Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine - ScholarWorks

Transcription

Boise State University
ScholarWorks
History Faculty Publications and Presentations
Department of History
4-1-1993
Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine
Sandra Schackel
Boise State University
Published as Schackel, Sandra. Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine. California History, Vol. 72, No.1, Women in California History (Spring, 1993),
pp. 40-55. © 1993 by the University of California Press in association with the California Historical Society.Copying and permissions notice:
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Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine
Author(s): Sandra Schackel
Source: California History, Vol. 72, No. 1, Women in California History (Spring, 1993), pp. 4055
Published by: University of California Press in association with the California Historical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25177325 .
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Barbara Stanwyck met many challenges in her career. She took on physically demanding
stuntwork that was often dangerous,
prompting Union Pacific co-star Joel McCrea to
remark that Stanwyck "had more guts than most men." Stanwyck took other risks by
challenging
the
stereotype
of
the western
woman
in film
and
portraying
assertive
characters
who took charge of their own destinies. By breaking down such barriers, she provided a
rolemodel for other actresses of her time. Here she is pictured in Forty Guns (1957). Courtesy
20th Century Fox Film Corporation and Arts Special Collections, UCLA.
40 CALIFORNIA HISTORY
Barbara
Stanwyck:
Uncommon
Heroine
by Sandra Schackel
//T^
arbara Stanwyck, an intrepid citizen who
shown
r^has
JLx scripts over
no
a
or
of man,
terrain,
and
illustrious
career,
long
fear
is tackling all three in Cattle Queen ofMontana/'
reported the New York Timeswhen the film opened
in that city in 1954.x Thirty years into her movie
career,
ability
indeed
her
had demonstrated
Stanwyck
as a versatile
and accomplished
actress,
appearing
in more
than eighty
roles by the late
for four Academy
Awards
1950s. Nominated
career, none of them for Westerns,
Stanwyck
to love that genre
fessed
she starred
best;
Western movies
during
in her
pro
in ten
the 1940s and 1950s.2 In
to the Western
these films, Stanwyck
her
brought
oine a spunky
determination
and spirit of inde
in Westerns
in this
unusual
for women
pendence
era. So successful
was
of
she, and so enamored
was
success
the American
Westerns
that
public,
screen
as head
her to the small
followed
of the
Barkley
clan
in the 1960s.
in "The
Big Valley"
television
series
film and television
roles contrast with
Stanwyck's
her private
life. These
in part, her
roles mirror,
need
for
and
longstanding
security
independence,
hence
the many
of strong,
assertive
portrayals
women.
Yet behind
this image she remained
vulner
to the pressures
able and sensitive
of the profes
as cultural
sion as well
that limited
expectations
Inmany ways,
the lives of most women.
Stanwyck
lived out roles on the big screen
that eluded
ordi
women
was
because
not
nary
society
yet ready to
allow women
those kinds
of freedoms.
Through
was ahead of her time in the
such acting, Stanwyck
1940s and 1950s inWestern
films that allowed her
to portray women
who
take charge
of the
the county,
and the people
around
her.3
ranch,
Roles
for women
of cinema,
inWesterns,
and
indeed
much
traditionally have been limited to two
the bad woman/prostitute
stereotypes:
on
woman/civilizer.
Variations
good
include
the saloon
the
whore
singer,
of gold,
the spunky
ranchwoman,
and
these
with
the
the
themes
a heart
frontier
and
the pioneer
mother.
schoolteacher,
Nearly
on a man
the Western
in
heroine
always,
depends
some
or
if
and
she
denies
otherwise
rejects
capacity,
male
she is penalized
for her "unnatural"
counsel,
behavior
or, at the
death,
banishment,
through
loss of the hero's
love. These
least,
prescriptive
were well
roles for women
fixed inWestern
cinema
a third
until the 1970s, when
stereotype
appeared,
can take care
the strong,
heroine who
independent
of herself
and expects
to do so. Several
actresses,
including Candace Bergen in Soldier Blue (1970),
Kathleen Lloyd in TheMissouri Breaks (1970), and
in Comes a Horseman
illustrate
Jane Fonda
(1978),
this image.4
Prior to the 1970s, Barbara
Stanwyck
frequently
a Western
heroine
who
the
played
challenged
female
For
in
Maver
stereotypical
image.
example,
ickQueen (1956) and in Forty Guns (1957), Stanwyck
moved
the civilizer
role to play
beyond
tough,
women.
a result,
As
take-charge
part of her popu
and on television
stemmed
larity in both movies
from her ability to carry out adventurous,
demand
to women
in films
ing tasks not usually
assigned
prior to the 1970s. Although
of roles,
she starred in a wide
for the most
comedies,
variety
including
is remembered
for her portrayals
part Stanwyck
women
of strong,
on
determined
who met men
even terms or dominated
them from the onset.
treatment
of strong-willed,
inde
Stanwyck's
women
was
not
limited
to Westerns
but
pendent
SPRING 1993 41
most
dominated
of her other
emy Award-nominated
films
as well.
