# Barbara Stanwyck on stage, screen, radio and television

Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby Catherine Stevens, 1907–1990) was a prolific American actress and dancer who appeared in a total of 95 theatrically released full-length motion pictures. Orphaned before she was old enough to attend school, she became fascinated by the burgeoning film industry, and actress Pearl White in particular, whom she would mimic on the playgrounds. "Pearl White was my goddess, and her courage, her grace, and her triumphs lifted me out of this world."
She began her show business career as a teenage chorus girl in speakeasy nightclubs where the liquor prohibition laws were ignored, and the clientele were often mafia gangsters. At age of 15, she danced in the El Fey Nightclub in Manhattan, operated by Texas Guinan, whose establishments showcased aspiring talent such as dancers George Raft and Ruby Keeler. Biographer Dan Callahan opined that the same tough fortitude it took for a teenager to survive those experiences, was played out in the on-screen persona of her interpretation of determined and often hard-edged women.
By age of 16, she was performing in the more mainstream-acceptable Ziegfeld Follies. It was during this period that she became acquainted with playwright Willard Mack, who gave her a role in his stage production The Noose, and re-named her after actress Jane Stanwyck. During her run in the play Burlesque, her first leading role, she also appeared in advertisements for personal exercise equipment.
Stanwyck got an uncredited bit part in the silent lost film Broadway Nights (1927). Studio executive Joseph M. Schenck subsequently signed her for The Locked Door (1929) with Rod La Rocque. Afterwards, she had a role in Mexicali Rose (1929) for Columbia Pictures. Stanwyck got her major break when director Frank Capra chose her for the lead role in his romantic drama Ladies of Leisure (1930). She would go on to make four more films with Capra: The Miracle Woman (1931), Forbidden (1932), The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), and Meet John Doe (1941). She also did five films with director William A. Wellman: Night Nurse (1931), The Purchase Price (1932), So Big! (1932), The Great Man's Lady (1942), and Lady of Burlesque (1943). She starred in the 1947 film, "The Two Mrs. Carrolls", with Humphrey Bogart (directed by Peter Godfrey). Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, but never won. In 1982, she was given an honorary Academy Award.
On August 3, 1936, Stanwyck made the first of her 16 appearances on LUX Radio Theatre, hosted by director-producer Cecil B. DeMille. Her final performance with the radio series was in 1943. She had a decades-long social relationship with actress and comedian Mary Livingstone and her husband Jack Benny, appearing on his radio show numerous times, and making her television debut on his show. In the 1950s, Stanwyck began to branch out into television. She received the 1961 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series for The Barbara Stanwyck Show anthology series. She was nominated for the same award three more times – 1966, 1967, and 1968 – for her series The Big Valley, winning it for that series in 1966.
Stanwyck received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.

## Stage

Broadway stage credits :
| Title | Date | Role | Notes |
| Keep Kool | May 22 – Sept 27, 1924 | Billed as Ruby Stevens | 148 performances |
| The Noose | Oct 20, 1926 – Apr 1927 | First billing as Barbara Stanwyck | 197 performances |
| Burlesque | Sept 1 1927 – July 14 1928 | Bonny | 372 performances, adapted into the movie The Dance of Life |
| Tattle Tales | June 1-24, 1933 | Herself and Kay Arnold | 28 performances |

