Noirvember Day 26: Barbara Stanwyck – In Her Own Words
It’s not Barbara Stanwyck’s birthday today. And it’s not the anniversary of her passing. None of her noirs were released on today’s date. Nonetheless, I’m shining the spotlight on this iconic noir veteran today. (And I know I’ve already had one Stanwyck-centric post this Noirvember, but can you really ever have enough Stanwyck?) This post isn’t focusing on the many noirs in which she appeared (including my favorite, Double Indemnity), but on the actress herself, in her own words.
Just because.
I hope you’ll enjoy what she has to say . . .
“Just be truthful – and if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
“Eyes are the greatest tool in film. Mr. Capra taught me that. Sure it’s nice to say very good dialogue if you can get it. But great movie acting – watch the eyes!”
“Put me in the last fifteen minutes of a picture and I don’t care what happened before. I don’t even care if I was IN the rest of the damned thing – I’ll take it in those fifteen minutes.”
“My only problem is finding a way to play my fortieth fallen female in a different way from my thirty-ninth.”
“A star is only as good as her last picture.”
“I’m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. Don’t try to make me into something I’m not. If you want someone to tiptoe down the Barkley staircase in crinoline and politely ask where the cattle went, get another girl.”
“Career is too pompous a word. It was a job, and I have always felt privileged to be paid for doing what I love doing.”
She said what she said. Join me tomorrow for Day 27 of Noirvember!
shadowsandsatin 
Stanwyck is my all-time favorite actress, so this post was like bonus Thanksgiving for me — thank you!
Though I dearly love her noirs (DOUBLE INDEMNITY is my favorite, too!), her pre-codes have a piece of my heart because they’re the closest thing I have to home movies of my grandmother when she was in her twenties. Like Stanwyck, Grandma was a New York broad known for her GET OUTS.
I love that pre-code Stanwyck reminds you of your grandmother. She must’ve been quite a dame.
She was a brunette to make a bishop kick through a stained-glass window (to paraphrase his serene highness, Raymond Chandler)!
Whoa! I love this quote!