Synopses & Reviews
“860 glittering pages” (Janet Maslin,
The New York Times): The first volume of the full-scale astonishing life of one of our greatest screen actresses; her work, her world, her Hollywood through an American century.
Frank Capra called her, “The greatest emotional actress the screen has yet known.” Now Victoria Wilson gives us the first volume of the rich, complex life of Barbara Stanwyck, an actress whose career in pictures spanned four decades beginning with the coming of sound (eighty-eight motion pictures) and lasted in television from its infancy in the 1950s through the 1980s. Here is Stanwyck revealed as the quintessential Brooklyn girl whose family was in fact of old New England stock…her years in New York as a dancer and Broadway star…her fraught marriage to Frank Fay, Broadway genius…the adoption of a son, embattled from the outset…her partnership with Zeppo Marx (the “unfunny Marx brother”) who altered the course of Stanwycks movie career and with her created one of the finest horse breeding farms in the west…her fairytale romance and marriage to the younger Robert Taylor, Americas most sought-after male star… Here is the shaping of her career through 1940 with many of Hollywood's most important directors, among them Frank Capra, “Wild Bill” William Wellman, George Stevens, John Ford, King Vidor, Cecil B. Demille, Preston Sturges, set against the times—the Depression, the New Deal, the rise of the unions, the advent of World War II and a fast-changing, coming-of-age motion picture industry.
And at the heart of the book, Stanwyck herself—her strengths, her fears, her frailties, losses, and desires—how she made use of the darkness in her soul, transforming herself from shunned outsider into one of Hollywoods most revered screen actresses.
Fifteen years in the making—and written with full access to Stanwycks family, friends, colleagues and never-before-seen letters, journals, and photographs. Wilsons one-of-a-kind biography—“large, thrilling, and sensitive” (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Town and Country)—is an “epic Hollywood narrative” (USA TODAY), “so readable, and as direct as its subject” (The New York Times). With 274 photographs, many published for the first time.
Review
andlt;bandgt;and#8220;860 glittering pagesandlt;/bandgt;... it ends with a cliffhanger, creating eager anticipation for Ms. Wilsonand#8217;s concluding volume... and#8216;A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True, 1907-1940and#8217; is not about the actress alone. Itand#8217;s bigger and splashier. Stanwyck knew the most notable directors, writers, actors, studio chiefs and Broadway impresarios of her day, and Ms. Wilson is interested in all of them. A remarkable array of still photographs present supporting characters like Florenz Ziegfeld, Annie Oakley, Clark Gable and Zeppo Marx, all of whom have their places in this account. An even more startling collection of movie ads and posters tells a riveting tale of sexism (about and#8216;Baby Faceand#8217;: and#8216;Youand#8217;ve never seen anything like this frank, man-to-man story of a man-to-man girl!and#8217;), even as they chronicle Stanwyckand#8217;s career... The book describes how she evolved from an emotion-wringing actress into a sullen, bad-girl bombshell into Stella Dallas, arguably the most soapily self-sacrificing mother ever seen on camera... andlt;bandgt;Regarding Ms. Wilsonand#8217;s follow-up, no studioand#8217;s publicity department could offer a better set of coming attractions.and#8221;andlt;/bandgt;
Review
"Victoria Wilsonand#8217;s monumental andlt;i andgt;Life of Barbara Stanwyckandlt;/iandgt; is not only an extraordinarily well researched and documented biography of a great star actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood, it is also a vivid portrait of the entire era in which she flourished. Her films and her private life are both chronicled in great detail in this excellently written work, the first of a two-volume labor of love that will surely stand as definitive on an important subject, Stanwyck being perhaps the most modern of all female screen stars."
Review
"Wilson gives us an appropriately large, thrilling, and sensitive biography to go with this staggering career. . . . What she discoveredand#8212;and shares in this indelible, revelatory bookand#8212;is an artist's extraordinary transformation from homeless child to one of the most magnetic stars in the history of Hollywood."
