Trivia

Often called "The Best Actress Who Never Won an Oscar."

When she was awarded an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, the statuette was presented to her by John Travolta who later confessed that the experience was his supreme Oscar moment. Stanwyck had been a Travolta family favorite for years. (1982)

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.

Throughout her career she was known for her kindness and patience with younger performers. Marilyn Monroe, who worked with Stanwyck in the 1952 film Clash by Night (1952) said that Stanwyck was the only member of Hollywood's older generation who was kind to her.

Lived near Joan Crawford during her marriage to Frank Fay. According to Christina Crawford, between 1932 and 1934, Stanwyck would escape from the alcoholic and volatile Fay when things got too hot by scaling a fence on their property. She would stay with Crawford, who lived across the street, until the heat died down. Stanwyck and Crawford had been friends since the days when they were single young actresses and remained friends until Crawford's death.

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 the role made him a star. In 1978, at the The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978), 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.

Was best friends for many years with Frank Sinatra's first wife, Nancy.

On October 27, 1981, Stanwyck was awakened by a burglar at 1:00 in the morning. She was hit on the head with an unknown object then forced into a closet while the intruder ransacked the house and got away with $5,000 worth of jewels. She was treated for minor head wounds at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and released the next day. Four years later, in 1985, the house was destroyed in a fire. She expressed upset at losing personal keepsakes, including love letters from Robert Taylor.

In his autobiography, Cecil B. DeMille wrote that, among the actresses he directed, Barbara Stanwyck was his favorite. He said, "Barbara's name is the first that comes to mind, as one on whom a director can always count to do her work with all her heart".

Worked briefly as a fashion model in the late 1920s.

Stanwyck had no funeral. She was cremated and the ashes scattered from a helicopter over Lone Pine, California, where she had made some of her Western films.

In 1944, when she earned $400,000, the government listed her as the nation's highest-paid woman.

According to the biographical film Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991), Stanwyck became a role model for female actors. Such stars as Sally Field and Virginia Madsen have publicly declared Stanwyck their role model.

Planned to play the lead in Mildred Pierce (1945), but Joan Crawford was faster and got the role.

She starred in Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific (1939) and received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1986. Her acceptance speech: "Thank you very, very much. To my beloved television brother, Charlton Heston [in The Colbys (1985)]. As Moses he parted the Red Sea for Mr. DeMille, and I helped Mr. DeMille build the Union Pacific Railroad. And we both loved him. I considered it a privilege to work for him. And to the Foreign Press Awards, I thank them for giving me another privilege: his very own award. I thank the Foreign Press, I thank Mr. DeMille, and I thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you".

Her stormy, seven-year marriage to Frank Fay finally ended after a drunken brawl, during which he tossed their adopted son, Dion, into the swimming pool. Their divorce was finalized on December 30, 1935. The couple had adopted Dion on December 5, 1932. Dion (born John Charles Greene, February 5, 1932, Los Angeles County, California - died May 17, 2006, Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, California) became permanently estranged from Stanwyck in February 1951, when he was 19 years old; the rift never healed.

In 1957, Dion was arrested for trying to sell lewd pictures while waiting to cash his unemployment check. When questioned by the press about his famous mother, he replied, "We don't speak." He and Stanwyck only saw each other a few times after their falling out. He was reportedly bequeathed some money from Stanwyck's estate on condition he never speak publicly about her.

Picked up the starring role in Ball of Fire (1941) after Ginger Rogers dropped out.

Was a heavy smoker who later developed bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); the latter claimed her life in 1990, aged 82.

She was voted the 40th "Greatest Movie Star of All Time" by Entertainment Weekly.

A massive, 1000-page biography of Stanwyck, published in 2013 by Victoria Wilson, is merely the first volume of an ongoing narrative of the star, one that covers only the first 33 years of Stanwyck's life.

Her nickname among co-workers was "Missy" or "The Queen."

Was listed #11 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years of The Greatest Screen Legends."

Peter Breck, Lee Majors, and Linda Evans were said to be huge fans of hers, as little children. As adults, all three co-starred with her in the hit western series The Big Valley (1965).

Forty of the movies she appeared in in her 35-year-long career were screened through the month of December 2013 in a special tribute at New York City's Film Forum.

