Barbara Stanwyck became a chorus girl at the age of 15 and danced in nightclubs and in touring companies before being picked to play the role of a cabaret dancer in the Broadway play The Noose in 1926. At this time she adopted the name Barbara Stanwyck. Her performance in the leading role in Burlesque (1927) resulted in movie offers, and she appeared in her first leading role in a motion picture, The Locked Door, in 1929. She went on to appear in more than 80 films, among the more notable of which were Union Pacific and Golden Boy (both 1939), Meet John Doe and The Lady Eve (both 1941), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Clash by Night (1952), and Executive Suite (1954). She received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), and Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), but she did not win an Oscar until 1982, when she received an honorary award. She played a wide variety of roles but was best in dramatic parts as a strong-willed, independent woman of complex character. She worked mainly in television during the 1960s and early '70s, notably as a proud widow, matriarch of the Barkley clan, in "The Big Valley" (1965-69), a western series.

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