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Barbara Stanwyck got her big break when she refused to perform a screen test for Frank Capra
As an actor, Stanwyck knew her worth.
Life is always teaching us lessons, the most important of all being this: Do not mess with Barbara Stanwyck.
With her extensive career in both film and television, Stanwyck was a fierce actor who wasn't willing to take any nonsense. Just ask Frank Capra who asked her to perform a screen test in order to audition for one of his films.
"No thank you," Stanwyck said her response was during an interview with The Ogden Standard-Examiner.
That's right; Stanwyck outright refused to perform a screen test for the role, and Capra, with complete confidence, gave the role to her anyhow. That decision began Stanwyck's film career, where she starred in film and television shows alike, including The Big Valley.
"I love the Valley series," she said. "You have to be a nut to like television, the hours are so tough. But I enjoy it. I've been in this business since Noah built the Ark and I know that you have to continuously adjust to the times."
Despite her lengthy experience in entertainment, Stanwyck found herself partial to the medium of television, specifically for its ability to elevate relative unknowns into superstars.
"I think television is the best media there is to become known," she said. Take some of these young people. They get in a TV series and before they are through with it, many of them are better known than some of the stars who have been in features for years. TV is much more personal than other forms of entertainment. The actors go right into the people's living rooms with them."
Stanwyck was committed to the role of Victoria Barkley because she mirrored Stanwyck's own strength and poise. "I'm not Barbara Stanwyck, I'm Victoria Barkley," she said during an interview with the Detroit Free Press. "Victoria is an old broad, that's what she is, but she combines elegance with guts. Each of Victoria's four boys and one girl has a mind of his own; none of that Mother-Knows-Best sort of nonsense."
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