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Barbara Stanwyck called Victoria Barkley ''an old broad''
Stanwyck said the character "combines elegance with guts."
Plenty of us have been advised not to turn work into our entire lives. Most people need hobbies, they need room to relax, to socialize without thinking of their jobs. To be professional 24/7 is enough stress to drive any normal person insane.
When we say "normal people," we are not, of course, referring to superhuman Barbara Stanwyck. Not only was Stanwyck a talented actor in both film and television, but she was also addicted to her work as a performer.
"Look, I'm no Sunday painter," said Stanwyck during an interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald. "I have no hobbies. I don't enjoy needlework. Jigsaw puzzles bore me. I've seen cathedrals all around the world - and anyhow, how much can a person travel?"
Stanwyck called television "the hardest work an actress can undertake," yet with her grit and determination, she made starring in a series like The Big Valley seem like easy work.
"I love westerns," said Stanwyck. The actor was first drawn to the television project by Lou Edelman, a familiar face. Edelman gave her the Western she had been searching for, with a modern sort of twist.
"When Lou Edelman, who produced my anthology series a few seasons back, suggested that I play the widowed head of a pioneer family with varied investment interests, I was interested," said Stanwyck. "I liked the character because she was no crinoline-covered gal who waltzed down the staircase to ask how the cattle were. She's an old broad, that's what she is, but she combines elegance with guts. I thought it would be fun playing her."
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