## Screen

Screen credits :
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
| Broadway Nights | 1927 | Fan dancer (uncredited) | Robert Kane Productions Film debut and only silent film; a lost film |
| The Locked Door | 1929 | Ann Carter | Feature Productions, Inc. |
| Mexicali Rose | 1929 | Mexicali Rose | Columbia Pictures Her first starring role |
| Ladies of Leisure | 1930 | Kay Arnold | Columbia Pictures First film with Frank Capra |
| Illicit | 1931 | Anne Vincent Ives | Warner Bros. |
| Ten Cents a Dance | 1931 | Barbara O'Neill | Columbia Pictures |
| The Stolen Jools | 1931 | Herself | National Variety Artists Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive |
| Night Nurse | 1931 | Lora Hart | Warner Bros. First film with William Wellman |
| The Miracle Woman | 1931 | Florence "Faith" Fallon | Columbia Pictures |
| Forbidden | 1932 | Lulu Smith | Columbia Pictures |
| Shopworn | 1932 | Kitty Lane | Columbia Pictures |
| So Big! | 1932 | Selina Peake De Jong | Warner Bros. |
| The Purchase Price | 1932 | Joan Gordon, aka Francine La Rue | Warner Bros. |
| The Bitter Tea of General Yen | 1933 | Megan Davis | Columbia Pictures |
| Ladies They Talk About | 1933 | Nan Taylor, Alias of Nan Ellis, aka Mrs. Andrews | Warner Bros. |
| Baby Face | 1933 | Lily Powers | Warner Bros. |
| Ever in My Heart | 1933 | Mary Archer Wilbrandt | Warner Bros. |
| Gambling Lady | 1934 | Jennifer, Lady Lee | Warner Bros. |
| A Lost Lady | 1934 | Marian Ormsby Forrester | Warner Bros. |
| The Secret Bride | 1934 | Ruth Vincent | Warner Bros. |
| The Woman in Red | 1935 | Shelby Barret Wyatt | Warner Bros. |
| Red Salute | 1935 | Drue Van Allen | Reliance Pictures/United Artists |
| Annie Oakley | 1935 | Annie Oakley | RKO Pictures |
| A Message to Garcia | 1936 | Raphaelita Maderos | 20th Century Fox |
| The Bride Walks Out | 1936 | Carolyn Martin | RKO Pictures |
| His Brother's Wife | 1936 | Rita Wilson Claybourne | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
| Banjo on My Knee | 1936 | Pearl Elliott Holley | 20th Century Fox |
| The Plough and the Stars | 1936 | Nora Clitheroe | RKO Pictures |
| Internes Can't Take Money | 1937 | Janet Haley | Paramount |
| This Is My Affair | 1937 | Lil Duryea | 20th Century Fox |
| Stella Dallas | 1937 | Stella Martin "Stell" Dallas | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists |
| Breakfast for Two | 1937 | Valentine "Val" Ransome | RKO Pictures |
| Always Goodbye | 1937 | Margot Weston | 20th Century Fox |
| The Mad Miss Manton | 1938 | Melsa Manton | RKO Pictures |
| Union Pacific | 1939 | Mollie Monahan | Paramount |
| Golden Boy | 1939 | Lorna Moon | Columbia Pictures |
| Remember the Night | 1940 | Lee Leander | Paramount |
| The Lady Eve | 1941 | Jean Harrington | Paramount |
| Meet John Doe | 1941 | Ann Mitchell | Warner Bros. |
| You Belong to Me | 1941 | Dr. Helen Hunt | Columbia Pictures |
| Ball of Fire | 1941 | Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Samuel Goldwyn/RKO Pictures |
| The Great Man's Lady | 1942 | Hannah Sempler | Paramount |
| The Gay Sisters | 1942 | Fiona Gaylord | Warner Bros. |
| Lady of Burlesque | 1943 | Deborah Hoople, aka Dixie Daisy | Hunt Stromberg/United Artists |
| Flesh and Fantasy | 1943 | Joan Stanley | Universal |
| Double Indemnity | 1944 | Phyllis Dietrichson | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Paramount |
| Hollywood Canteen | 1944 | Herself | Warner Bros. |
| Christmas in Connecticut | 1945 | Elizabeth Lane | Warner Bros. |
| Hollywood Victory Caravan | 1945 | Herself | Paramount United States Department of the Treasury |
| My Reputation | 1946 | Jessica Drummond | Warner Bros. Filmed in 1944 |
| The Bride Wore Boots | 1946 | Sally Warren | Paramount Her last feature comedy |
| The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | 1946 | Martha Ivers | Paramount |
| California | 1947 | Lily Bishop | Paramount Her first color film |
| The Two Mrs. Carrolls | 1947 | Sally Morton Carroll | Warner Bros. |
| The Other Love | 1947 | Karen Duncan | Enterprise Productions/United Artists |
| Cry Wolf | 1947 | Sandra Marshall | Warner Bros. |
| Variety Girl | 1947 | Herself | Paramount |
| B.F.'s Daughter | 1948 | Pauline "Polly" Fulton Brett | MGM |
| Sorry, Wrong Number | 1948 | Leona Stevenson | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress Hal Wallis Productions/Paramount |
| The Lady Gambles | 1949 | Joan Boothe | Universal |
| East Side, West Side | 1949 | Jessie Bourne | MGM |
| The File on Thelma Jordon | 1950 | Thelma Jordon | Paramount |
| No Man of Her Own | 1950 | Helen Ferguson / Patrice Harkness | Paramount |
| The Furies | 1950 | Vance Jeffords | Paramount |
| To Please a Lady | 1950 | Regina Forbes | MGM |
| The Man with a Cloak | 1951 | Lorna Bounty | MGM |
| Clash by Night | 1952 | Mae Doyle D'Amato | RKO Pictures |
| Jeopardy | 1953 | Helen Stilwin | MGM |
| Titanic | 1953 | Julia Sturges | 20th Century Fox |
| All I Desire | 1953 | Naomi Murdoch | Universal |
| Blowing Wild | 1953 | Marina Conway | Warner Bros. |
| The Moonlighter | 1953 | Rela | Warner Bros. Filmed in 3D |
| Witness to Murder | 1954 | Cheryl Draper | Chester Erskine/United Artists |
| Executive Suite | 1954 | Julia O. Tredway | MGM |
| Cattle Queen of Montana | 1954 | Sierra Nevada Jones | Filmcrest Productions/RKO Pictures |
| The Violent Men | 1955 | Martha Wilkison | Columbia Pictures |
| Escape to Burma | 1955 | Gwen Moore | Filmcrest Productions/RKO Pictures |
| There's Always Tomorrow | 1956 | Norma Miller Vale | Universal |
| The Maverick Queen | 1956 | Kit Banion | Republic |
| These Wilder Years | 1956 | Ann Dempster | MGM |
| Crime of Passion | 1957 | Kathy Ferguson Doyle | Robert Goldstein Productions/United Artists |
| Trooper Hook | 1957 | Cora Sutliff | Filmaster Productions/United Artists |
| Forty Guns | 1957 | Jessica Drummond | 20th Century Fox |
| Walk on the Wild Side | 1962 | Jo Courtney | Columbia Pictures |
| Roustabout | 1964 | Maggie Morgan | Hal Wallis Productions/Paramount |
| The Night Walker | 1964 | Irene Trent | William Castle/Universal |

