Lady of Noir: The Barbara Stanwyck Story

Barbara Stanwyck kicked off 1940 with big success with Fred Mac Murray in Remember the Night, a highly entertaining comedy/drama written by the legendary Preston Surges. The film scored big with audiences and critics; Frank Nugent, a New York Times critic wrote, "It is a memorable film, in title and in quality, blessed with an honest script, good direction and sound performances...a drama stated in the simplest human terms of comedy and sentiment, tenderness and generosity... warm, pleasant and unusually entertaining.” It was a successful start to Barbara’s decade on top; she hit the peak of her career between 1940 and 1946, making some of the best movies ever made. The Lady Eve (1941), her second pairing with Henry Fonda, whom she had worked with in 1938’s The Mad Miss Manton, was another blockbuster. Barbara gave a flirty and hysterically funny performance as Jean Harrington, a beautiful con artist. The film was such a success, Columbia wasted no time reuniting the two in You Belong to Me (1941), a less than stellar follow up to their work in Eve.

Reuniting with Frank Capra after eight years apart, he cast her as the ambitious journalist in the timeless classic, Meet John Doe (1941). She was teamed with Gary Cooper at the height of his box office appeal, making over $400,000 a picture at that point. Reviews for Barbara were positive, but it was Cooper who walked off with the film, but she wasn’t all that far behind. The two teamed up again for Samuel Goldwyn’s classic, Ball of Fire (1942). This time, it was Barbara who dominated the movie, playing a tough-talking, but loveable nightclub singer.

While her professional career was at its peak, Barbara was having trouble in paradise; during the filming of his 1941 film, Johnny Eager, Robert Taylor asked Barbara for a divorce. His sexy costar, Lana Turner, did her best to seduce him, and Bob would have left Barbara in a second to have Turner. Knowing of their relationship, Barbara went into seclusion and had a mini breakdown. On October 7, 1941, Barbara was rushed to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for treatment of severed wrist arteries. Robert Taylor rushed to her defense, saying that she had cut her wrist, by accident, on a broken window, but reporters had a field day with the scandal. He decided against his plans to divorce Barbara; he had too much respect for the woman to end their marriage, but he was leaving her. When America entered World War II, Robert Taylor insisted in enlisting. She refused; his aviation and hunting trips were all she could handle, but war was far more dangerous. She eventually relented, and Taylor was off to war in 1943.

To fill her free time, Barbara concentrated herself on work, making two more essential films: Lady of Burlesque (1943) and Double Indemnity (1944; her most known movie). The latter gave Barbara her ideal screen persona: Sexy Film Noir Vixen. Though it barely got by the Production Code Administration, the film was still spicy hot, and her reteaming with Fred Mac Murray turned into one of the best movies of 1944. Unfortunately, she lost the Oscar to Ingrid Bergman that year for Gaslight. With the success of her light follow up, Christmas in Connecticut (1945), Barbara was ready for Mildred Pierce, another steely film noir. But it was Joan Crawford who was cast in the part, although the entire crew was ready to drop Crawford in a heartbeat if she gave even the slightest problem. By 1945 her career had seriously declined, and she still had a lot to prove to people that she was talented. Although she had given excellent performances, each time she was given a plum role, the movie tanked. Barbara was insulted that the down and out Crawford got the film, “I desperately wanted the part. I went after it. I knew what a role for a woman it was, and I knew I could handle every facet of Mildred. I laid my cards on the table with Jerry Wald. After all, I’d done a dozen pictures with Warner’s, including So Big and Meet John Doe. I’d paid my dues. I felt Mildred was for me.” She was right, but Crawford gave an excellent performance, revived her career, and won her only Oscar for the part.

