dies, and in which Stanwyck played a woman who is the widow of a board member, and who is involved in the struggle for power. The film starred many famous actors, and Stanwyck held her own, and she made the film better, because she brought to it a life, a fire, and an honesty that the other actors did not have.
She also played in The Thorn Birds in 1983, a television miniseries based on a famous novel, in which she played Mary Carson, a wealthy, ruthless woman who loves a priest, and who tries to control his life. The series was a great success, and Stanwyck won an Emmy Award for her work, her third, and it showed that she could still command a screen, still make an audience watch her, still bring a lifetime of skill to a part, even when she was seventy-six years old.
My Take:
When I think about Barbara Stanwyck, I think about a girl who was orphaned at four, who was raised by her sister, who danced in nightclubs to earn money, and who made herself into a star, by working hard, by being honest, and by never giving up. That is the part of her story that stays with me, because it is the most human part. She was not born into fame. She was born into poverty, into loss, into a life where money was tight, and she had to earn every step she took. The chorus line, the Broadway stage, the Hollywood film set, each one was a step that she took herself, and I admire that kind of hard work in a girl who had every reason to give up.
I think about her toughness, and about how she could play a murderess, a dance-hall girl, a mother, a cowgirl, or a con artist, and make each of them feel like a real person. She did not play types. She played people, and that is why her work lasted, and why audiences still remember her. When she played Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, she did not play a cartoon villain. She played a woman who is charming, who is clever, and who is willing to kill to get what she wants, and she made the audience believe her, even when they did not want to. That is great acting, and it is acting that deserves to be remembered.
The performance in Stella Dallas is the part of her career that moves me the most, because it is a film about a mother who gives everything for her daughter, and who is broken by that giving. Stanwyck plays Stella as a woman who is plain, who is loud, who is vulgar, and who is loving, all at the same time, and the audience can see, in her face, the cost of that love. She was thirty when she played the part, and she brought to it a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of being an orphan, a lifetime of being raised by her sister, a lifetime of knowing what it means to love someone and to let them go. That is a powerful thing to watch, and it is a powerful thing to remember.
What makes me sad about her story is that she was nominated for four Academy Awards, and she never won a competitive Oscar, though she was given an honorary Oscar in 1982. That seems wrong to me, but it also seems true to the way the world works. The loudest performances often win the awards, while the quiet, steady work of a great actress goes unnoticed. I am glad that the Academy finally gave her an honorary Oscar, even if it was late, because it was a sign that the film world had recognised what theatre audiences had known for fifty years, that Barbara Stanwyck was one of the great actresses of her time.
I also think about her professionalism, and about how directors and actors loved her, because she was prepared, because she was on time, because she knew her lines, and because she never complained. That is a rare thing in Hollywood, and it is a thing worth admiring, because it shows that talent is not enough, and that hard work, discipline, and respect for others matter just as much. Stanwyck understood that, and she lived it, film by film, year by year, for more than sixty years, and that is a remarkable thing.
The Big Valley matters to me, because it shows how well Stanwyck aged as an actress. She was fifty-eight when the series began, and she played a matriarch, a strong, wise woman who runs a ranch, who looks after her children, and who fights for what she believes in. She did not try to be young. She played her age, and she played it with dignity, and audiences loved her for it, because they recognised something true in her, something that felt like real life. I wish more television shows gave older actresses parts like that, parts that let them show what a lifetime of living can teach a person, instead of pushing them aside for younger faces.
If I have a criticism, it is not really a criticism of Stanwyck herself. It is a sadness that the film world did not give her more leading roles when she was older, and that she was so often cast as the tough woman, the mother, the matriarch, the woman who is hard to love. She could have played many other kinds of women, and I think she would have been wonderful in them, but the industry saw her age, and her reputation, and put her in a box. She made the box work for her, and she turned it into a long career, but I still wonder what she might have done if she had been given a wider range of parts. That is a question I cannot answer, and it is a question that makes me a little sad.
For a young reader, I think the lesson of Stanwyck’s life is about toughness, and about kindness, and about how those two things can live together in one person. She was tough, because she had to be, because she was orphaned at four, because she had to work to survive, because she had to fight for everything she had. She was kind, because she chose to be, because she treated young actors with respect, because she helped others, because she believed in hard work, and in honesty. That is a simple lesson, but it is a powerful one, and it is a lesson that applies to any life, not only to the life of an actress.
I also think about her death, in Santa Monica, at eighty-two, of heart failure, after a long and full life. She had worked hard, she had loved, she had lost, and she had given the world a hundred films, and then she died, quietly, in her home, with her family around her. That is a sad ending, but it is also a dignified ending, a ending that shows that she was a woman who lived on her own terms, and who died on her own terms, and that is a good way to live, and a good way to die.
In the end, I think Barbara Stanwyck teaches us that a woman can be tough, and can be kind, at the same time, and that we should not ask women to be sweet, or easy, or likeable, in order to be worthy of respect. She was tough, she was kind, and she was worthy of respect, and those three things can live together in one person, and they did, in her. I am glad that she lived to be eighty-two, I am glad that she worked for so long, and I am glad that we still have her films to watch, because in those films, she is still alive, still working, still showing us what a great actress can do.