### Academy Awards

Stanwyck was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award four times. She never won, but received an honorary award in 1982, "for superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting".
   Of course I was disappointed those times I was nominated before and lost. Anyone who says they're not is lying. I'd like to do more as an actress, and better. It might be in a wheelchair, but what the hell.
| Stanwyck's nominations, and the winner for each year in bold face text against a | yellow | background: |
| 1937 | 1937 | 1941 | 1941 | 1944 | 1944 | 1948 | 1948 |
| Actress | Film | Actress | Film | Actress | Film | Actress | Film |
| Irene Dunne | The Awful Truth | Bette Davis | The Little Foxes | Ingrid Bergman | Gaslight | Ingrid Bergman | Joan of Arc |
| Greta Garbo | Camille | Joan Fontaine | Suspicion | Claudette Colbert | Since You Went Away | Irene Dunne | I Remember Mama |
| Janet Gaynor | A Star Is Born | Greer Garson | Blossoms in the Dust | Bette Davis | Mr. Skeffington | Olivia de Havilland | The Snake Pit |
| Luise Rainer | The Good Earth | Olivia de Havilland | Hold Back the Dawn | Greer Garson | Mrs. Parkington | Barbara Stanwyck | Sorry, Wrong Number |
| Barbara Stanwyck | Stella Dallas | Barbara Stanwyck | Ball of Fire | Barbara Stanwyck | Double Indemnity | Jane Wyman | Johnny Belinda |

