Biography
Friends and Family
Joan Crawford
[Friend]
(her neighbor)
::
Nancy Sinatra
[Friend]
(first wife of Frank Sinatra)
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Malcolm
[Brother]
::
Mildred
[Sister]
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Mabel
[Sister]
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Maude
[Sister]
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Catherine Stevens
[Mother]
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Byron Stevens
[Father]
Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 Attention embarrasses me. I don`t like to be on display. Career is too pompous a word. It was a job and I have always felt privileged to be paid for doing what I love doing.
I want to go on until they have to shoot me.
"I`m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. I intend to go on acting until I`m ninety and they won`t need to paste my face with make-up."
"My only problem is finding a way to play my fortieth fallen female in a different way from my thirty-ninth."
Commenting in 1939 on the fact that her fiancé, Robert Taylor, at 28, was four years younger than she, which raised eyebrows then, Stanwyck said: "The boy`s got a lot to learn and I`ve got a lot to teach."
During Double Indemnity (1944), Fred MacMurray would go to rushes. I remember asking Fred, `How was I?` `I don`t know about you, but I was wonderful!` Such a true remark. Actors only look at themselves.
Egotism - usually just a case of mistaken nonentity.
Eyes are the greatest tool in film. Mr. Capra taught me that. Sure, it`s nice to say very good dialogue, if you can get it. But great movie acting - watch the eyes!
I couldn`t remember my name for weeks. I`d be at the theater and hear them calling, `Miss Stanwyck, Miss Stanwyck,` and I`d think, `Where is that dame? Why doesn`t she answer? By crickie, it`s me!`
It`s perhaps not the future I would choose. I still think it`s possible to make a success of both marriage and career, even though I didn`t. But it`s not a bad future. And I`m not afraid of it.
Put me in the last fifteen minutes of a picture and I don`t care what happened before. I don`t even care if I was IN the rest of the damned thing - I`ll take it in those fifteen minutes.
There`s nothing more fun in the whole world than seeing a child open a present at Christmas. To have a six-year-old boy stroke a bicycle with his eyes and, not daring to touch, turn and ask, `Is it mine, Missy? Really mine?` That`s part of my future. The rest is work. And, I hope, some wisdom.
Trivia
Planned to play the lead in Mildred Pierce (1945), but Joan Crawford was faster and got the role.
She with Linda Evans in two series: "The Big Valley" (1965) and "Dynasty" (1981).
A Star Is Born (1937) starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March is said to be modeled after Stanwyck`s rise to stardom and first husband Frank Fay`s descent into obscurity.
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1751 Vine St.
In 1981 she was beaten and robbed in her bedroom by an intruder who woke her up at 1:00 in the morning.
In 1985, her house was destroyed in a fire. She was upset to lose all of Robert Taylor`s love letters.
Picked up the starring role in Ball of Fire (1941) after Ginger Rogers dropped out.
She became estranged from her son in February 1951.
She did not have a funeral and has no grave. Her ashes are scattered in Lone Pine, California.
She lost a kidney in 1971.
Turned down the role of Angela Channing on "Falcon Crest" (1981).
William Holden was considered to be too lightweight for the lead role in Golden Boy (1939), but Stanwyck urged producers to keep him in the picture and it was through her efforts he was kept in the picture, and the role made him a star. In 1978, at the The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978) (TV), before starting the presentation of the sound award, Holden publicly thanked her for what she did. She nearly broke down in tears and kissed Holden, and the exchange received thunderous audience applause.
Her mother died when she was accidentally knocked off a trolley by a drunk. Barbara was four at the time.
Her nickname among co-workers was "Missy" or "The Queen."
Her stage name was inspired by a theatrical poster that read "Jane Stanwyck in `Barbara Frietchie.`".
Her wicked turn as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944) was ranked #8 on the American Film Institute`s "100 Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains" list.
In 1944, when she earned $400,000, the government listed her as the nation`s highest-paid woman.
In the early 1950s, made a television commercial for Lustre Creme shampoo.
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1973.
Often called "The Best Actress Who Never Won an Oscar."
Was of Scots-Irish and English descent.
Worked briefly as a fashion model in the late 1920s.
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