One more thought stays with me, and it is about the girl in Brooklyn who was orphaned at four. That girl could not have known that she would one day be nominated for four Academy Awards, or that she would play Phyllis Dietrichson, or Stella Dallas, or Victoria Barkley, or that she would die at eighty-two, in Santa Monica, after a long and full life. She only knew that she wanted to dance, and that she was willing to work hard to learn how. She followed that feeling, step by step, for more than eighty years, and it led her to a life that was rich, full, and full of work that mattered. If a young person reads this story and feels that they have lost everything, or that they come from a place that no one has heard of, I hope they think of Barbara Stanwyck, and I hope they remember that an orphan can become a star, if she works hard, and if she never gives up.
I also think about The Thorn Birds, and about how Stanwyck played Mary Carson at seventy-six, and won an Emmy for it, and showed that she could still command a screen, still make an audience watch her, still bring a lifetime of skill to a part. That is a remarkable thing, to be seventy-six and still working, still acting, still giving everything you have to the work, and I admire her for it, because so many actors stop working when they are old, and they fade away, but Stanwyck did not fade, she kept going, and she kept getting better.
There is another part of her story that I find moving, and it is the way she was loved by directors and actors alike, because she was professional, because she was prepared, and because she never complained. Frank Capra, a famous director, once said that she was his favourite actress, and that she was the finest actress he had ever worked with, and that is high praise, from a man who worked with many great actresses. That praise matters, because it shows that Stanwyck was not only loved by audiences, but by the people who made films, by the people who knew what good acting was, and who recognised it when they saw it.
I think about her sister Mildred again, and about what it must have been like to be raised by an older sister who worked as a chorus girl to support you, who gave up her own dreams so that you could have yours. Mildred was only a few years older than Ruby, and she worked hard, and she loved her sister, and she made it possible for Ruby to become Barbara Stanwyck. That is a generous thing to do, and it is a thing that deserves to be remembered, because behind every great star, there is often someone who helped them, who believed in them, and who gave them a chance.
When I watch The Lady Eve today, I see a film about a con artist who falls in love with the man she is trying to trick, and I think about Stanwyck, and about how she played Jean Harrington as a woman who is clever, who is funny, and who is vulnerable, all at the same time. She was thirty-four when she played the part, and she brought to it a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of being a chorus girl, a lifetime of knowing what it means to be on your own, in a strange place, and to have to survive. That is great acting, and it is acting that deserves to be remembered.
I also think about her son, Dion, and about what it must have been like to be the adopted son of Barbara Stanwyck, to grow up with a mother who was famous, who was tough, and who was kind, and to have to find your own way in the world. Dion grew up, and he lived his own life, and Stanwyck loved him, and she tried to be a good mother, even when her work took her away from home, and that trying matters, because a mother who tries, even when she is busy, is a good mother.
I think about her death again, in Santa Monica, at eighty-two, of heart failure, after a long and full life, and about how she died quietly, in her home, with her family around her. That is a sad ending, but it is also a dignified ending, a ending that shows that she was a woman who lived on her own terms, and who died on her own terms, and that is a good way to live, and a good way to die, and I am glad that she did it that way.
Finally, I want to remember her as a girl from Brooklyn who was orphaned at four, who danced in nightclubs, who became a star, who was nominated for four Oscars, who won an honorary Oscar, who won three Emmys, and who lived a long and full life, and who is still remembered today, as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hollywood. She was tough, she was kind, and she was worthy of respect, and those three things can live together in one person, and they did, in her, and I am glad that we still have her films to watch, because in those films, she is still alive, still working, and still showing us what a great actress can do.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Academy Awards was Barbara Stanwyck nominated for?
Barbara Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Stella Dallas in 1937, Ball of Fire in 1941, Double Indemnity in 1944, and Sorry, Wrong Number in 1948. She did not win a competitive Oscar, but she was given an honorary Academy Award in 1982 for her lifetime of work.
What is Barbara Stanwyck best known for?
She is best known for Stella Dallas from 1937, Double Indemnity from 1944, in which she played the murderess Phyllis Dietrichson, The Lady Eve from 1941, and the television western The Big Valley, in which she played Victoria Barkley from 1965 to 1969.
Was Barbara Stanwyck really orphaned as a child?
Yes, her mother died when she was four years old, after being pushed from a moving streetcar, and her father left the family soon after. She and her brother were raised by her older sister Mildred, who worked as a chorus girl to support them in Brooklyn.
How did Barbara Stanwyck get her name?
Her birth name was Ruby Catherine Stevens. She changed it to Barbara Stanwyck when she began acting, taking Barbara from a character in a play and Stanwyck from a name she saw on a theatre programme, and she used that name for the rest of her career.
How old was Barbara Stanwyck when she died?
Barbara Stanwyck died on 20 January 1990 in Santa Monica, California, of heart failure, at the age of eighty-two. She had worked as an actress for more than sixty years, on stage, in films, and on television.
Did Barbara Stanwyck win an Emmy Award?
Yes, she won three Emmy Awards in her career, including one for her work as Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley. The series ran from 1965 to 1969, and it made her known to a new generation of television viewers.
