I am going to leave her most wonderful performance for someone else to mention and remember THE LADY EVE. I just loved her versatility as an actress. THE LADY EVE is one of the most magnificent screwball comedies ever. Henry Fonda also sparkles in this Preston Sturgis comedy.
Even in her late years on THE BIG VALLEY, she could mop up the floor with anyone else. What a talent!
13 comments:
I liked THE LADY EVE too. Of course Stanwyck (real name Ruby Stevens) was from Brooklyn.
Her most memorable role was probaly DOUBLE INDEMNITY, but she did a lot of good work.
Jeff M.
Hear, hear. Stanwyck was in that rarified class. Her, Marlene Dietrich, and Betty Davis were for it for me from that era. When they were in a scene, you just couldn't take your eyes off of them. And it's so true of what you said of her in THE BIG VALLEY (THORN BIRDS, too).
Hard to pick a favorite movie of hers, but Ball of Fire is certainly as good as any.
I am very fond of THE MAD MISS MANTON a screwball comedy
The Big Valley without a doubt.
Stanwyck was also great in a tamer Preston Sturges movie called Remember the Night. She plays a petty shoplifter who falls in love with her prosecutor Fred Mac Murray. Oh yeah, and they were both pretty good in Double Indemnity. Funny I thought of those movies in THAT order.
I can't decide between DOUBLE INDEMNITY and SORRY, WRONG NUMBER.
Meet John Doe is a great one. Love Gary Cooper too.
love this one and Ball of Fire too.
I'll go for two of her more obscure movies, both of which, coincidently, have an interracial theme: THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN, where Stanwyck plays a missionary in China; and TROOPER HOOK, where Stanwyck plays a freed white captive who has a son fathered by the Indian chief during her captivity.
I loved it when she was balling someone out and she'd do her trademark rapid head shakes. I think she spat a few times while doing it. I'd go with DOUBLE INDEMNITY as my favorite.
Scott -- I'm also a big fan of The Mad Miss Manton!
I love Barbara in The Furies, There's Always Tomorrow, Ball of Fire, and Clash by Night.
And Remember the Night! And Baby Face!
Too many great performances. She was truly one of a kind.
Cullen, thanks for remembering BABY FACE. That pre-code classic (for those who haven't seen it) has Stanwyck literally sleeping her way to the top.
Check it out.
Jeff M.
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