ACTOR · BORN 1907 · DIED 1990
Barbara Stanwyck
- Born
- 16 July 1907
- Died
- 20 January 1990
63 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
39 Interesting Facts About Barbara Stanwyck
- #005
The film A Star Is Born (1937), starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, is said to have been modeled on Stanwyck's rise to stardom and the descent into oblivion of her first husband, Frank Fay.
- #007
On October 27, 1981, Stanwyck was awakened at 1 a.m. by a burglar. She was struck on the head with an unknown object, then locked in a closet while the intruder ransacked the house and fled with $5,000 worth of jewelry. She was treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for minor head wounds and released the next day. Four years later, in 1985, the house was destroyed in a fire. She expressed her sorrow at losing personal mementos, including love letters from Robert Taylor.
- #009
There was no funeral for Stanwyck. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered from a helicopter over Lone Pine, California, where she had shot some of her westerns.
- #011
According to the biographical film Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991), Stanwyck became a role model for actresses. Stars such as Sally Field and Virginia Madsen publicly declared Stanwyck their role model.
- #012
In his autobiography, Cecil B. DeMille wrote that Barbara Stanwyck was his favorite among the actresses he directed. "Barbara's name is the first that comes to mind as someone a director could always count on to do the job with all her heart," he said.
- #013
The massive 1,000-page Stanwyck biography by Victoria Wilson, published in 2013, is only the first volume of the star's ongoing narrative and covers only the first 33 years of Stanwyck's life.
- #014
She was a heavy smoker; she later developed bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the latter of which claimed her life in 1990 at the age of 82.
- #016
Peter Breck, Lee Majors and Linda Evans were said to have been big fans of hers as small children. As adults, all three appeared with her in the hit western series The Big Valley (1965).
- #017
For many years she was best friends with Nancy, Frank Sinatra's first wife.
- #018
When she earned $400,000 in 1944, the government listed her as the highest-paid woman in the country.
- #020
In the late 1920s, Barbara Stanwyck worked briefly as a fashion model.
- #023
Barbara Stanwyck was ranked #11 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Stars" list.
- #024
Her role as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944) was ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's "100 Heroes and Villains" list. The performance was also ranked #98 on Premiere Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006) and #58 on Premiere Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
- #026
In an episode of the first season of The Big Valley (1965) ("Tunnel of Gold"), Stanwyck's character Victoria Barkley revealed that she had lost both of her parents as a small child and was raised in a foster family. Years later, Stanwyck explained that this was written that way because the same thing had happened to her.
- #027
In 1973, Barbara Stanwyck was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers.
- #028
Forty of the films from her 35-year career were screened in a special tribute at Film Forum in New York City throughout December 2013.
- #029
Actor Robert Wagner, who was more than 20 years younger than Stanwyck, claimed in his biography that he had a four-year relationship with the actress.
- #032
Her stage name was inspired by a theater poster that read "Jane Stanwyck in 'Barbara Frietchie'."
- #035
Barbara Stanwyck was the acting mentor and friend of Linda Evans and Lee Majors.
- #039
Stanwyck strongly opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. She felt that if someone from a disadvantaged background like hers could succeed, others should be able to do the same without government intervention or assistance.
- #041
In December 2012 she was honored as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month.
- #042
She played a character named Jessica Drummond twice, in two completely different films: My Reputation (1946) and Forty Guns (1957).
- #044
Stanwyck, who had worked to support herself since the age of 14, later became known for her workaholic tendencies. Film director Jacques Tourneur said, "She lives for only two things, and both of them are work."
- #045
At the 1953 Laurel Awards, Stanwyck and her former husband Robert Taylor won the 5th Best Dramatic Actress and 5th Best Dramatic Actor awards, respectively, for their performances in Clash by Night (1952) and Ivanhoe (1952).
- #047
A profile of her was published in Stephen Silverman's book "Funny Ladies."
- #048
On August 1, 2020, a day of the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival was dedicated to her with a lineup of her films.
- #049
She worked with Linda Evans on two series: The Big Valley (1965) and Dynasty (1981).
- #050
She turned down the role of Angela Channing in the series Falcon Crest (1981).
- #051
A profile of her was published in Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner's book "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" (McFarland, 2004).
- #052
Her real-life older brother, Malcolm Byron ("Bert") Stevens, plays the assistant defense attorney in the film The File on Thelma Jordan.
- #053
She was replaced by Susan Hayward in Heat of Anger (1972), which was planned as the pilot for a promising TV series called "Fitzgerald and Pride."
- #054
She worked with Robert Young on two films: Red Salute (1935) and The Bride Walks Out (1936).
- #055
Barbara Stanwyck was profiled in the book "Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors" (McFarland, 1998), edited by Gary Yoggy.
- #056
In March 2025, Barbara Stanwyck was honored as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month.
- #057
Barbara Stanwyck's biography was published in "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives", Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 796-798. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
- #059
Barbara Stanwyck appears in the trailer for the film Hollywood Mouth 3 (2018) through clips from The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).
- #060
Barbara Stanwyck's image appears on the cover of the CD The Electro Swing Revolution Vol. 4 (released by Lola's World on October 4, 2013).
- #061
In Italy, almost all of Barbara Stanwyck's films were dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi. She was occasionally dubbed by Tina Lattanzi and Marcella Rovena. In Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), she was dubbed as Leona Stevenson by Andreina Pagnani. This was the only time the Italian actress lent her voice to Stanwyck.
- #062
Barbara Stanwyck co-starred with Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity (1944) and The Violent Men (1955). In the first film, Stanwyck was the femme fatale and Robinson played the good man. In the second film, they played husband and wife.
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