## Radio
### Lux Radio Theatre

Stanwyck made 16 appearances on LUX Radio Theatre hosted by Cecil B. DeMille, from August 3, 1936 through 1943. She appeared in the following episodes:
* "Main Street"
* "Stella Dallas"
* "These Three"
* "Dark Victory"
* "Morning Glory"
* "So Big"
* "Wuthering Heights"
* "Only Yesterday"
* "Remember The Night"
* "Smilin' Through"
* "The Lady Eve"
* "Penny Serenade"
* "Ball of Fire"
* "This Above All"
* "The Gay Sisters"
* "The Great Man's Lady"

### Jack Benny's radio and television programs

Stanwyck and her husband Robert Taylor were part of the inner social circle of Mary Livingstone and Jack Benny. She often appeared on Benny's radio program, sometimes in a parody of her own movies, and made her television debut on The Jack Benny Program weekly television show in 1952. The following is a sample listing of episodes in which she appeared with Benny.

#### Radio

* "Golden Boy" (January 7, 1940)
* "Dennis Wants a Raise" (November 28, 1943)
* "Dennis Dreams He Has a Radio Program" (March 19, 1944)
* "Jack Takes Two Cadets to Barbara Stanwyck's House" (October 1, 1942)
* "Sorry, Wrong Number" (October 17, 1948)
* "Dennis Dreams He's a Star" (April 10, 1949)

#### TV

* Episode – "Gas Light" – January 27, 1952; episode repeated January 11, 1959

## Television

Television credits of Barbara Stanwyck :
| Title | Year/date | Role | Notes |
| The Jack Benny Program | 1952 | Paula Alquist | "Gaslight" |
| The Christophers | 1952 | Guest Hostess | "Sentence Deferred" and "Two Worlds of Ann Foster" |
| The Loretta Young Show | 1955 | Guest Hostess | "My Uncle O'Moore" and "The Waiting Game" |
| Ford Theatre | 1956 | Irene Frazier | "Sudden Silence" |
| Goodyear Theatre | 1958 | Midge Varney | "Three Dark Years" |
| Zane Grey Theatre | 1958–1959 | Various characters | "The Freighter", "Trail to Nowhere", "Hang the Heart High" and "The Lone Woman" |
| The Real McCoys | 1959 | Herself | "The McCoys Visit Hollywood" |
| The Barbara Stanwyck Show | 1960–1961 | Hostess, various characters | Lead role (36 episodes) 1961 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series |
| Wagon Train | 1961 | Maud Frazer | "The Maud Frazer Story" |
| General Electric Theater | 1961 | Lili Parrish | "Star Witness: The Lili Parrish Story" |
| The Joey Bishop Show | 1961 | Dora | "A Windfall for Mom" |
| Wagon Train | 1962 | Caroline Casteel | "The Caroline Casteel Story" |
| The Dick Powell Show | 1962 | Irene Phillips | "Special Assignment" |
| Rawhide | 1962 | Nora Holloway | "The Captain's Wife" |
| The Untouchables | 1962–1963 | Lt. Agatha "Aggie" Stewart | "Elegy" and "Search for a Dead Man" |
| Wagon Train | 1963–1964 | Kate Crawley | "The Molly Kincaid Story" and "The Kate Crawley Story" |
| Calhoun: County Agent | 1964 | Abby Rayner | Unaired pilot |
| The Big Valley | 1965–1969 | Victoria Barkley | Lead role (112 episodes) 1966 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series Nominated – 1967 and 1968 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series |
| The House That Would Not Die | 1970 | Ruth Bennett | Television film |
| A Taste of Evil | 1971 | Miriam Jennings | Television film |
| The Letters | 1973 | Geraldine Parkington | Television film |
| Charlie's Angels | 1980 | Antonia "Toni" Blake | "Toni's Boys" served as a backdoor pilot, but was not picked up by the network. |
| The Thorn Birds | 1983 | Mary Carson | Television miniseries Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| Dynasty | 1985 | Constance Colby Patterson | "The Californians", "The Man", "The Titans: Part 1" and "The Titans: Part 2" |
| The Colbys | 1985–1986 | Constance Colby Patterson | Main cast (24 episodes) |