Review
"I was blown away, absorbed, riveted. What great smooth style, what brilliance, what depth. This is huge and wonderful and rich. What an achievement!" David Columbia - New York Social Diary
Review
“I am loving your Barbara Stanwyck--you bring that whole period of time so brilliantly to life. I am already in love with her and so so angry at Frank Fay! Thank you for this wonderful, delicious book!" Cathy Horyn - The New York Times
Review
and#8220;Youand#8217;ve really done it. Itand#8217;s one of the handful of truly definitive works about a great American actor. As such, it will doubtlessly come to be considered a classic. Itand#8217;s everything I expected it to be and#8211; immensely detailed, authoritative, and compulsively readable. Stanwyck chose not to write her own book, but youand#8217;ve done it for her. She would have every reason to be grateful, as do your readers.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Richly researched, this biography offers insights into the strengths and insecurities of a woman famous for her trademark toughness and vulnerability. Photographs enhance this fabulous and expansive examination of the life of an iconic American actress.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Your book is wonderful! The no-nonsense, hard working woman that was Missy, is so well described. The Hollywood history and the stories behind Missyand#8217;s individual movies were so interesting and informative. I canand#8217;t wait to start watching them again and will do so with your book on my lap. From cover to cover the book was entertaining, informative and just good readingand#8230;This will be a treasure for our family and the many generations to come.and#8221;
Review
“Monumental in every sense...sweeping and authoritative...written with verve and with great empathy and relish for her subject. The author is also shrewd about the actresss complexity and human limitations... she is smart about the films and about the history and business of Hollywood in the Golden Age. Not the least of her achievement is leaving the reader eager to read volume two.” Susan Cheever
Review
and#8220;An ambitious portrait of a young actressand#8230;Wilson provides a very real sense of Hollywood from the inside. She deeply scrutinizes every Stanwyck performance up to 1940, letting us see the actress work and, in some key roles, sweatand#8230;A first volume that should whet readersand#8217; appetite for the second.and#8221;
Review
“Wilsons book is indeed a monument of research. . . . A Life of Barbara Stanwyck will unquestionably remain the biography of record; beyond Wilsons excavation of so much that would otherwise have been lost, her book has a deep sensitivity to the seriousness and subtlety of Stanwycks craft. This is the biography not of a Hollywood phenomenon but of a serious artist.” Michelle Orange - Slate Magazine
Review
“What you have done is extraordinary. It is an amazing book, brilliantly written, enhancing the whole life, Barbaras life, happenings around her—people of the industry, people in the theater and in politics. The way you have shown her life to include other situations, all that you interject . . . it makes her life, to me, more historically important. You have brought her wonderful career magnificently to life, and as her friend, I thank you.” Geoffrey O ' Brien - BookForum
Review
"I finished your book last night with a SIGH. I wanted Volume Two immediately. What a wonderful book. I didnand#8217;t really know much about Barbara Stanwyck and now I canand#8217;t wait to see all her movies, having only seen a very few. Many congratulations on writing such a good, good book.and#8221;
Review
“Barbara Stanwyck was one of the very great loves of my life and Victoria Wilson's book told me so much more than Barbara herself could tell anybody. She has captured her loyalty--her professionalism--her anger and her undeniable will to stay in the game of life and, perhaps most importantly--her loneliness. Victoria has been ‘steel true to her.” Robert Wagner
Review
and#8220;An epic Hollywood narrative about the craft, politics and business of the industry, with Stanwyck at its center. A compelling, complicated, readand#8230; worth the journey.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;In and#8216;A Life of Barbara Stanwyck,and#8217; the accretion of detail, told simply and unemotionally, builds a living thing. A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel - True 1907-1940and#8217; does detail her lifeand#8230;But the book is also a life of Hollywood during the 1930s and America during the Depression and the way the dream factory and reality interact.and#8221;
Review
"If ever there was an actress who was ready for prime time, it is Stanwyck, and this enormously informative tribute - juicy, yet dignified, admiring yet detached - is the book to bring her to center stage." Molly Haskell
Review
“This biography, when completed, will be the last word on Stanwyck.” Anne Rice
Review
I had a great time reading about Miss Stanwyck. . .what a fabulous endeavor. I marveled at the work involved. You gave me a terrific read, and I thank you sincerely.
