Barbara Stanwyck: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: A FLAWED, BUT FAIR MINDED, BIOGRAPHY
Review: DiOrio's intentions are good, and he does the best he can considering that he received no cooperation from Stanwyck's friends and closest colleagues. Thus the author is forced to rely primarily on the countless articles written about the actress over the years. The problem is, these articles were usually written carelessly, with the "facts" often in conflict ---- or even made up out of whole cloth. In short, this is a fair-minded cut-and-paste biography.

Nevertheless, I found some of the magazine exerpts interesting, and DiOrio has collected some especially fine quotes (such as director Douglas Sirk's). HOWEVER, I MUST CALL ATTENTION TO A MAJOR ERROR: In describing Stanwyck's slashed artery incident (during her marriage to Bob Taylor) DiOrio states that the accident occurred in October 1941 and infers that it may not have been an accident, but instead a desperate act resulting from her despair over Taylor's affair with "Johnny Eager" co-star Lana Turner. This rumor was first written about by Jane Ellen Wayne in her worshipful biography of Robert Taylor (in which Wayne trashes Stanwyck). How DiOrio came up with the October 1941 date is a mystery, because it is incorrect --- and yet it has now been repeated in two subsequent books about Stanwyck: Jane Ellen Wayne's follow-up to the Taylor book (yes she went to the poisoned well again!), and the even more absurd and error laden book by Axel Madsen.

FOR THE RECORD: Stanwyck's accident occurred in February 1940, long before Taylor worked with Turner. Shortly afterward, in a letter dated February 27, 1940, Stanwyck wrote to a friend explaining that she was injured while trying to open a stuck window: "I carelessly hit it with the heel of my hand. The glass broke and my wrist was badly cut."

Clearly DiOrio's errors are not deliberate or malicious, and the book does have some merit --- but it cannot be considered definitive.