Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stan Born in Brooklyn as Ruby Stevens, she was 4 when her mother was killed, pushed off a moving streetcar by a drunk. Destroyed by the loss, Ruby's father, a bricklayer, abandoned his five children. After a childhood spent in a series of foster homes, 15-year-old Ruby found work as a chorus girl in speakeasies, then advanced to Broadway. At age 18, she changed her name to the more glamorous Barbara Stanwyck. She was married twice, first, in 1928, to vaudeville comedian Frank Fay. His high living and heavy drinking reportedly plagued the marriage, which ended after seven years (he died in 1961).Barbara and Frank Fay adopted a son in December 1932 and named him Dion Anthony Fay. Of the adoption, Barbara told an interviewer: "He's the best Christmas present anyone ever had. I never thought I'd be one of those hysterical mothers--but when he crooks just one tiny baby finger, I come crawling on my hands and knees. And I love it!" Barbara loved being Dion’s mother but eventually began to hate being Frank Fay’s wife. Initially, reports of marital unrest were denied by Barbara herself. I specifically remember one of her quotes to a popular Hollywood magazine at the time: “I’ll never divorce Frank Fay and Hollywood can’t make me!” I believe she was in some sort of denial, because she did divorce Fay in 1935 and then began a pretty rigorous custody battle for Dion. Fay wanted visitation rights but Barbara lobbied against that, telling the courts "He drinks to excess and once, drunk, threw my son into the swimming pool." In the end, Fay was granted visitation twice a week. Believing Fay would be a terrible influence on Dion, Barbara continued to fight the visitation decision until Fay gave up and disappeared. One can assume that this did something to Dion; he would eventually become estranged from his mother.In 1947, she sent him to one of the military schools on the West Coast. But he was forever getting into trouble and running away from school. The next thing anyone heard from him was in 1952 when he enlisted in the Army, apparently against Barbara's wishes. Nobody knows what happened after that--maybe Barbara was too over-protective, maybe she couldn't stand his going out on his own or maybe the custody fight left too much bitterness for them to overcome. In any case, mother and son never saw or spoke to each other again after that day. It is known that he has since married and had a child, but Barbara is completely lost to him and has never seen her grandchild.Around the time Barbara was receiving her last gestures of praise from critics, her treatment of Anthony Dion was becoming public knowledge. With the release of her daughter’s 1978 book and ludicrous 1981 movie adaptation, Joan Crawford’s reputation was in ruins. Why shouldn’t Barbara’s be? After all, Dion had legitimate complains next to Christina Crawford’s bullshitted attempt to gain pity from the American public. Dion was about to bring the skeletons out of his closet, and reveal in a tell-all book about the rejection and humiliation that he had endured as a child. What he realized that Christina Crawford did not was that he was complaining about a mother who had been raised on abandonment and abuse. Dion’s speaking out about his childhood was done from a much more sensitive and sympathetic manner, telling reporters, “..perhaps if we meet once more, we can both live the rest of our lives in peace.” She refused to see him, and kept only one picture of him locked away in a closet where no one else could find it. Barbara had officially rejected Dion for good by rejecting him from her life entirely. By the time the scandal had reached tabloid headlines, they had not seen or spoken to each other in decades. Her second marriage ended in 1951 when matinee idol Robert Taylor walked out after 12 years. He died in 1969, and Stanwyck broke down at his funeral. Even after they divorced she said, "There will be no other man in my life
 It had been rumored that Barbara Stanwyck was a lesbian.and fucked only women but this is not proven 
Stanwyck married twice, the first time to vaudevillian Frank Fay and the second time to Robert Taylor. Although she rebuffed any questions about her sexuality or her marriages, many observers of the Hollywood scene believed that neither Stanwyck nor either of her husbands were heterosexual.
.the androgynous actors of the past were replaced by ultra masculine actors and feminine female leads. But of course this in no way reflected their actual sexual persuasion. So to enforce their public heterosexual image, studios conducted elaborate arranged “lavender” marriages for gay actors — the classic example being Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Salem, whose false union was mutually beneficial for concealing both actors true sexuality.In 1941, while making the Preston Sturges film The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda, Stanwyck and Fonda had a tempestuous affair, which was kept secret at the time. Years later, Fonda confided to his then fourth wife Afdera that "Barbara was ... gay [and had] no inhibitions. She'd do anything in bed to please a man." Taylor reportedly also had affairs during the marriage. When Stanwyck learned of Taylor's fling with Lana Turner, she filed for divorce in 1950 when a starlet made Turner's romance with Taylor public. The decree was granted on February 21, 1951. After the divorce, they acted together in Stanwyck's last feature film, The Night Walker (1964). Stanwyck never remarried, collecting alimony of 15 percent of Taylor's salary until Taylor's death in 1969.
wyck, 1923, photo by Alfred Cheney