In Acad
Double Indemnity (1944)
is the mastermind
Stanwyck
tion of insurance
salesman
behind
both the seduc
Fred MacMurray
and
their bizarre plot to kill her husband. Similarly,
in The Lady Eve (1940) and Ball of Fire (1941), Stan
wyck remains the boss despite falling in love with
the men
she intends
choice of roles came
the narrow
confines
to trap. In time, Stanwyck's
to reflect a tension
between
of female
and her
destiny
to expand
those
constrictions.
drive
Very
beyond
a woman
a
was
much
of the times when
product
none
to
before
she
career,
put marriage
expected
rose to stardom
on the
of roles
theless
strength
In
the traditional
that diverged
from
formula.
a
to
be
role
model
for
so, Stanwyck
doing
proved
later actresses.5
I
^di
Y V.^fl^L~
^S^^î
Ruby Stevens on July 16,1907, in Brooklyn,
Born
was
at the age of four and
Stanwyck
orphaned
next
ten
the
years of her life in foster
spent
homes. Although Hollywood
lore frequently capital
insisted
ized on her waif-like
early years, Stanwyck
in those days
it was not that grim: "Foster homes
were
weren't
just impersonal."6
By
cruel?they
had discovered
her early teens, Stanwyck
her love
to hurdy-gurdy
music
for entertaining
by dancing
a
as a
in city streets. At age fifteen
she landed
job
chorus girl and eventually
appeared
with
TTzeRed Pony featured Maureen
Fonda
to understand
Follies
in a silent
film, Broadway Nights,
and
she would never lose the traits she had developed
a
strong
to excel
in
Stanwyck starred in her firstWestern in 1935,
playing the title role inAnnie Oakley, but her inter
est
inWesterns
had been with her since childhood.
a
of
up in the tenements
youngster
growing
was Pearl White,
her
the
silent
idol
hero
Brooklyn,
ine of the Perils of Pauline
serials of the early movie
As
in
expands
mother
Phoenix
on
O'Hara
and Henry
California
turn-of-the-century
kind but rough father tries
his ten-year-old
the good woman
son's
civilizer
rebellion.
role
O'Hara
as a
pioneer
trying to hold her family together. Courtesy
Films,
Inc.,
and Alameda
Newspaper
Group.
in 1928
Frank
her vaudeville
followed
husband,
performer
contracts
to
where
she
Hollywood,
signed
Fay,
and Warner
Brothers.7
with both Columbia
By then,
had become
Barbara
but
Stanwyck,
Ruby Stevens
in her early years?a
gritty determination,
sense of
and the desire
independence,
her profession.8
set
about a poor family whose
the
revues.
in other
and
She
stage
her
the
worked
show
business
way
up
gradually
in
the lead in a Broadway
ladder,
securing
play
screen
1926. The following
she
made
her
debut
year
Ziegfield
in a story
industry.
Stanwyck
1981, "I came from
explained
very poor
in an
interview
surroundings
and
in
I
had towork my tail off just to get a penny, a penny,
see her. She's
me all my
so that I could
influenced
an
also.
life/'9 Stories of the West made
impression
of
the
who
Stanwyck
warmly
spoke
pioneers
to settlement.
In her words,
the West
"all
opened
over on the covered wagons
the immigrants
coming
and atop the trains, the little Jewish peddler with
his
men,
on his back,
and ginghams
the good
calicos
the bad men,
all
made
To
this
they
country/'10
TTzeTfl//Men featured Jane Russell?pictured
about
male
a cattle
characters
Newspaper
I-
Indian
drive?with
over
the woman.
with Robert Ryan?and
a blizzard,
and
20th Century
Courtesy
fights,
battle
customary
Fox Film Corporation
the
and Alameda
-__sHHHHKBllk^_
InHigh Noon (1952), Grace Kelly played Amy Kane, awoman
in defense
between
Group.
T"5^^c*!ZS^^BgSZ7,
a frontier
Clark Gable in a tale
the
peace
officer
played
by Gary
Cooper?because
in conflict with her husband?
of his willingness
to use
violence
of public order and personal honor. Amy represented the domestic civilizer
stereotype assigned tomany women in films. Pictured with Kelly isGary Cooper. Courtesy
United Artists Corporation and Pacific Film Archives.
SPRING 1993 43
In T/ze LflrfyEiê,Barbara Stanwyck played a con artist who,
victim
of
her
scheme,
dominance was
present
in her
remains
found inmany
Here
characters.
in
charge
of
the
despite
at
situation
of the roles Stanwyck played,
she
is pictured
with
co-star
all
falling in love with
times.
and was
Henry
Fonda.
This
attribute
a quality
Courtesy
the
of
typically
Universal
City Studios, Inc., and Pacific Film Archives.
were America's
westerners
aristocracy
Stanwyck,
America's
and heroines
and the heroes
royalty.
out with
Little wonder
that Ruby Stevens,
starting
little but her natural
talent, would
aspire to become
western
that
of
part
royal
family.
Annie Oakley marked Stanwyck's
genre
of which
Directed
Preston
played
she would
by George
Foster
a winsome
Stevens
first film in the
someday
be
queen.
and cast opposite
and Melvyn
Douglas,
Stanwyck
if accommodating
tomboy
sharp
shooter signed on by the manager
(Douglas) of
Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. A crack shot, Annie
shows up world champion Toby Walker (Foster),
a half-baked
is "scornful
of shooting
against
that she
kid, and a girl at that," until it is suggested
be the star of the show and Foster
should
should
who
now romance
seek another
has blossomed
job.n By
between
the two, but Foster's
ego is on the line,
and Annie
backs
her
down,
missing
deliberately
one of their
target during
performances.
Throughout
wavers
this mildly
amusing film, Stanwyck
in her superior
abilities
believing
a
to maintain
and wanting
with
Fos
relationship
not
domi
ter, a relationship
deference,
shaped
by
nance.
