Barbara Stanwyck

  

I guess the first time I saw Barbara Stanwyck was when she played Victoria Barkley on The Big Valley TV series. I was just a kid but I could tell there was something special about that silver-haired star!

Later, as a teen, I watched Sorry, Wrong Number and my brain almost exploded! LOL What a fearsome talent she had. The character, Leona, that she played in that film, was a snooty, bitchy brat but as the story unfolds, piece by piece, you begin to be terrified for her safety and at the end ... wow, just sheer, breathtaking horror! Don't watch this film if you're even slightly paranoid, if you do you won't sleep for weeks!

Once AMC showed up (back when they actually aired classic movies - you do know their initials stand for American Movie Classics, right?) I saw lots more of Barbara Stanwyck's films and loved her more and more. And then TCM (Turner Classic Movies) came along - and my Fate was sealed - I became a Stanwyck fanatic! 

What was so special about her? Well, she was never afraid to take risks. She played sympathetic characters, like Stella Dallas or Ann Mitchell from Meet John Doe (though she started out kind of self-centered at first), but she was irresistible as a hardhearted dame just out for whatever she could get, usually from some sappy man. And she could make you love her, even while she was tearing the guy to shreds. 

My favorite of her films is The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. I've only found a couple of stinkers in her catalogue of characters, and they were mostly because she was miscast. She was a force to be reckoned with, no matter what role she played. I totally lost my illusions about the worthiness of the Academy Awards when I learned that she never won an Oscar. They finally gave her a token statue after she grew older. That sucked, honestly.

Anyway, she was a wonderful, exciting performer. You can never get bored watching Miss Barbara Stanwyck!