Born in New York City as Ruby Catherine Stevens, Barbara Stanwyck was a four-time Academy Award-nominated, three-time Emmy Award-winning, and Golden Globe-winning American actress of film, stage, and screen. She is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
Stanwyck’s mother died when she was two-years-old and her father abandoned the family when she was age four. She began working at 13, and was a fashion model and Ziegfeld Girl by 15. In 1926, she began performing at the Hudson Theater in the drama, The Noose, which became one of the biggest hit plays of the season. Stanwyck earned rave reviews and was summoned to make a screen test for the silent film, Broadway Nights.
Stanwyck starred in almost 100 films during her career and received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles in Stella Dallas, Ball of Fire, Double Indemnity, and Sorry, Wrong Number. Perhaps her most famous role was in the 1941 film, The Lady Eve, in which she starred with Henry Fonda. When he film career declined in 1957, she moved to television. She died of congestive heart disease in Santa Monica, California on January 20, 1990.