As Annie,
is sweet,
vulnerable,
Stanwyck
asser
and
the
strong,
charming,
agreeable,
hardly
tive woman
in future Western
she would
become
roles. At the same time she was
the film,
shooting
a difficult
in
she was
her
per
undergoing
period
life because
sonal
of her divorce
from Frank Fay.
a
to
the actress
endeavored
person,
private
Always
between
keep her private life separate from her public life.
her personal
she
To cope with
disappointment,
to her career.
diverted
her energy
Four years and her first Academy
Award
nomi
nation
starred as Molly Monahan,
later, Stanwyck
the Irish "spitfire"
of a railroad
engineer
daughter
on horseback,
down bannisters,
get married
elope
a rainstorm,
on the
in
rab
and
dress
shoot
prairie
a flood in which
and survive
throw crockery,
bits,
on
twin babies
her
drowned.
thrived
Stanwyck
action and always welcomed
it in her work.
on her part caused
Sometimes
this determination
to build the transcontinen
this saga of the struggle
is
tal railroad,
the postmistress
of "End
Stanwyck
with
the town that moves
westward
the
of Track,"
as
the
railroad's
progress.
Serving
spunky,
good
woman
she is pursued
stereotype,
by two compet
sent
the troubleshooter
Joel McCrea,
ing suitors:
out from Washington;
and Robert Preston,
the gam
to stop him. Stanwyck
is the medi
bler determined
for other cast members.
consequences
unexpected
For example,
veteran
actor
while
with
working
on the set of The Furies in Tucson
in
Walter
Huston
in Cecil B. DeMille's
epic, Union Pacific (1939). In
unites
East and West,
and
ator, the facilitator who
in the process,
with McCrea.
herself
her
Despite
a
is
to
still
"tamed
be
sauciness,
Molly
enough"
for the hero,
and as mediator
fur
suitable match
the civilizer
ther fulfills
role.
One of the most
year
in films
that saw
1950, Stanwyck decided
scene
to do a dangerous
riding
a double
was
herself
available.
although
not
to
to do
Huston
do
so,
eager
Although
agreed
to
his own riding as well,
because
he was not going
awoman.14
actress
be outdone
Actor
and
became
by
close while
this movie,
and Huston's
making
popular hits of a blockbuster
the release
of Stagecoach,
Gone
With theWind, and The Wizard of Oz, Union Pacific
career
as a
marked
the beginning
of Stanwyck's
in
stuntwoman.
filmed
black
and
white,
Though
action. The list
had plenty
of color?and
the movie
events
two spectacular
included
of DeMille-style
a mail-car
an Indian massa
train wrecks,
robbery,
numerous
saloon
brawls
and horseback
cre, and
wild
"That
makes
Union
chases
Wyoming.
through
Pacific the largest conglomeration
of thrills and
was
in Peril,"
the
"Pauline,"
Brooklyn
Daily
Eagle.12
reported
held her own,
off and on box
however,
leaping
a
and battling
cars, chasing
(and catching)
wagon,
co-star McCrea
her
Indians,
prompting
attacking
was
"in every
to note
that Stanwyck
involved
more
is
and
than most
fearless
has
She
guts
thing.
other female stars, Stanwyck
Unlike many
men."13
cold-blooded
murder
since
Pauline
prided herself on doing her own stuntwork and
continued to do so during the filming of "The Big
in the 1960s. For her courage
and bravery,
Valley"
the admiration
and respect
of
the actress
gained
film crews and co-stars alike throughout
her career.
next Western,
The Great Man's
Lady
Stanwyck's
in her stunts.
her much
latitude
(1942), allowed
was
one
of Stanwyck's
favorites
This Western
of the challenge
the role presented.
because
Physi
cally demanding,
the script called for her to slide
iîî^Hr
Barbara
Stanwyck,
Miff
dressed
i 111i^^^^B
as
a
frontier
heroine,
dances with newspaper magnate William Randolph
Hearst at a costume party hosted by Hearst at his
beach house in 1938. Courtesy Marc Wanamaker, Bison
Archives,
Hollywood.
SPRING 1993 45
death shortly after filming was completed deeply
all the cast and crew.
own stunt work
doing her
Stanwyck's
1^^^^^^^^^BBKKk^^M
saddened
made directors nervous.
frequently
In TheMoonlighter
a
(1953),
3-D Western,
direc
received,
poorly
low-budget,
a scene
in which
tor Roy Rowland
recounted
the
a waterfall
tumbled
down
into a fast
heroine
river in the High
Sierra: "She was
moving
capable
own
stunt work
her
and
of doing
completely
to do her stunts,
unafraid.
She always wanted
but
we
could not risk the possibility
of an accident.
Barbara understood
this, but she still pleaded."15
was
when
her stunt woman
She got her opportunity
scene.
to shoot the waterfall
not available
Although
on
bruised
from the many
rocks she encountered
on
into the river?on
her plunge
her back,
her
never
side, on her stomach?Stanwyck
complained
or held up the film. This air of
and
professionalism
characterized
her entire career.
dedication
one in which
action
One other dramatic
scene,
she traded bullets with
this film for Stanwyck.
to this scene
revealed
Ward
The
"save"
Bond, helped
reaction
of a reviewer
in the
expectations
gender
1950s: "Stanwyck, stylishly thin and looking mighty
small beside a horse, fights it out with rifles with
and wins."
The reviewer
also noted
as
has ever seen aWest
that, "This,
anyone who
ern knows,
is practically
Bond may
impossible.
a
screen
to
battle
here
and there but never
lose
a
a
woman
at
with
rifles
of
wisp
fifty yards."16
to moviegoers
Such action was unexpected
because
it exceeded
in
cultural
for women
prescriptions
Ward
Bond
Western
film. Although
this scene
well,
a bit."17
"fidget
actress's
The
apparently
physical
brought high praise
co-star
Stanwyck's
and the Blackfeet
Stanwyck
caused
endurance
Barbara
bered
for her
ranchwomen
to carry
western
that
roles
is
Stanwyck
perhaps
remem
best
of tough,
portrayal
strong-minded
clad in hat and boots,
she was
able
independent
spirit
as well.