Her role as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944) was ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains" list. The performance also was ranked #98 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time list (2006) and #58 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time list.

Three comedies that she starred in during 1941 (Meet John Doe (1941), Ball of Fire (1941), and The Lady Eve (1941)) were Oscar-nominated for Best Story, but none of them won the award.

In a first-season episode of The Big Valley (1965) (called "Tunnel of Gold"), Stanwyck's character, Victoria Barkley, explained that she lost both of her parents as a young child and was raised in a foster home. Years later, Stanwyck explained it was written that way because the exact same thing had happened to her as a child.

She drew praise in 1984 when, during her Golden Globes acceptance speech for "The Thorn Birds," she spent much of her own limited time praising Ann-Margret for her performance in "Who Will Love My Children?", which was in a completely different category. It was noted in the press that this was typical of her, given Stanwyck's reputation for complimenting other actors during her own productions.

American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. (1987)

She has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Baby Face (1933), The Lady Eve (1941), Ball of Fire (1941) and Double Indemnity (1944).

In Hollywood, as everywhere he went, Frank Fay did not make a lot of friends. A standard joke of the time went "Who's got the biggest prick in Hollywood?" Answer: "Barbara Stanwyck." The womanizing, alcoholic Fay's career floundered, while Stanwyck's flourished for decades. In 1935, the two were divorced, and Fay continued his downward spiral until 1944, when he was chosen to play Elwood P. Dowd in the original New York City Broadway production of "Harvey".

Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1973.

Her stage name was inspired by a theatrical poster that read "Jane Stanwyck in 'Barbara Frietchie.'".

Cecil B. DeMille cast Stanwyck as Mollie Monahan in Union Pacific (1939) after offering the role to Claudette Colbert and Vivien Leigh. Colbert did not want to work with DeMille again as their temperaments had clashed while making their previous movies. Leigh purposefully asked DeMille for a higher salary because she wanted to play Scarlett O'Hara instead. He then gave the part to Stanwyck and was immediately impressed with her great talent and professionalism. She holds the distinction of being DeMille's all-time favorite actress. The movie also won the first Palme d'Or award, one of the most prestigious accolades in the film industry.

Stanwyck, a staunch Republican, along with, among others, Ginger Rogers, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Irene Dunne, was a member of The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political action group during the McCarthy Era of the early to mid-1950s.

Born Ruby Catherine Stevens of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, the youngest child of Massachusetts-born Byron Stevens (1872-1954), and Nova Scotia, Canada-born Catherine (née McPhee) Stevens (1870-1911). Ruby's siblings were Maude, Mable, Mildred, and Malcolm Byron ("Bert") Stevens (Bert Stevens). Not long after their mother's death, their father abandoned the family. Young Ruby was raised by her sisters.

Actor Robert Wagner, more than 20 years Stanwyck's junior, claimed in his biography that he had a four-year relationship with the actress.

Stanwyck vehemently opposed the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. She felt that if someone from her disadvantaged background had risen to success, others should be able to do the same without government intervention or assistance.

She has appeared in one film that has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Double Indemnity (1944).

Acting mentor and friend of Linda Evans and Lee Majors.

She was honored as Turner Classic Movie's Star of the Month for December 2012.

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1751 Vine St.

On August 1, 2020, she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival.

Sister of actor Bert Stevens and sister-in-law of actress Caryl Lincoln. Godmother of Bobbie Poledouris.

She twice played a character named Jessica Drummond in two completely different movies: My Reputation (1946) and Forty Guns (1957).

Through his friend Oscar Levant, Frank Fay met Stanwyck, a former chorus girl who had just gotten her first acting role on Broadway (in "Burlesque", 1927), earning good reviews. He and Stanwyck wed on August 26, 1928. In 1929, they performed a dramatic sketch as "Fay and Stanwyck" at the Palace. Later that year, they were called to Hollywood so Fay could star in the film. Show of Shows (1929).

Stanwyck told journalist Ron Miller that her favorite leading man was her second husband, Robert Taylor. They made three movies together: His Brother's Wife (1936), This Is My Affair (1937), and The Night Walker (1964).

Her papers are in the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, PO Box 3924, Laramie, WY 82071.

Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. (1999)