July 16
MISSY
She was born Ruby Stevens on this day in 1907. Later, she was fondly called ‘Missy’ by the film crews who worked with her. We knew her as Barbara Stanwyck, her stage name. She used it for the first time, at age 18, when she won a leading role in a Broadway play titled, Noose.
This was not the last time Ms. Stanwyck would win a leading role. In fact she was nominated for Best Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences four times out of her 82 films. Her Oscar nominations were for her roles as Stella Dallas in Stella Dallas (1937), Sugarpuss O’Shea in Ball of Fire (1941), Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944), and Leona Stevenson in Sorry Wrong Number (1948).
Barbara Stanwyck easily crossed over from film to TV as the matriarch, Victoria Barkley, in The Big Valley, and later, as Mary Carson, in the miniseries, The Thorn Birds, and as Constance Colby Patterson in the prime time soap, The Colbys. This time she wasn’t just nominated, she won. Her first Emmy was in 1960-61 for her lead role in The Barbara Stanwyck Show. She received another Emmy for her Big Valley performances in 1965-66 and one for The Thorn Birds in 1983.
Her popularity increased over the years as did her pay check. In 1944, Ms. Stanwyck was listed by the government as the highest paid woman in the U.S., at $400,000 per year. Not bad for a chorus girl from Brooklyn.
We miss you, Missy.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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