Here
she
over
non
into
is pictured
in
The Lady Eve (1940). Courtesy ABC Visual Com
munication
and Alameda
Newspaper
Group.
carried it off
to
audiences
on
the
set
from both Ronald Reagan,
in Cattle Queen ofMontana
(1954),
in the movie
Indians who appeared
filmed in their homeland
While
near Glacier National
a
scene in a moun
recounted
Park. Reagan
bathing
was
in the
tain lake where
the water
temperature
was
a double
there
availa
mid-forties.
Although
knew
that her face should
be seen,
ble, Stanwyck
rather
than that of her double,
shot from a dis
came out blue,
tance.
"She
but did not hesitate
to do another
the cameraman.18
take,"
reported
so
with
The Indians were
impressed
Stanwyck's
and bravery
stamina
that they gave her their tribe's
most
revered
"Princess
name,
Victories,"
Many
and made
her amember
of their Brave Dog Society,
her "very
hard work?rare
for a white
citing
followed
with
woman."19
this
Stanwyck
experience
scenes
in
other demanding
stunt
and
work
riding
TheMaverick Queen (1956) and Forty Guns (1957).
was
one of the few
major
Although
Stanwyck
some B
stars to risk
female
in
action
scenes,
injury
were
Western
actresses
stunts.
similar
doing
Betty
a
for
wrestled
Miles,
gun away from her
example,
co-star in The Return of Daniel Boone (1941) and
climbed
onto
a runaway
(1944).20 But Stanwyck's
stage
in Sonora
developing
Stagecoach
reputation
more
included
stunt work;
than
her
of roles
choice
the wilderness,
Hannah
his
places
to his.
desires
before
needs
clearly shaped her style. She went beyond the
heroines in B movies who, in the 1940s, gradually
hers,
were
him from those who would
interfere with his goals.
to manipulate
But when
the towns
he attempts
over
Hannah
the
of
the
railroad,
coming
people
and
his
ways
sadly
recognizes
moneygrubbing
leaves him.
her
remarries,
dead, Hoyt
Thinking
and rather than blemish
his career by reappearing
in his life, Hannah
to obscurity.23
sacrifices
herself
not
mirror
Hannah
life
did
Stanwyck's
personal
the
self-sacrifices.
Instead,
Semplar's
Stanwyck
and
away from dependent
daughters
moving
the
became
ranchwives.
submissive
pro
Stanwyck
could
ranchwoman
who
of the spunky
totype
as the
ride the range and run the ranch as well
Western
various
Fonda's
Jane
wranglers,
predating
a great
roles in the 1960s and 1970s.21 As a result,
came from her
to
of
part
ability
Stanwyck's
appeal
men.
to
in
adventures
engage
usually
assigned
Equally appealing were her grit and determination,
the result of having grown up independently. This
sense
of independence
strong
of her Western
roles,
including
Union Pacific, Sierra Nevada
Yet this public
the private
on
value
with
great
mother.
Perhaps
image is frequently
an
urgent
family situation,
need
Queen.
in conflict
who
placed
and
of wife
lacked
years
Barbara
Stanwyck,
the traditional
roles
her formative
because
a fully functioning
developed
Jones in Cattle Queen of
in The Maverick
and Kit Banion
Montana,
in many
is apparent
in
Monahan
Molly
Stanwyck
a stable
to create
family
in her adult years. She was deeply disappointed
when her marriage to Frank Fay failed in 1935,
over
with
battles
recurring
leaving
custody
son Dion,
their adopted
then three years old. Her
to actor Robert
in 1939,
second marriage,
Taylor
in
after
ended
thirteen
of
also
divorce
years
strug
a marriage
as two
as well
gle to maintain
thriving
careers.
in later decades,
movie
Like many women
found
herself
between
the worlds
Stanwyck
caught
of domesticity
and career. Not
per
surprisingly,
not her private
her work,
credited
Stanwyck
haps,
to her life. "My
with
world,
meaning
providing
her
is responsible
work
have
come
into my
for all the good
life
the 1950s. "I feel most
starting
Quite
a new
things that
. . . ," she remarked
completely
picture."22
to her
in contrast
personal
role she played
"stand-by-your-man"
Man's Lady (1942), made
late in
I'm
alive when
life is the
in The Great
to
during her marriage
the thirty-three-year
Taylor. As Hannah
Semplar,
to 109. Told in a series
old actress ages from sixteen
over a
of flashbacks
the
one-hundred-year
period,
to the theme of woman's
is a classic paean
movie
self-sacrifice.
Devoted
to her husband
Ethan
Hoyt
(JoelMcCrea) and to his dream of building a city in
her
sublimating
a
As
pioneer
bride, she fiercely protects her husband and shields
Taylor marriage
the 1940s,
to decline.
ances,
difficult times during
underwent
when
Still,
remained
Stanwyck's
popularity
to all
she and Taylor,
the happy Hollywood
seemed
appear
couple
of profes
because
despite
separations
frequent
sional
Fan
touted
the
requirements.
magazines
stars' seeming
to one another
devotion
and their
as
much
"perfect" Hollywood-style
marriage,
they
would
the
the
the Janet Leigh-Tony
In reality,
1950s.
great
two stars that
apparently
ciled. For example,
airplanes
and
in
separated
be recon
although Taylor loved to fly
ride motorcycles,
both and preferred
Curtis marriage
differences
could not
Stanwyck
to spend what
disliked
little time they
at home.
