Claim: Barbara Stanwyck was the lead role in Stella Dallas.

Barbara Stanwyck -LRB- born Ruby Catherine Stevens ; July 16 , 1907 -- January 20 , 1990 -RRB- was an American actress , model and dancer . She was a film and television star , known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong , realistic screen presence , and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille , Fritz Lang , and Frank Capra . After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s , she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood , before turning to television .   Orphaned at the age of four and partially raised in foster homes , by 1944 Stanwyck had become the highest-paid woman in the United States . She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress four times , for Stella Dallas -LRB- 1937 -RRB- , Ball of Fire -LRB- 1941 -RRB- , Double Indemnity -LRB- 1944 -RRB- and Sorry , Wrong Number -LRB- 1948 -RRB- . For her television work , she won three Emmy Awards , for The Barbara Stanwyck Show -LRB- 1961 -RRB- , The Big Valley -LRB- 1966 -RRB- and The Thorn Birds -LRB- 1983 -RRB- . Her performance in The Thorn Birds also won her a Golden Globe . She received an Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Academy Award ceremony and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1986 . She was also the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the American Film Institute -LRB- 1987 -RRB- , the Film Society of Lincoln Center -LRB- 1986 -RRB- , the Los Angeles Film Critics Association -LRB- 1981 -RRB- and the Screen Actors Guild -LRB- 1967 -RRB- . Stanwyck received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 , and was ranked as the 11th greatest female star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute .