Barbara Stanwyck

Be it Marwyck, the Irish farmhouse with stables and brood mares where she lived in the '40s, or the Broadway apartment she shared in the '20s with two other chorus girls, Barbara Stanwyck has always lived in a style that says actress . On the big front door of the Beverly Hills house where she now lives is a small mirror--for guests to check their faces: It's the perfect movie star front door. And Barbara Stanwyck answers it herself.

Decades after being first denigrated and then forgotten, the glorious class of films known as pre-Code are finally getting the attention they deserve, especially in the world of DVDs. Early sound films made before the moralistic Production Code was enforced in 1934, these movies were racier and more candid than their successors, dealing with subject matter like drugs, premarital sex, prostitution and suicide that the Code later made taboo. The Warner Archive Collection has been a pioneer in this reissue area -- their current releases in the "Forbidden Hollywood" series Volumes 4 and 5. They feature ever-watchable stars like William Powell in "Lawyer Man," James Cagney in "Hard To Handle," Barbara Stanwyck in "Ladies They Talk About" and Warren William, a.k.a.

THE Stanwyck centenary tribute is a perfect example of Hollywood assuaging its guilt by honoring one of its own, giving her the accolades that for some reason it withheld from her for so many years ["She Wasn't Common," May 13]. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also tried to make amends for its slight in denying her a "real" Oscar by awarding her a career achievement statuette in 1982. No matter. We who have admired her films know that the early careers of some of the Golden Age's brightest stars were given impetus by having appeared in support of her -- Bette Davis, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, to name a few. In her films, Barbara Stanwyck managed to avoid the mannerisms and nervous tics of Davis, did not possess the mystery of Garbo, nor the classic beauty of Dietrich, nor the glamour of Crawford, nor the hauteur of Hepburn.

What four-time Oscar nominated actress was born Ruby Catherine Stevens? Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck, star of such films as "Stella Dallas" and "Double Indemnity" as well as the television series "The Big Valley," escaped injury Friday afternoon in a fire that caused damage of $1.5 million to her Trousdale Estates home. Stanwyck said she was alerted by the alarm in her house on Loma Vista Drive at about 3:40 p.m.

Barbara Stanwyck, whose talent, blue eyes and pulsating voice made her a dominant presence during 60 years of stage, screen and television appearances, died Saturday of heart failure. She was 82. Miss Stanwyck, whose career spanned the chorus line, vaudeville, movies, television and won her three Emmys and an honorary Oscar, had been admitted to St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica about a week ago. "She died shortly before 5 p.m.

Most of the best movies of veteran screen star Barbara Stanwyck, who died last week, have been released on video. The bulk of her quality movies were made between the late '30s and the mid-'50s. Here is the cream of that period--all available on cassette: "Stella Dallas" (Nelson, 1937). In one of the great no-holds-barred soap operas of the 1930s, Stanwyck plays a good-hearted, lower-class woman who consistently puts her daughter's happiness ahead of her own.

A woman deeply in lust--is it a comedy or a tragedy? It's both, of course, as you can see tonight and Friday on Orange County's alternative screens. The 1941 comedy classic "The Lady Eve" plays tonight at Chapman University as part of its screwball comedy series. Considered by some to be the best of the films written and directed by Preston Sturges, "The Lady Eve" contains both sophisticated humor and all-out slapstick.

These acclaimed actors worked multiple times for the director. Barbara Stanwyck The Oscar-nominated legend made five films with Capra, including 1941's "Meet John Doe. " Gary Cooper The star earned his first Oscar nomination for Capra's 1936 "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. " He also starred in "Meet John Doe. " Bing Crosby "Der Bingle" teamed up with Capra for the 1950 comedy "Riding High" and the 1951 romantic farce "Here Comes the Groom. "

How do I like Barbara Stanwyck? Let me count the ways: She confirmed that short women (5 feet, 3 inches) could be regal and sexy and formidable. She could say more walking slowly down a staircase ("Double Indemnity") or putting on a shoe ("The Lady Eve") than most actresses could in a five-page monologue. She managed somehow to be tough and brassy as well as sensitive and expressive; too many stars stick with one or the other.