More
serious
together
problems
rumors
included
from
of Taylor's
dalliances
away
home
and Stanwyck's
in the mar
need
for control
to deny
unable
their unhappiness,
riage. Finally
the couple
announced
their divorce
late in 1950.
same year,
The
released
the
Furies,
Coincidentally,
some of the emotions
mirrored
had expe
Stanwyck
in her marriage.
rienced
Ambition,
revenge,
jeal
color this dark, moody
Western
ousy, and passion
set on a New Mexico
ranch. Walter
Huston
plays
a self-made
iron
cattle baron;
is his
Stanwyck
are well matched
willed
two
The
actors
daughter.
in principles,
no
and drive. Having
capabilities,
intention
of sharing her father's affections
with her
new
a
throws
rival,
Judith Anderson,
Stanwyck
had
pair of scissors at her during her first visit to the
ranch.
Huston
admires
his daughter's
Initially,
to
and
accedes
her
the
wishes,
pluck
reinforcing
of
the
dominant
female.
stereotype
manipulative,
In time, however,
the love between
father
and
turns
to
hatred
after
the
cattle
baron
daughter
a leader of a
her friend,
of squatters
group
hangs
SPRING 1993 47
or her man.
she
Sometimes
saloon,
to do so, as in The Violent
the villain
her child, her
must
become
Man (1954). In this film, she plays a scheming
ranchwife in love with her disabled husband's
to save her land or be with
She is unable
in this violent melodrama,
but
she wants
that does not stop her from trying.26
brother.
the man
Jones in Cattle Queen of
Sierra Nevada
As
Montana,
is a rancher's
Stanwyck
is determined
who
daughter
to file on her deceased
father's
land. After
trailing
Texas to Montana,
she runs
a
local villain.
land-grabbing
a herd
from
of cattle
into competition
from
a weak
Overcoming
script, Stanwyck holds her own against both the
villain and local Blackfeet Indians who side with
Barbara Stanwyck was quick to credit acting as the
source of stability and happiness in her life. "My work
is responsible for all the good things that have come
into my life," she commented in the late 1950s. This
LosAngeles Examiner photograph was taken inOctober
1937. Courtesy Hearst Newspaper Collection, University of
Southern California Library.
Here
the villain.
she goes beyond
the traditional
can
care of her
woman-as-civilizer
she
take
role;
a
self more
than adequately,
and when
she uses
men
on
is
she
what
the
first
the
frontier
gun,
doing
order. But in this film she is not
did?establishing
on her own,
her
for she received
acting
entirely
mission
from aman,
her father, who
filed the claim
in her name
and then brought
her to Montana
the
in
the
female
Westerns,
year. Frequently
following
the motivation
rather than
for the action
provides
it. In this film, her father's death
initiates
sanctions
in retaining
her actions
the family
land. Still, she
does not accomplish
her goal alone. Ronald Reagan
is the mysterious
cover agent who
and government
her recover
the
gunman
helps
the Indians. After
vanquish
under
land and
the last battle he
to which
all you want
remarks,
now,"
she replies,
This
"Including
you?"
simple
ending
reflects
the mores
of the 1950s, when
the heroine,
even one as competent
as Sierra Nevada
is
Jones,
"You
on
their ranch,
appropriately
named
"The
Furies."
Stanwyck then teams up with a gambler (Wendell
Corey), though she "admits that she doesn't like
being in love but capitulates when that man does
come
to force
around,"
together
they attempt
vicious
into bankruptcy.24
the
her father
Despite
ness
in this film,
character
she is
of Stanwyck's
is
with
her
and
energy,
strong,
riding
brimming
in her western
she is comfortable
surroundings.25
and
in the 1950s,
six westerns
Stanwyck
completed
a clear-headed,
she portrayed
hard
and in each
intent on keeping
either her land,
driven woman
have
not fulfilled without
her
a man/husband
to complete
life.
In 1956, Stanwyck starred opposite Barry Sullivan
Queen, a title she earned by rounding
them
cattle?mavericks?and
up stray
branding
as her own. As Kit Banion,
owns
also
the
Stanwyck
most
Maverick
of
the
and
works
town,
Saloon,
in The Maverick
closely
with
the Wild
triangle
soon
since
closely,
Bunch?very
she is in love with Sundance
(Scott Brady). A love
develops,
however,
to be
a Pinkerton
when
she
falls
in
lovewith a new faro dealer (Sullivan) she has hired.
But
he
proves
detective
on
the
trail of the Wild
comes
Western
after an earlier
Bunch. The climax to this weak
Kit dies
in which
when
speech
in Sullivan's
she tells him
despite her Virginia upbringing,
as
who
with
her. And,
go everywhere
gunmen"
some
the movie's
title song reveals,
"There was
was
sixteen
that attracted
thing about her since she
to the Maverick
the men
most
Queen,
dangerous
woman
ever seen!"28 When
the West's
the U.S.
arms
that,
she is not "fit" for
him. By the standards
of the day, the bad woman
cannot have the hero,
and she has become
the bad
woman
virtue
of
her
maverick
business
deal
by
ings, although she "did what
where
she
Stanwyck
Western
Fuller
is."27
and
Sullivan
arrive
in another
co-starred
in the 1950s, Forty Guns (1957). Samuel
wrote,
and
produced,
directed
own master.
Again,
a
woman,
"stallion-riding
Stanwyck
leader
Barbara
Stanwyck,
confrontation.29
title
to be
When
themarshal
preparations
^^^H^H^^H
for
an
awards
attorney Bernard S. Jefferson, Urban League board president,
Brazier,
Urban
League
executive
forty gunmen
ride
into
town
to free him. Ericson then kills Barry on his wedding
day, provoking Sullivan to kill him. In the closing
^^^âBl!!^^BBBps
discusses
jails Stanwyck's brother (John
she and her
Ericson),
an outlaw
plays
of a band of hired
center,
(Gene Barry)
their lives and leads to the film's final dramatic
this violent
'
^^^^^^^^^^B^B^Bît^^^
(Sullivan) and his brother
to establish
law and order in Cochise
County,
is less than
Arizona,
Soon,
Stanwyck
friendly.
an attraction
on
based
however,
develops,
opposi
tion to one another,
and
this attraction
dooms
she had to do to get
film, initially called Woman with a Whip?a
that symbolized Stanwyck's determination
her
Marshal
director.