"The tributes to Barbara Stanwyck this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of the year of her birth, started early and frequently," writesEdward Copeland. "Dammit, she deserves it. So sexy he ".. Roustabout: "That Barbara Stanwyck took the role may have been as a favor to producer Hal Wallis as well as an admission that at age 57, her choices of roles in theatrical films was limited.... [T]his is Stanwyck at her most self-effacing, with the possible exception of her last big screen role in The Night Walker. At least compared to some of the films her contemporaries were doing, Stanwyck was able to end her screen career with a modicum of dignity."

Maybe Barbara Stanwyck could have spent more time addressing her personal life, but she didn't care about her personal life. She cared about her work. Her work was her life, and the people she worked with loved her for what she gave to that work. And so in the end, that is what we must judge her on."

Upon hearing the news of her death, Charlton Heston issued a statement to the press: "I realize it's no longer a fashionable phrase, but she was a great broad, in all the meaning of the word, and she would be comfortable with that phrase."   one of her earliest and most unglamorous films was So Big!." Johnston (

she died of a lung problem At Barbara’s request, no funeral was planned. She was cremated five days later, and her ashes were scattered over Lone Pine California, near Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

There has never been a so-called “definitive” biography written on Barbara Stanwyck. Two authors, Axel Madsen and Jane Ellen Wayne, who I prefer not to read based on their history of trashing people posthumously for money, have released books on her. However, there are three very good books on Barbara that I would like to recommend:

Barbara Stanwyck: A Biography by Al Diorio (1984), Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck by Ella Smith (1988)

The Films of Barbara Stanwyck by Homer Dickens with an introduction by Frank Capra (1987)

One final note: 

Trivia: In the 40’s, she was traveling with her maid - who happened to be black. One of the hotels they booked in to, had a "no blacks" policy. Barbara could stay, but the maid couldn’t. Barbara up and left, and both she and her maid stayed in a "blacks only hotel." Barbara did all that, just to stay with her servant.

More:  There is a quirky little hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona called the Monte Vista.  Love.  stay in the glamorous Barbara Stanwyck suite.Everyone who is close to me knows I’ve been in love with Barbara Stanwyck since I’ve met her. She’s a delicious woman. We’ve never had an affair. She’s never encouraged me, but dammit, my wife will verify it, my daughters and son will confirm it, and now you all can testify to the truth. Stanwyck can act the hell out of any part, and she can turn a chore into a challenge. She’s fun and I am glad I got the chance to make three movies with her. The Lady Eve was the best.

-Henry FondaIn real life,

 Barbara Stanwyck was considered a lesbian about town in Hollywood and has become somewhat of a gay icon. But any attempt to label her by such categories diminishes in comparison to the animal magnetism Barbara exuded on-screen for all audiences, whether they be male, female, gay or straight. Barbara was infinitely watchable because she was confident and at home in her own lovely skin. Such a master of her craft and profession, her credit role has break-out role after break-out role, even after The Hayes Code made it hard to portray a modern woman taking life on her own terms and bowing down for no one. Barbara was a firebrand both on and off the screen. But she was also extremely loyal and once you became her friend, you stayed one for life.