Review
"Altogether magnificent and, one might argue, different in kind from everything available about others in her sisterhood. And thatand#8217;s true even though it stops in 1940 before so many of Stanwyckand#8217;s greatest achievements in and#8220;The Lady Eve,and#8221; and#8220;Meet John Doeand#8221; and and#8220;Double Indemnity.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;One hopes that the wait for Ms. Wilsonand#8217;s second volume wonand#8217;t be as long as andlt;a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/world_war_ii_/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Wold War II."andgt;World War IIandlt;/aandgt;, since and#8216;Steel-Trueand#8217; is so readable, and as direct as its subject. I couldnand#8217;t put it down. . .and#8221;
Review
"The quintessential Hollywood story about a girl from nowhere who became a legendary film star through talent, hard work and determination to stay at the top. It is also a fascinating, three-dimensional portrait of theatre and film in the extravagant l930s, written with thoroughness and insights: a stunning achievement.and#8221;
Review
“Steel-True courts the definitive…The voice of Steel-True is passive, reportorial, almost choral. Applied to Wilsons landmark recovery and synthesis of 1920s and 30s Broadway and Hollywood history, it works beautifully…Wilson is a bold and determined architect, and ultimately succeeds in tracing, via some of Hollywoods most brilliant minds and celebrated careers, the evolution of both an industry and an art form during one of its most hallowed and productive periods.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
"Monumental... A vivid portrait of the entire era in which she flourished." Peter Bogdanovich
Review
“Youll love this book. The story is full of flavor with details that create a kind of chiaroscuro painted deftly with a soft brush, of our life at that time... Wilsons scholarliness on the subject of the life of a movie actress, a movie star whose career ran (she worked) for six decades, is awesome... If you are a movie fan, a filmmaking fan, a fan of Hollywood history, a filmmaker, or would be, should be, could be, or even just a person who is completely a TCM addict, this book you should be reading... I finished reading much to my disappointment (wanting more) after 860 pages.” New York Times Book Review
Review
“Immensely detailed, authoritative, compulsively readable... It will come to be considered a classic.” Leonard Maltin - Indiewire
Review
"A stunning achievement.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A fabulous and expansive examination of the life of an iconic American actress.and#8221;
Review
"A stunning achievement.” James Curtis - author of Spencer Tracy
Review
“One hopes that the wait for Ms. Wilsons second volume wont be as long as World War II, since ‘Steel-True is so readable, and as direct as its subject. I couldnt put it down. . .” Meryle Secrest
Review
“A fabulous and expansive examination of the life of an iconic American actress.” Foster Hirsch - author of The Dark Side of the Cinema; A Method to Their Madness
Synopsis
Fifteen years in the making, and#8220;860 glittering pagesand#8221; (andlt;I andgt;The New York Timesandlt;/Iandgt;), the first volume of the astonishing life of Barbara Sanwyckand#8212;one of our greatest screen actressesand#8212;explores her extraordinary range of eighty-eight motion pictures, her work, her world, and her Hollywood through an American century.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Frank Capra called her and#8220;the greatest emotional actress the screen has yet known.and#8221; Yet Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) was also one of its most underrated stars. Now, Victoria Wilson gives us the most complete portrait of this magnificent actress, seen as the quintessential Brooklyn girl whose family was in fact of old New England stockand#8230;her years in New York as dancer and Broadway starand#8230;her fraught marriage to Broadway genius, Frank Fayand#8230;the adoption of a son; her partnership with Zeppo Marx, with whom she created a horse breeding farm; her fairytale romance and marriage to Robert Taylor, Americaand#8217;s most sought-after male starand#8230; Here is the shaping of her career working with Hollywoodand#8217;s most important directors, all set against the timesand#8212;the Depression, the rise of the unions, the coming of World War II, and a fast-evolving motion picture industry. At the heart of the book is Stanwyck herselfand#8212;how she transformed herself from shunned outsider into one of Americaand#8217;s most revered screen actresses.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Volume One is the result of more than 100 exhaustive interviews with those who knew Stanwyck, many who never before had agreed to be interviewed: her family, friends, and co-workers from Lauren Bacall, Jane Fonda, and Jackie Cooper to Patricia Neal, Milton Berle, and Kirk Douglas; from Billy Wilder, Bruce Dern, and Anthony Quinn to Jane Powell, Charlton Heston, Arthur Laurents, and Sydney Lumet. and#8220;An epic Hollywood narrative,and#8221; andlt;I andgt;A Life of Barbara Stanwyck andlt;/Iandgt;includes never-before-seen letters, journals, and photographs.
About the Author
Victoria Wilson is a vice president and senior editor at Alfred Knopf. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the US Commission on Civil Rights and has served on the boards of PEN American Center, the National Board Review of Motion Pictures, the Writing Program of the New School of Social Research, and Poets andamp; Writers. She grew up on Marthaandrsquo;s Vineyard and lives in New York City and upstate New York. She is at work on the concluding volume of andlt;iandgt;A Life of Barbara Stanwyckandlt;/iandgt;, 1940andndash;1990.