Stanwyck
was
a
program
with
left, and Wesley
R.
at
the
presenter
April 1956 ceremony. Courtesy Hearst Newspaper Collection, University
California Library.
of Southern
SPRING 1993 49
r^^^n
^ - s
-
'?'
**-' ^3B
1HHVB
a
during
bathing
scene,
and
professionalism
foregoing
determination
a stunt
not
double
only
won
so that
her
made
a member
of
their
Brave
Dog
cameraman
the
the admiration
the respect of the Blackfeet Indians who appeared
they
..
^^m
Society,
in the movie.
citing
her
could
of co-star
They were
"very
hard
shoot
Ronald
"**i^**a
HI
the icy waters
(1954), Barbara Stanwyck braved
filming Gztf ZeQueen ofMontana
While
r~?1
^^^ÎHA
^^^^^^^k,
jK^^^^b
her
Reagan
of a mountain
lake
at close
but
Such
range.
her
also earned
so impressed by her tenacity that
work?rare
for a white
woman/'
Courtesy RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., and Arts Special Collections, UCLA.
battle,
Sullivan,
Stanwyck,
Ericson
uses
ignoring
shoots
as a shield,
sister
his
but
his personal
toward
feelings
them both, killing
Ericson.
The
original script called for Sullivan to kill both Stan
and Ericson,
but the studio objected,
and she
scene
wounded
final
instead.
The
finds
only
Sullivan
town
and
humbled,
leaving
Stanwyck,
after him. Again,
because
of stringent
cul
running
tural prescriptions
for acceptable
female behavior,
wyck
was
so des
cannot win
the bad woman
the good man,
her
this
is
heroine
left
loveless.
prowess,
pite
American
film critics denounced
this picture
but
as
it
and
served
it,
Europeans
applauded
possibly
an
the
Leone
for
violence
of
the
inspiration
Sergio
Westerns"
of the 1960s.30
"spaghetti
next
Western
took the form of a cap
Stanwyck's
narrative
that
issue of
the sensitive
tivity
explored
ran
racial mixing.
"Go ahead
and hate me, Hook"
style
V'i^^^^^^^^^^^^B
HiH*
^^^^^H
chief rather than killing herself. Her only hope for
compassion
erant Hook,
comes
and understanding
from
with whom,
after her husband's
she eventually
finds love. Although
the tol
death,
she clearly
deserved
the community's
for enduring
respect
her captivity,
the climate
of the 1950s was not con
or
to
ducive
of the issue
sympathy
understanding
of miscegenation.32
Although
Trooper Hook was
Stanwyck's
last
Western
forsake
film, she did not
feature-length
over
her favorite
Then
she
old,
genre.
fifty years
was well aware of the
in
American
culture,
liability,
of aging, but was
adamant
that she still had some
thing to contribute to her profession. Mindful by
the mid-1950s of the possibilities of acting for tele
she conceived
the idea of aWestern
series
a woman,
but
not
convince
the
she
could
starring
want
to offer one.
networks
action
shows
"They
"
and have a theory
that women
don't do action,
retorted.
"The
fact is, I'm the
Stanwyck
angrily
in the world.
action
actress
I can do horse
best
vision,
ABCs "The Big Valley/' which debuted in 1965,
featured Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley, the
matriarch of awealthy San Joaquin Valley family
in 1870s California. The role allowed Stanwyck
to bring her characterization of the independent
woman
western
from
films
to
trying to be
patriarch of
the
Visual
munication
clan.
and Alameda
Courtesy
ABC
Newspaper
to prove
bying
on the big
moved
from the dominat
screen,
away
Stanwyck
a woman
female
role
and
villainous
played
ing,
whites
scorned
because
she was
whom
captured
Indians and subsequently
lob
and
in ABC's
"The
After forty years in film, often portraying
Com
on
the storyline
for Trooper Hook,
released
posters
I saved myself
in 1957. "Hate me
because
from
. . . because
a
torture
I
their
chief
gave
Apache
by Apache
as Victoria Barkley
Stanwyck's
bore
fruit,
Big Valley."
Group.
son!"31 In this film, her last Western
and Ihave the scars
it."33 By the fall of 1965,
for a Western
series
finally
she debuted
while
television,
rejecting the notion that she was
female version of Ben Cartwright,
"Bonanza"
drags and jump off buildings,
gave birth to
a son. As Cora Sutliff,
is a brave,
deter
Stanwyck
woman
mined
whose
love for her son gives her the
to face, and live down,
the disapproval
of
strength
a
her
Joel McCrea,
community.
prejudice-driven
man
for the sixth time in her movie
career,
leading
a
"rescues"
who
her
sergeant
cavalry
plays Hook,
her
and returns her to her husband.
return,
Upon
both her husband and the townspeople shun her
for becoming the sexual partner of the Apache
the
self-willed
had a clear
heroine,
Stanwyck
idea of how
to play Victoria,
she wanted
the heroic matriarch
itwas
of the Barkley
clan. And
not in velvet and lace but as "a real frontier woman,
see
not one of those crinoline-covered
things you
in most Westerns."34
the role,
Before
she accepted
sure that the
she made
her
understood
producers
a
"I'm
of
the
lead
character.
interpretation
tough
"Don't
old broad
from Brooklyn,"
she told them.
I'm not. If you want
try to make me into something
someone
to tiptoe down
in
the Barkley
staircase
crinoline
and politely
ask where
the cattle went,
a
was
not
another
Nor
That's
me."
get
girl.
