Barbara Stanwyck Biography

This section contains Barbara Stanwyck Biography
Barbara Stanwyck was born on July 16, 1907 in New York City, New York. Her mother, Canadian immigrant, died when she was two years old and her father abandoned the family when she was four. Barbara Stanwyck grew up in foster homes and for sometime by her elder sister. She started to work at age 13, and soon became a fashion model and Ziegfield Girl when she was 15.

In 1926, Barbara Stanwyck started to perform at the Hudson Theatre in the drama The Noose, which was one of the most successful plays during that season. She worked with actors Wilfred Lucas and Rex Cherryman. She and Cherryman soon began a romantic relationship, but it was immediately cut short with the actor’s sudden demise due to septic poisoning in 1928 at the age of 30. Barbara Stanwyck’s rave reviews caught the attention of film producer Bob Kane and she was summoned for a screen test on his upcoming silent film Broadway Nights, which marked her first appearance on film.

From then on, Barbara Stanwyck appeared and starred on almost a hundred films during her career garnering a total of four Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in her roles in Stella Dallas, Ball of Fire and Sorry Wrong Number. She as well shared the big screen with Ronald Reagan in the 1954 Cattle Queen of Montana.
Barbara Stanwyck was also known for being one of the kindest people to ever live in Hollywood. According to director Frank Capra, 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’.

Her career on film started to slow down in 1957, thus she became a face on television, which paved way for earning Emmy Awards this time, first in The Barbara Stanwyck Show in 1961-1962, second in the western series The Big Valley, and third in The Thorn Birds, which came twenty years later. Her last television work was in The Colbys, where she worked with Charlton Heston and Katharine Ross in 1985.

Barbara Stanwyck was married twice. The first was with actor Frank Fay whom she married in 1928. Theirs was a rocky relationship that ended in divorce in 1935. Her second marriage was with Robert Taylor in 1939. Their marriage was first happy and carefree, but after allegedly having several affairs during their marriage, the couple finally divorced in 1951. She never remarried.

Barbara Stanwyck has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1751 Vine Street. In 1987, she was given a televised AFI Life Achievement Award by the American Film Institute. She died of a heart failure on January 20, 1990, in Santa Monica, Calfornia.

Copyright Impulse Communications, Inc. - All Rights Reserved