Barbara Stanwyck was a true charm. While most actresses of her era portrayed the dames in the movies, Stanwyck played the characters that you felt had really spent time behind the diner counter. Formerly known as Ruby Stevens, Barbara Stanwyck had both the wit and charm that made not only the director's swoon, weak-kneed, and completely fall in love with her, but huge male crowds of the famous actors like Herman Mankiewicz as well."

She was a cynical delight in screwball comedies, like "The Lady Eve" (1941). She was a touching, working-class heroine of melodramas like "Stella Dallas" (1937), and a cynosure of peroxided bourgeois evil as the Venus fly trap of "Double Indemnity" (1944)" -People.

Other essential films are 1940's "Remember the Night," and 1941's "Ball of Fire." She knew how to win the audiences heart, and with talent like hers, there was nowhere for this start to go but up. (CD) Next Photo Page