Barbara Stanwyck Movies

Barbara Stanwyck is ranked as the 11th Greatest Actress on AFI's Top 50 Stars list
Barbara Stanwyck is ranked as the 11th Greatest Actress on AFI’s Top 50 Stars list

Want to know the best Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) movies?  How about the worst Barbara Stanwyck movies?  Curious about Barbara Stanwyck box office grosses or which Barbara Stanwyck movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Barbara Stanwyck movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Ok before we get started on this Barbara Stanwyck movie page let’s get some behind the scenes information out of the way. This page comes from the suggestion from Alecia Murphy .  Also, I consider myself to be a huge movie buff, but looking at Barbara Stanwyck’s movie list, I realize I have only seen two of her movies. So how can I write a movie page that ranks all of her movies from best to worst? Other than the fact that I have watched many episodes of The Big Valley…..the answer is with Ultimate Movie Rankings Score. Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score looks at the box office success, the critical response from critics and audiences and award recognition. UMR Score then takes all the information and through a mathematical equation gives each movie a score……100 would be a perfect score.

After a successful stage career, Barbara Stanwyck moved to Hollywood in 1928. She proved herself to be versatile enough to appear in all genres of the movies. She was equally at home in dramas like 1937’s Stella Dallas and 1941’s Ball of Fire as well as comedies like 1940’s Remember the Night and 1941’s The Lady Eve. She also excelled in playing femme fatales in movies like 1944’s Double Indemnity and 1946’s The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers. Yet another genre she specialized in was  westerns, as she appeared in many westerns though out her career.

Her peak years were between 1937 and 1949. The 1950s saw her constantly working but the quality of the movies started to diminish. One of her last starring roles was opposite Ronald Reagan in 1954’s The Cattle Queen of Montana. Cattle Queen is the movie that made Reagan think about other career options…that turned out well for him. As the 1960s came into play Stanwyck stopped making movies and concentrated her career on television projects. She starred in The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961-62), The Big Valley (1965-1969), and The Colbys (1985-86). In her later years, Stanwyck did lots of work for charity. She passed away January 20, 1990.

Her IMDb page shows 107 acting credits from 1927-1986. This page will rank 79 Barbara Stanwyck movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, some hard to find information on movies and movies not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings.

Barbara Stanwyck in 1948's Sorry Wrong Number
Barbara Stanwyck in 1948’s Sorry Wrong Number

Barbara Stanwyck Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Barbara Stanwyck Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Barbara Stanwyck movie received.
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Use the sort and search button to make this a very interactive page.  For example type in Henry Fonda in the search box to see all of the Fonda/Stanwyck movies….or type Clark Gable in the search box to bring up all of the Gable/Stanwyck movies….or type in….I think you get the idea.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Barbara Stanwyck Table

  1. Twenty-seven Barbara Stanwyck movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 34.17% of her movies listed. California (1946) was her biggest box office hit….I excluded Hollywood Canteen from this question.
  2. An average Barbara Stanwyck movie grosses $87.10 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  50 of Barbara Stanwyck’s movies are rated as good movies…or 63.29% of her movies.  Double Indemnity (1944) was her highest rated movie while The Bride Walks Out (1936) was her lowest rated movie.
  4. Fifteen Barbara Stanwyck movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 18.98% of her movies.
  5. One Barbara Stanwyck movie (1953’s Titanic) won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 1.26% of her movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00.  450 Barbara Stanwyck movies scored higher than that average….or 63.29% of her movies.  Double Indemnity (1944) got the the highest UMR Score while The Maverick Queen (1956) got the lowest UMR Score.
Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in 1944's Double Indemnity
Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in 1944’s Double Indemnity

Possibly Interesting Facts About Barbara Stanwyck

1. Barbara Stanwyck’s birth name was Ruby Catherine Stevens. She became an orphan at the age of four when her mother passed away and her father went looking for work in Central America and was never heard from again.

2. So how did Ruby Catherine Stevens become Barbara Stanwyck? In 1926 she was appearing in a play called The Noose. After the success of the The Noose she decided to change her name. Her character’s first name in the play was Barbara while another one of the actresses in the play had a last name of Stanwyck. So she put the two names together and created Barbara Stanwyck.

3. Barbara Stanwyck received 4 Oscar® nominations for Best Actress. Those four movies were…1937’s Stella Dallas, 1941’s Ball of Fire, 1944’s Double Indemnity and 1948’s Sorry Wrong Number. She never won an Oscar® but she received an Honorary Oscar® Award in 1982: “For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting.”

4. Speaking of Oscar® talk….here is a crazy piece of trivia. Barbara Stanwyck’s 82 movies received 28 Oscar® nominations in various categories over the years.  The only Stanwyck movie to win an Oscar®?…..1953’s Titanic.

5. With earnings of $400,000 in 1944, Stanwyck earned the title of highest paid woman in the United States.

6. Barbara Stanwyck was married twice in her life. Her first marriage was to Frank Fay from 1928-1935. During their marriage they adopted Dion Anthony as their son. Her second marriage was to fellow actor Robert Taylor. They were married 1939 to 1950. Another relationship of note was between Stanwyck and Robert Wagner. They started their relationship when he was 22 and she was 45….it lasted 4 years.

