Happy Birthday Barbara Stanwyck - TCM airs 3 Classics from 6-11 am

July 16, 5:06 AMNY Classic Movies ExaminerCliff Aliperti

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Barbara Stanwyck, born July 16, 1907

Happy Birthday Barbara Stanwyck - TCM airs 3 Classics from 6-11 am

Barbara Stanwyck was born on this date, July 16, in 1907, and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) gives her a little airtime early this morning with 3 features running between 6 am and 11 am--hey, it's 3 more than they're airing for Ginger Rogers, born on the same date in 1911.

TCM's schedule:
6:00 am "The Locked Door" (1929)
7:30 am "Remember the Night" (1940)
9:00 am "Double Indemnity" (1944)

If you're not a Stanwyck fan yet, chances are you just haven't found the right movies. Barbara Stanwyck enjoyed a long and varied career which she kicked off as a showgirl going by her catchy real name, Ruby Stevens, in the 1920's. Hired by Willard Mack to appear in his play "The Noose" in 1926, Ruby Stevens would become Barbara Stanwyck, meet and marry actor Frank Fay, and then become a star in Arthur Hopkins' 1927 Broadway hit "Burlesque." With the talkie explosion out West, Hollywood came calling for the Fays.

"The Locked Door" on at 6 this morning is actually Stanwyck's first talkie. Born in Brooklyn in 1907 and you could really tell it in a lot of Barbara Stanwcyck's earliest performances such "Night Nurse" (1931) and "Baby Face" (1933). She also had the opportunity to play in 4 of Frank Capra's early talkies between 1930-1933 and would star in the first of many Westerns in the title role of "Annie Oakley" for George Stevens in 1935. Stanwyck would receive the first of her four Oscar nominations in 1938 for "Stella Dallas" (1937), an emotional drama about a mother's love and sacrifice for her daughter.

The Stanwyck-Fay marriage would come to an end in 1935, and in 1936 she met actor Robert Taylor, whom she starred with in "His Brother's Wife" that same year. They'd marry in 1939, a year which also began a run of some of Stanwyck's most popular films including Cecil B. DeMille's "Union Pacific" (1939); "Golden Boy" (1939) in which she famously rescued William Holden's real career just as it was kicking off (see video below); Preston Sturges' screwball comedy "The Lady Eve" (1940) opposite Henry Fonda; one more for Capra opposite Gary Cooper in "Meet John Doe" (1941); returning to her showgirl roots first as Sugarpuss O'Shea with Cooper again in "Ball of Fire" (1941), which only seems to grow more popular by the year; and then as Dixie Daisy in William Wellman's "Lady of Burlesque" (1943); and finally her career would take an entirely new turn when she played the femme fatale in Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" (1944), the movie which arguably ushered in the film noir period.

After portraying a character who was actually evil in "Double Indemnity," Stanwyck found herself doing more of the same in other films for awhile, most notably in "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946). Her marriage to Taylor ended in 1951 and Stanwyck threw herself more into her career as consequence appearing in hits such as "Clash By Night" (1952), "Titanic" (1953), and "Executive Suite" (1954), before turning to mostly Westerns and then television, and eventually both as the matriarch Victoria Barkley in hit series "The Big Valley" (1965-69). Barbara Stanwyck's last notable work were her guest appearances on "Dynasty" which were spun off into the Emmy nominated series "The Colbys" (1985-86).

Barbara Stanwyck was 82 when she died, January 20, 1990. Besides her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role in "Stella Dallas" she was also nominated in the same capacity for "Ball of Fire," "Double Indemnity," and "Sorry, Wrong Number." While she didn't bring home the statue for any of those 4 films the Academy would correct the oversight in 1982...which you'll see below.

Below you'll find a slideshow containing 10 vintage movie card and collectible images of Barbara Stanwyck, but first enjoy this YouTube video showing William Holden's thanking Stanwyck at the 1978 Academy Awards which is immediately followed by Stanwyck's acceptance of the honorary Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1982 Oscars.

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