Stanwyck, Barbara

Stanwyck, Barbara,

1907–90, American stage, film, and television actress, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Ruby Stevens. She started as a chorus girl, was in the Ziegfeld Follies (1923–24) and performed on Broadway in The Noose (1926) and the musical Burlesque (1927) before becoming one of the most popular movie stars of the 1930s and 40s. Known for strong-willed roles in which she displayed both toughness and sensitivity, she played in melodramas, comedies, westerns, dramas, and thrillers. Her films include Baby Face (1933), Stella Dallas (1937), Golden Boy (1939), The Lady Eve (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), and Executive Suite (1954). In the 1960s she worked mainly in television; The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1960–61) and the western The Big Valley (1965–69) both won her Emmys.

Bibliography

See biography by V. Wilson (2013); H. Dickens, The Films of Barbara Stanwyck (1984).

Stanwyck, Barbara (b. Ruby Stevens)

(1907–90) film actress; born in New York City. A working girl from the age of 13, she debuted on Broadway as a chorus girl at age 15. Beginning in Hollywood in Broadway Nights (1927), she established herself as a professional, dependable leading lady, playing both comedy and drama, usually in the role of a no-nonsense lady. In 1965 she switched to television, and was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1981.