Robert Taylor was discharged on November 5, 1945; Barbara rushed to the airport to greet him, and was slightly devastated when he expressed little interest in her. Their marriage was clearly on the rocks, but always an excellent actress, Barbara was able to play off all rumors of a pending divorce. Robert also found himself in the middle of Communist scandal in the late 1940s because of his 1944 film, Song of Russia, to which charges were later dropped. Around that same time, Robert gave into temptation with a torrid affair with Ava Gardner. With her marriage clearly on the rocks, Barbara decided to get Dion out of her life for good, as he later remembered, “Uncle Buck explained that Mother had paid for the high-priced call girl to teach me the facts of life. Soon after this incident I got a call from Uncle Buck, and asked him if I could come home. He told me to forget it, to forget that Barbara Stanwyck was my mother. He said, ‘She wants nothing to do with you.’” She banned Dion to the Culver Military Academy.

After all the success she had in the early half of the 1940s, Barbara’s reign looked a little unsteady after two box office bombs: My Reputation and The Bride Wore Boots. But after canceling her contract with Warner Brothers, she revived total public interest in herself with Paramount’s The Story of Martha Ivers (1946), her other great Film Noir of the 1940s. It was not only a hit with audiences and critics, but it launched the career of Kirk Douglas, who played Barbara’s alcoholic husband. B.F.’s Daughter (1947), one of the most wanted roles amongst the Hollywood actresses of the time, went to Barbara with notable success. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) garnered Barbara her last Oscar nomination, and made a superstar of Burt Lancaster. But Hollywood was beginning to lose its loyal audience as television began winning the attention of America. The film industry went into a slump which never really went away.

In 1946, she lobbied for the lead in The Fountainhead, but lost the part to Patricia Neal. It was the first role she had ever lost to a younger actress. 1949 brought mostly forgettable films. In 1950, her work was somewhat better. To Please a Lady cast her opposite Clark Gable in a Clarence Brown production. No Man of Her Own was a good melodrama/film noir. The Furries was her first pairing with Walter Huston and also his final movie. Though the studios were on shaky grounds, Barbara was still the busiest actress in Hollywood, and as long as the money was still coming in, the studios found more work for her. As for her contemporaries, they were all but faded if not still floundering.

Barbara Stanwyck turned 44 in 1951 –one of the ‘crucial’ ages amongst Hollywood actresses. But Barbara could careless about how old she really was, and had no problem telling anyone. She recalled years later, “Everybody said, ‘Oh, my God, no actress can have white hair. No one wants to make love to a gray-haired lady. Everybody said, ‘To be over forty isn’t possible.’” But she was well past forty, and had no problem letting the world know. That same year, Look magazine ran a Hedda Hopper article titled, “How They Stay Glamorous After Forty.” Hopper praised Barbara for her beautiful looks and continuing success.

Barbara made a crucial mistake when she turned down All About Eve (1950) to look for a picture she could make in Europe. Robert was heading the religious epic, Quo Vadis (1951), and with their relationship at an all time low, she wanted to be near him to keep him from leaving, but it didn’t work. The movie was the breaking point of their relationship. Robert told Barbara he was leaving her for good. Her devastation soon turned into bitterness which never fully ceased.

Her first movie as a single woman was 1952’s Clash by Night, which also featured the rising young star Marilyn Monroe. Barbara gave a good performance in one of her most memorable films. Despite her emotional devastation, the crew noted Barbara’s lack of a diva tantrum, Fritz Lang later said, “She’s fantastic, unbelievable, and I liked her tremendously. When Marilyn missed her lines –which she did constantly- Barbara never said a word.” Jeopardy followed and became a surprise hit for MGM. After that, Titanic, an all star hit to which Barbara received second billing to Clifton Webb, was nominated for two Academy Awards. But Barbara most enjoyed working in westerns, and made a few good ones in the 50s which have become too forgotten. Blowing Wild (1953) cast her with Gary Cooper in which she gave one of her most ruthless character portrayals. Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) was a makeup for the loss of playing opposite best friend Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar. With the exception of Executive Suite (1954), which had Barbara playing insane opposite an all-star cast, the rest of her movie career was coming to a close. She would reinvent herself with the start of the 1960s.