Barkley
was
a
woman
"mother
knows
best"
she
character;
to argue
who was willing
with
her
and disagree
children.
her
sexist
Despite
Stanwyck's
language,
were
feminist
clear in her interpretation
leanings
in "The Big Valley"
of the script. As a result,
Stan
to
transferred
television
the
wyck
strong,
indepen
on the
dent Western
she had developed
heroine
silver screen.
SPRING 1993 51
Set in the 1870s in California's San Joaquin Valley,
the
series
on
centered
the powerful
and wealthy
Barkley family and their interactions with
settlers
area.
in the surrounding
initial reviews
Although
were
soon
the show
and
lukewarm,
improved
an enthusiastic
As the widowed
gained
following.
matriarch
with
three sons and one daughter,
Stan
wyck
appeared
in all but seven of 112 episodes.
carried
the segment,
She either completely
shared
a
it with
stars or some
of talented
variety
guest
or
of the family,
member
appeared
briefly when
someone
as
else starred.
Linda
Evans
appeared
Audra, the only Barkley daughter; Richard Long
played Jarrod, the oldest son and a lawyer; Peter
Breck played Nick; and Lee Majors was Heath, the
illegitimate
son
of Victoria's
late husband.
Again
ahead of the times, Stanwyck wanted Majors
play
the widow's
illegitimate
son,
but
to
the network
was horrified at the idea and retained the original
of Majors
casting
as his
father's
bastard
A close family relationship developed
child.35
among the
cast. As
out her
had done with
others
Stanwyck
through
a
to help
she
made
effort
career,
special
Evans and Majors.
Under
the
the less-experienced
novices
both
actress's nurturing
improved
guidance,
to love and respect
their acting
skills and came
a televi
become
their mentor.
Evans, who would
in the
sion superstar
for her role in "Dynasty"
1980s, grew especially fond of Stanwyck. She said of
me
"She
effect on her career:
taught
Stanwyck's
in
to
which
is
the most
career,
my
important
thing
. . . and when
Iwork with
be a professional
peo
say 'you can tell who
ple, they always
taught you
the business
because
about
very profes
you're
to her for that."36 The
I'm very grateful
sional.'
special affection that developed
Valley"
Here,
was
cast members
late in her life, was
important
the sense
had eluded her. Understandably,
ment
was
keen
when
the
among "The Big
series
to Stanwyck.
of family
that
her disappoint
was
canceled
was
at her strongest?
Barkley
Stanwyck
and
clear-headed,
capable,
loving,
strong. She loved
an
the role and gave it her utmost,
Emmy
winning
Victoria
for her performances in 1966 and additional nomi
nations in 1967 and 1968. But she insisted that she
was
tion
no
"female
Ben Cartwright"
to reviewers
who
frequently
Barkley clan to the Cartwrights
1969, and "The Big Valley" set no longer served as
home.
her surrogate
a
was
role for
The Barkley
heroine
significant
was
Western
It
the
and
adult
first
only
Stanwyck.
a woman
that went
the lim
who
beyond
featuring
of saloon
ited roles
singer,
prostitute,
spunky
or some other varia
wife,
ranchwoman,
pioneer
woman
tion of the good woman/bad
dichotomy.37
took
excep
the
compared
of NBC's
equally
"Bonanza"
series.
"Our
is much
popular
family
she insisted.
"Our family behaves
like any
stronger,"
. . .
normal
family. We fight, argue, discuss
things.
The woman
I'm playing has plenty of battles with
a very
minds
vital person.
So are her
of their own."38
Despite
were
the two series
Stanwyck's
protestations,
indeed
similar, since both starred lone parents who
were
advice
and guidance
for their
ready with
an adven
children
and occasionally
grown
enjoyed
on their own.39
ture or romance
role in "The Big Valley" was her last
Stanwyck's
as a Western
in
heroine.
The series was
dropped
1969 as a result of weak
Nielsen
and
the
ratings
in popularity
decline
of the Western
genre,
although
to air in
the program
continued
syndication
during
the 1970s and can still be seen. The actress
contin
her boys.
She's
sons.
They have
ued to perform in television specials into the 1980s
and was
in 1983 for an Emmy
for her
as the
domi
outstanding
wealthy,
performance
in
mini-series
the
matron,
Carson,
neering
Mary
"The Thorn
Because
Birds."
she looked
younger
than her years,
needed
Stanwyck
special makeup
to "age" her appropriately
for the role. Once
again
on horseback,
the rest of
Stanwyck
kept up with
the cast, despite
her seventy-five
years.40 Her final
came in 1985, as Constance
TV appearance
Colby
a
in "Dynasty
II: The Colbys,"
Patterson
weekly
series
its debut
that made
that November
and
nominated
reunited Stanwyck with her "Big Valley" daugh
ter, Linda
in
and
Evans.
Stanwyck lived out the few remaining years of
her life quietly in her long-time Beverly Hills home.
Just as she had refused
her graying
the
hair,
with
to conceal
either her age or
come
actress
to terms
had
the inevitability of aging in youth-obsessed
to know
"You have
when
California.
in
had
the
sun,"
hour,
your
your
you've
place
I think it's
"To be old is death
she advised.
here.
southern
kind of silly. Be glad you're healthy. Be glad you
^^^^Kj-^1
/j^^^lkl
''
^^^^^ttwL^jSm
I ^^^V
^^^^^^^1
^bbbbbbbbbbI
The cast of "The Big Valley" may have provided Barbara
Stanwyck with a surrogate family during a time of
personal
between
sadness.
Stanwyck
A
and
close
her
relationship
fellow
actors,
and
developed
she made
it a point to provide guidance for novices Linda Evans
and Lee Majors, teaching them about professionalism
in Hollywood.
