Barbara Stanwyck (22 page)

An early publicity photograph of a strikingly young-looking Stanwyck when she was under contract to Columbia Studios.

Adolphe Menjou and Stanwyck take their masks off for a moment in the Frank Capra tearjerker
Forbidden
(1932).

Stanwyck's young missionary falls under the nihilistic sexual influence of a Chinese warlord in Capra's
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
(1933).

Pawed daily by nasty men, Stanwyck's Lily Powers drowns in self-pity in one of the opening scenes of the scandalous
Baby Face
(1933).

A war-loving Robert Young tries to save Stanwyck from the corrupting influence of communism in the alarming right-wing comedy
Red Salute
(1935).

In the mid-1930s, Stanwyck was liberated from money and man troubles in a series of screwball comedies, including
The Bride Walks Out
(1936).

As her stardom grew, Stanwyck became more comfortable—and more beautiful—in glamorous clothes, often created by designer Edith Head.

In
The Mad Miss Manton
(1938), Stanwyck attempts to play a flighty Park Avenue debutante.

A rare photo of Stanwyck and her adopted son Dion (c. 1940). Courtesy of Photofest.

Stanwyck in her favorite role, the clothing-challenged Stella Dallas (note the fuzzy shoes).

William Holden is a violinist turned boxer in love with Stanwyck's Lorna Moon in
Golden Boy
(1939).

Stanwyck clings tightly to matinee idol second husband Robert Taylor.