Barbara Stanwyck: ''The Barkleys are much tougher than the Cartwrights''

Stanwyck thought the Big Valley household could beat up the Bonanza family.

Ding ding ding!

When we were kids, there was nothing as fun as matching up two of our favorite famous figures for an imaginary fight. Even as grown-ups, it's fun to imagine what it'd be like if Godzilla battled Frankenstein. Or what if RoboCop fought Darth Vader? These mashups can even lead to big box-office bucks with the likes of Freddy Vs. Jason and Alien Vs. Predator

It's just fun to imagine who would win between our favorite media properties.

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For Barbara Stanwyck, there was no guesswork involved in determining the outcome of one famous family brawl-for-all. In a 1965 interview in the Daily News, Miss Stanwyck, completely unprompted, gave her thoughts on a clash with the Bonanza clan.

"Our TV family, the Barkleys, are much tougher than the Cartwrights in Bonanza," said Stanwyck, seemingly apropos of nothing. At the time of this interview, The Big Valley hadn't aired yet. Still, Stanwyck was positive that her fictional family could beat up Lorne Greene's fictional family.

"My sons are men," Stanwyck remarked, taking aim at Adam, Hoss and Little Joe. 

"We behave like any normal family. We fight, argue, and discuss things. We're not at all like some of the families on television today. I don't know where the hell these people are. I never see anybody like them in real life."

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14 Comments

sttvr 14 days ago
No chance, Hoss on his own but don't forget Adam was a quiet badass, little Joe would throw down with anyone and often did and ol Ben could be mean as hell. Always wished they had made an episode where hop sing was a quiet martial arts expert like the Mr Miyagi of the west but at least he could cook.
Vernonmo 5 months ago
Sounds like miss Stanwyck was living in fantasy land! To even think any of the Barkley men could stand a chance against hoss? Why he could probably whip all 3 by himself. He was incredibly strong.
Pacificsun 14 months ago
Sounds like Miss Stanwick understood publicity.

Let's see, 431 episodes compared to 114.

Was it really necessary to see families like the Cartwrights in real life??
cripplious 16 months ago
you can use Audrey Barkley to take out out Little Joe since he allows his hormones lead him. Then its 5 on 3
Peter_Falk_Fan 16 months ago
Including 6′ 4″, 300+ pounds Hoss? Pretty sure he could win any one-on-one with any of the Barkleys.
Vernonmo Peter_Falk_Fan 5 months ago
I would go as far as saying hoss would more than likely whip all 3 of the Barkley men. Hoss was incredibly strong and he proved many times that he could take much more than the average man. There were several episodes where hoss would whip 2 or 3 guys! And little Joe was a pretty mean scraper, he could fight really well.
BrittReid 16 months ago
And Audra was much better looking than any Cartwright.
Bapa1 16 months ago
So would Eugene fight Hop Sing?
KJExpress Bapa1 16 months ago
No, Silas would do that!
LoveMETV22 16 months ago
There's one solution:
A match between the two casts. Indoor or outdoor. To make it interesting it could be a Cage Match.
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Pacificsun LoveMETV22 14 months ago
Wow. That's a lot of photoshop work!! 😊
Runeshaper 16 months ago
I wouldn't bet against Barbara Stanwyck!
Pacificsun Runeshaper 14 months ago
No. Am guessing she ruled that Set. Absolutely.
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