Pictured left to right are Peter Breck,
Stanwyck,
can
get
out
eighty-two,
of bed
on your
Stanwyck
own."
followed
Finally,
longtime
at age
Evans,
Majors,
Newspaper
Group.
friends
and Joan Craw
sometime
rivals, Bette Davis
to
in
heart
death,
ford,
congestive
succumbing
no
on
At
1990.
her
failure
20,
request,
January
funeral service was held, and the actress was buried
and
quietly
and without
and
right Four Star International,
fanfare.41
SPRING 1993 53
Richard
Long.
Copy
Inc. Courtesy Alameda
I
She
although she failed towin the profession's
an Oscar.
accolade,
In her
own
inimitable
highest
fashion,
her disappointment.
away
explained
Stanwyck
'Tve had my time and itwas
for
lovely. I'm grateful
room for
I have
to move
it. Now
aside and make
I
else. I'm not jealous of anybody. Well,
somebody
take it back. Maybe Miss Hepburn
won
three
academy
awards.
But
for Barbara Stanwyck. What
had,
sing
because
no
unhappy relationship with her son Dion Fay seemed
she
to reinforce
to succeed.43
How
her determination
accounts
much
of this personal
for
unhappiness
is unclear,
the strong roles she chose
but the paral
lels are suggestive.
sad songs
the hell! Whatever
I
didn't
it?"42 From a street-tough
a
versatile
and accomplished
she grew into
it worked,
city kid,
on
the strength
of her roles as aggressive,
women.
Inmany ways,
determined
lived
Stanwyck
women
out roles on the big screen
that ordinary
have
emulated
but for cultural
constraints
might
so.
that prevented
them from doing
her career, a tension
existed between
Throughout
women
the strong Western
she so often portrayed
in film and her private
life. Her
film roles mirror,
in great part, her longstanding
need
for security
and independence.
Two divorces
and a continually
actress
career,
long and illustrious
a
maintained
Barbara
per
Stanwyck
public
a
sona that masked
person.
private
complex,
one of
stars
became
greatest
Hollywood's
her
Throughout
JSf
^-"^?~"^
^_m._I_I_2_jl_^_?_>_
Like
many
professional
peacefully
women
life,
coexist.
of
Barbara
today,
come
to a
place
the one hand,
On
to
Stanwyck
struggled
where
domestic
and
Stanwyck's
roles
to balance
career
mirrored
her
private
responsibilities
her apparent
and
could
need
for
security and independence. On the other, her roles hid a vulnerability to the demands
of her work and the cultural limitations placed on the lives of most women of her time.
The photo is from The Lady Eve (1940). Courtesy Universal City Studios, Inc., and Pacific
Film Archives.
Barbara Stanwyck,
nominated
for
fourAcademy Awards during her
^
wM
career, was passed over for the honor
l^^?
each time. She never expressed any
regretspublicly, however. In 1982,
the theAcademy ofMotion Picture
Arts and Sciencesgave her a special
Oscar as a tribute to her lifelong
in the films of Jane Fonda such
aHorseman
and The Electric Horseman,
she
the
between
the
sub
necessary
represented
bridge
woman
asser
missive
and Fonda's
good
stereotype
was a forerunner
tive women.
she
to
Fonda
Clearly,
and as such, served as an important
role model
for
other actresses.
One
of the many
of
interpreters
heroines?Maureen
Western
O'Hara,
Joanne Dru,
are
and Jean Arthur
took the
others?Stanwyck
civilizer role and expanded
it beyond
the standard
Also
to her success was her
contributing
as a stuntwoman,
in this activity
for
she
ability
her energies
and determination
directed
into phys
scenes
and sometimes
ically demanding
dangerous
as well
that commanded
the respect
of the public
as of her co-stars
and film crews. Doing
her own
stuntwork
further
enhanced
her roles as strong,
women.
was her con
assertive
Equally
important
as the
to television
tribution
mother"
"founding
approach.
[
'
I
kHH^^B^H^^H^^^B
aN^^^Sh^^^^H^^B
f<:
J^hSIHI^^B^^^B
was
In her Western
far
roles,
then,
Stanwyck
more
than a faint-hearted
heroine
for
the
waiting
hero to rescue her. Although
she was not quite
the
woman
in
who
the
independent
totally
appeared
1970s, personified
^^ml^^r^^
I
i
Bp^L^^jf^^B
^m:
IJ^
^^""CÎb ^B
iMflll^^H^H^^h^l
^^^^^^fl^^^^M^BB
mB^^^^^^^^^^^^m.
infilm.Courtesy
achievements
ABC I
VisualCommunication
andAlameda|
Newspaper
Group.
ft
as Comes
âel
^ *^ \K^^m^m
^K
on the small
a role
of this
that
screen,
image
contrasted
with
the traditional
and
wife
sharply
as Harriet Nel
mother
portrayed
by such actresses
son and Donna
In "The
Reed.
Big Valley,"
Stanwyck
the role she had developed
in films,
pioneered
thus fulfilling one of her long-held dreams and
the essence
illustrating
mon
heroine.
0
See notes beginning
of her
career
as an uncom
on page 96.
Sandra Schackel, assistant professor of history at Boise State
is the author of the award-winning
Social House
University,
Women
in
Public
New
Mexico,
keepers:
Shaping
Policy
1920-1940
Press, 1992). Her
(University of New Mexico
teaching and research fields include the history of American
women and theAmerican West, with special interest in popu
lar culture. She contributed "Images of Women
in Western
Film" to Shooting Stars: Heroes
inWestern
and Heroines
Film (Indiana University Press, 1987).
SPRING 1993 55

Barbara Stanwyck: Uncommon Heroine - ScholarWorks

Transcription

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