Barbara Was Born Ruby Katherine Stevens, On July 16, 1907, To Byron And Catherine McGee Stevens, Both Originally From Chelsea, Massachusetts, But Then Residing At 246 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y.

She Was The Last Of Five Siblings, Whose Names All Started With The Letter M. Maud, Mabel, Mildred, And Malcolm Byron. Whether They Ran Out Of M Names Or Were Trying To Break The Streak With Ruby, Isn't Known.

What Is Known Is That When Little Ruby Was Three, In 1910, Her Mother Died Of A Head Injury Suffered In A Streetcar Accident. Two Weeks After Her Funeral, Their Father Byron Left To Work On The Panama Canal And Was Never Heard From Again.

The Kids Were Bumped Around To Foster Homes For Several Years, Possibly Giving Her The Edge We See Coming Through In Her Films. Her Comment In Later Years About Those Times Was "Maybe Hapless, But Not Helpless, Not Hopeless. We Were Free To Work Our Way Out Of Our Surroundings, Free To Work Our Way Up, As Far As We Could Dream"

Time Passed As Time Does, Seeing The Two Older Girls Marry, And Mildred Accepted The Chore Of Raising Her Younger Brother And Sister. Mildred Worked As A Showgirl, And Ruby Learned The Routines, Too

Briefly Considering Religion As Her Calling, It May Have Been The Thought From Her Earlier Childhood Of Writing Her Name In Chalk On The Sidewalk To See How It Would Look Up In Lights, Or The Three Ordinary Jobs She Held After Quitting School, Or Maybe The Femme Fatales In The Lurid Dime Novels That Kept Her Fascinated Through Many Hours Of Reading, That Set Her Off At Age 15 As A $35 A Week High Kicking Chorus Girl In A Times Square Nightclub And Launched Her Show Business Career

Ruby Continued To Pay Her Show-Biz Dues, High Kicking, And Taking Bit Parts In Roadshows. She Was A Ziegfeld Follies Girl In 1922, The 5'3", 115 Pound Chorus Girl Doing A Striptease On Stage Behind A White Screen, And Gaining A Reputation As A Trooper, But Not Working As An Actress

Ruby's Break Came In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, During 1926, While Performing A Preview Showing Of The Play "The Noose". The Play Bombed, And The Reviews Were Bad, But Her Small Performance Was Noted As An Unexpected Highlight. The Play Was Rewritten And Her Part Was Expanded To Where This Chorus Girl Had To Carry The Third Act, Pushing Ruby Into The Path Of Stardom.

It Was During This Time That She Was Given Her New Name, Taken From A Poster Of The Play "Barbara Frietchie" About The Fictional American Civil War Union Heroine, And Starring The English Actress, Jane Stanwyck

She Met Her First Love? Or Mentor During Her Tenure In The Play "Burlesque". Rex Cherryman Was An Older Actor That Held Barbara's Fascination, And Things Looked Promising For The New Couple, When Cherryman Died Suddenly On August 10, 1928, While En Route To Paris. He Was Cremated In France And Barbara Never Saw Him Again.

On August 26, 1928, In A Simple Ceremony, She Married Actor Frank Fay, And In March 1929, The Newlyweds Stepped Off The Train In California, To Begin New Careers In The Talkies

Frank Never Made Anything But Trouble In Hollywood, Both For The Studios, And For Barbara. It Was Common Knowledge That The Screenplay For "A Star Is Born" Was Based On The Battling Fays. With Several Rewrites The Executives In Hollywood Were Still Worried Enough To Seek Legal Advice In Case An Invasion Of Privacy Lawsuit Was Launched By Frank. Even After Their Divorce In Mid February 1936, Frank Continued To Harrass Barbara And Their Adopted Son, Anthony Dion

Barbara Married Hollywood Idol Robert Taylor After A Long And Pleasant Friendship, At The Behest Of MGM's Louis B. Mayer. The Wedding Party Packed Up And Headed Off On May 13, 1939. Somewhere Along The Way It Was Decided Not To Marry Until After The Stroke Of Midnight, In Order To Avoid The Unlucky 13th, A Saturday.

After Their Wedding, Robert Spent His Wedding Night With His Mother, And Barbara Went Back To Work On "Golden Boy", With William Holden. Holden Had Telegrammed The Taylors With A Congratulatory Message Saying "Gosh, What A Blow", Perhaps Planting A Seed In Barbara's Mind That Eventually Lead Them To Become Lovers, Until William's Drinking Ended Their Relationship

Robert Liked Being Married To Barbara, He Said, Because It Caused Him To Get More Tough Guy Roles, Like Boxers And Cowboys, And Helped Dispel The Hollywood Pretty Boy Image That He Detested

Despite Reports To The Contrary, (She Called Him "Junior", He Called Her "The Queen") Barbara Loved Robert Whole-Heartedly. Destined Perhaps For Greatness, But Not Blessed With Happiness, It Was Rumored That Barbara Rode Her Men.