These acclaimed actors worked multiple times for the director. Barbara Stanwyck The Oscar-nominated legend made five films with Capra, including 1941's "Meet John Doe. " Gary Cooper The star earned his first Oscar nomination for Capra's 1936 "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. " He also starred in "Meet John Doe. " Bing Crosby "Der Bingle" teamed up with Capra for the 1950 comedy "Riding High" and the 1951 romantic farce "Here Comes the Groom. "

Fred MacMurray was a 26-year-old, square-jawed guy from Beaver Dam, Wis., when he became a Hollywood star, signing a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1934. Two years later he'd earned enough money to marry his sweetheart, model Lillian Lamont. They had what Mommie-Not-So-Dearest Joan Crawford called "one of the few happy and well-adjusted marriages. " MacMurray was a straight shooter, a hard-working, All-American success who batted the ball out of the park in a 50-year film and TV career.

Farley Granger, a handsome young leading man during Hollywood's post-World War II era who was best known for his starring roles in the Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers "Strangers on a Train" and "Rope," has died. He was 85. Granger died of natural causes Sunday at his home in Manhattan, said a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office. In a career that began as a teenager when he was discovered in a local play by a casting director for producer Samuel Goldwyn, Granger made his film debut as a Russian youth in the 1943 film "The North Star.

The "world's oldest profession" has long been a favorite subject in novels, plays, films and television. Real-life madams such as Sydney Biddle Barrows, a.k.a. the Mayflower Madam, and Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood Madam, have captured the attention of the media and filmmakers for decades. And let's face it, Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) on the long-running western series "Gunsmoke" wasn't just serving drinks to Marshal Dillon ( James Arness) and the boys at the Long Branch saloon — and the second floor of her establishment was more than just a boarding house (even if censors of the time wouldn't allow anyone to say that)

THE Stanwyck centenary tribute is a perfect example of Hollywood assuaging its guilt by honoring one of its own, giving her the accolades that for some reason it withheld from her for so many years ["She Wasn't Common," May 13]. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also tried to make amends for its slight in denying her a "real" Oscar by awarding her a career achievement statuette in 1982. No matter. We who have admired her films know that the early careers of some of the Golden Age's brightest stars were given impetus by having appeared in support of her -- Bette Davis, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, to name a few. In her films, Barbara Stanwyck managed to avoid the mannerisms and nervous tics of Davis, did not possess the mystery of Garbo, nor the classic beauty of Dietrich, nor the glamour of Crawford, nor the hauteur of Hepburn.

LIKE anyone with a passion for the golden age of Hollywood, when the studios actually made films for adults instead of only pretending to, I thought I knew all about Barbara Stanwyck. I was wrong. I'd seen many of her dozens of features and been mightily impressed by her trifecta of knockout performances in "Stella Dallas," "Double Indemnity" and "The Lady Eve."

LIKE anyone with a passion for the golden age of Hollywood, when the studios actually made films for adults instead of only pretending to, I thought I knew all about Barbara Stanwyck. I was wrong. I'd seen many of her dozens of features and been mightily impressed by her trifecta of knockout performances in "Stella Dallas," "Double Indemnity" and "The Lady Eve."

What four-time Oscar nominated actress was born Ruby Catherine Stevens? Barbara Stanwyck

Frances Dee fondly remembers her plum role in the 1933 movie "Blood Money." "She was a kleptomaniac, a nymphomaniac and anything in between," Dee recalls with a smile. In "Design for Living," also from 1933, Miriam Hopkins' character, Gilda, shares a Paris flat with two men. "It's true we have a gentlemen's agreement," she says on-screen, "but unfortunately I'm no gentleman."

A woman deeply in lust--is it a comedy or a tragedy? It's both, of course, as you can see tonight and Friday on Orange County's alternative screens. The 1941 comedy classic "The Lady Eve" plays tonight at Chapman University as part of its screwball comedy series. Considered by some to be the best of the films written and directed by Preston Sturges, "The Lady Eve" contains both sophisticated humor and all-out slapstick.