7. The American Film Institute ranks Barbara Stanwyck as the 11th greatest actress of all-time. While Entertainment Weekly ranks her as the 40th Greatest Movie Star of All-Time.

8. Barbara Stanwyck’s nicknames on the set were Missy or The Queen.

9. Barbara Stanwyck is the Godmother of Tori Spelling.

10. Check out Barbara Stanwyck‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Barbara Stanwyck appeared in 82 movies from 1929-1964. Of those movies, I was unable to find all the information needed to calculate Movie Scores for 3 of her movies. Those movies were 1927’s Dance Magic 1929’s The Locked Door and 1929’s Mexicali Rose

Not enough stats for you?  Well here are Adjusted Worldwide Grosses On 30 Barbara Stanwyck Movies (in millions)

  • Annie Oakley (1935)  $62.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Baby Face (1933) $47.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ball of Fire (1941) $256.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • BF’s Daughter (1948) $105.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Blowing Wild (1953) $143.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Bride Walks Out, The (1936) $75.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Christmas in Connecticut (1945) $284.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Cry Wolf (1947) $165.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • East Side, West Side (1949) $138.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ever in My Heart (1933) $50.60 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Executive Suite (1954) $187.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Gambling Lady (1934) $68.80 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Gay Sisters, The (1942) $214.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • His Brother’s Wife (1936) $186.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Illicit (1931) $65.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Jeopardy (1953) $69.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ladies They Talk About (1933) $38.90 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Lost Lady, A (1934) $39.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Man With The Cloak, The (1951) $36.20 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Meet John Doe (1941) $232.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Moonlighter, The (1953) $40.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • My Reputation (1946) $260.60 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Night Nurse (1931) $81.80 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Purchase Price, The (1932) $37.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • So Big! (1932) $51.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • These Wilder Years (1956) $38.00 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • This Is My Affair (1937) $171.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • To Please A Lady (1950) $146.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Two Mrs. Carrolls, The (1947) $219.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Woman in Red, The (1935) $43.40 million adjusted worldwide box office

Steve’s Barbara Stanwyck’s You Tube Video

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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

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52 thoughts on “Barbara Stanwyck Movies”

  1. Somehow I managed to lose many many comments on my Barbara Stanwyck page..thankfully that has not happened much as my Barbara Stanwyck page moves to its third new home. I do miss those comments…so sad….wiping eyes.

    Reply

  2. Hey Cogerson,
    yes I have consulted Warner Bros. ledger, I can give you the numbers concerning Stanwyck’s pictures if you want. Tell me.
    And I have another question : how have you find (or calculate) your numbers concerning Stanwyck’s pictures at Columbia ?

    Reply

  3. Hello,
    Thanks for this interesting page.
    I am a little surprised to see that Annie Oakley has a box office of $66.80, and The Bride Walk out only $26.20. Because in the “RKO film grosses / C.J. Tevlin Ledger”, Annie Oakley has a total earning of 620,000 and The Bride Walks Out a total earning of 670,000.
    Is it possible there is an error ?
    On which number have you calculated your “Adjusted for Inflation Box office” ?
    Cordially,
    Paul

    Reply

    1. Hey Paul….when I wrote this page I did not have the RKO ledgers….and I used one of her biographies to help determine the box office totals. Since writing the Stanwyck page I have found and secured the RKO ledgers and the MGM ledgers. Looking at the RKO ledgers…it Annie Oakley with a rental total of 435,000 (North America Totals Only) and Bride Walks Out With 502,000 in rentals…that will lower Annie’s rankings…probably not do much for the Bride though.
      Thanks for keeping me on my toes….it seems we have lots of the same sources for older movies…do you have the Warner Brother ledgers?

      Reply

  4. glad that “ladies of leisure” was in the top 20,was her first starring role,the single greatest emotional performance I ever saw!

    Reply

    1. Hey Michael….I have not seen Ladies of Leisure yet…but your comment…and the fact that it is a Frank Capra directed movie and stars Barbara Stanwyck makes it move up on my “To see list”…thanks for the suggestion.

      Reply

  5. I think you missed out on two Stanwyck films. One is Broadway Nights (1927) a silent, her 1st movie, and 2. Variety Girl (1947) (I’ve seen her in it and own it. Thanks fr the great list. Is Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid a film or move? he is up posed to be in it and Stolen Jools (1931 April 4). Check these for accuracy. They could be wrong. Thanks!
    Sandy

    Reply

    1. Hey Sandy. Let’s see I did not include Broadway Nights because she was uncredited in the role. The Stolen Jools was a short so it did not make the list. Variety Girl was a cameo for her…amongst many many stars. As for Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid…it was clips of her movies and not a new role. Great catches on all 4 movies…I am impressed. Months later and I have still not found anything on the missing 10 movies at the bottom of the page. Thanks for the comments and the visit.

      Reply

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