Robert Went To Rome To Begin Filming "Quo Vadis", And It Was Reported That He Made Sure Any Young Starlets On The Set Had Very Little Free Time (In Particular, Lia de Lio). Barbara Flew To Rome. Their Divorce, Final February 15, 1952, Was Roberts Idea. She Was Devastated. She Said Years Later That "Sometimes The Chip On My Shoulder Wasn't Exactly Invisible." Despite Being The Highest Paid Female In The United States In 1944, Barbara Insisted That She Receive 15% Of Robert's Pay For Life. She Told Him In Rome That He Would Pay, And She Was A Woman Of Her Word.

In The Film "Union Pacific" Joel McCrea Tells Barbaras Character "Till The Right Man Comes Along And Gives Her The Spanking She Deserves", To Which Her Character Replies "Ah, That's The Man She Dreams Of" This Could Have Been A Case Of Art Imitating Life. Barbara Always Wanted A Man That Was As Strong Of Character As She , But Seemed Always To End Up With Wimpy Little Excuses For Men

Shooting The Film "Forty Guns" The Stuntmen Refused To Be Dragged By A Horse Down The Street, Saying It Was Too Dangerous. Barbara, At Nearly Fifty Years Of Age, Said That She Would Do It. After THREE Takes Of The Scene, It Was Done And Barbara Was Badly Bruised. But She Did It.

As With Most Actors In Hollywood, The Scripts Were Getting Poorer And Opportunity Was Drying Up. Unlike Most Other Actors Of Her Period, However, She Was A Millionaire. Barbara Then Turned Her Talents To The Small Screen. Most Seemed To Be In Unfulfilling Roles, But Barbara Got Her Wish To Portray A Strong Woman In "The Big Valley"

She Showed That She Wasn't The Iron Lady When Robert Taylor Died June 8, 1969. The Perfect Mask Fell At His Funeral As She Cried Loudly And Uncontrollably. While He Had Never Been The REAL Man She Wanted, Undeniably She Still Carried A Torch

Barbara Spent Much Time At Home Perfecting Her Lifelong Hobby Of Smoking Too Much, Occasional Visits With Gin, And Coffee All Day. Sporadic Work Kept Her Focused And Moving. She Lost A Kidney In 1971 While Filming A TV Pilot With Lee J. Cobb, Finishing The Days Filming Before Going To The Hospital.

At 74, She Was Beaten And Robbed In Her Bedroom By An Intruder Who Woke Her Up At 1:00 A.M. Destroying Any Peace Of Mind She May Have Had To Her Safety Or Security.

One Year Later, She Again Got To Play A Wild Woman In "The Thorn Birds" Finding The Filming Strenous, But Still Working

It Seemed That Fate Was Never To Let Her Be Happy Or Content. Her House Burned To The Ground In 1985. All Her Mementos Destroyed, She Seemed Most Upset Losing Robert Taylors Love Letters

Her Long Career Only Gave Her Three Emmy Awards, And A Lifetime Achievement Award From The Screen Actors Guild, But Garnered The Respect From Everyone In Show Business

Henry Fonda, Forty Years After Their First Meeting, Would Say About Barbara, "Everyone Who Is Close To Me Knows I've Been In Love With Barbara Stanwyck Since I Met Her. She's A Delicious Woman. We've Never Had An Affair, She's Never Encouraged Me, But Dammit, My Wife Will Verify It, My Daughter And Son Will Confirm It, And Now You All Can Testify To The Truth"

William Holden, Every April 1, Sent Barbara Two Dozen Roses And A White Gardenia, Marking The Anniversary Of The Filming Of "Golden Boy"

From 1929 To 1965 She Gave Us Eighty-Eight Movies Ending With "The Night Walker", Then Followed That With 20 More Years Of Television. Frank Capra Would Write Years Later, "Naive, Unsophisticated, Caring Nothing About Makeup, Clothes Or Hairdos, This Chorus Girl Could Grab Your Heart And Tear It To Pieces".

Barbara's Health Failed Dramatically During The Last Five Years Of Her Life, Causing Her To Have Fewer And Fewer Friends And Visitors. Even Days That Were Good Physically Were Clouded By Loneliness And Despair.

Late In The Afternoon Of January 20, 1990, Barbaras Heart Stopped And She Died In Her Sleep, Feeling Very Alone And Forgotten. She Had No Funeral And Has No Grave. Her Body Was Cremated, And The Ashes Scattered Over Lone Pine, California, Near Sequoia And Kings Canyon National Parks.