Barbara Stanwyck is “Stella Dallas”

Stella Dallas (1937) is an American drama film directed by King Vidor and starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Other members of the cast include Barbara O’Neil, Alan Hale, Marjorie Main, and Tim Holt. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty.

Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, young Stella Martin (Stanwyck) manages to catch the eye of Stephen Dallas (John Boles), a well-bred business executive. The two fall in love and marry. For a time they’re happy, but after the birth of their daughter, Laurel (Anne Shirley), the marriage begins to deteriorate. Stella wants to dance and rub elbows with the upper-class folks at the country club. Stephen expects his wife to be content to stay at home with their child, a much quieter existence than the life Stella desires. They eventually divorce, with Stella having the main custody of Laurel. Stella is determined to give her daughter the things she never had, but when Stephen begins a new relationship, Stella feels her closeness with Laurel slipping away. Always putting her daughter’s happiness above her own, Stella faces a choice no mother should have to make.

Stanwyck received the first of her four Best Actress Oscar nominations for her role as Stella. Stanwyck was so determined to get the part that she submitted to a screen test—something unheard of for a star of her caliber. She convinced the director (King Vidor) and the producer (Samuel Goldwyn) that she could be convincing as a mother, especially as the character ages into midlife.

Anne Shirley, who turned 18 during the filming of Stella Dallas had this to say about Stanwyck: “She was prepared to the very top of her ability. Dialogue learned perfectly. Hair, clothes, energy ready.”

King Vidor (1894 - 1982) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter whose career successfully spanned the silent and sound era. His most famous and successful film from the silent era was The Big Parade (1925) starring John Gilbert. In the sound era, he directed Northwest Passage (1940), Comrade X (1940), and Duel in the Sun (1946). Considered an actor’s director, Wallace Berry, Robert Donat, Barbara Stanwyck, Jennifer Jones, Anne Shirley, and Lillian Gish all received Academy Award nominations under Vidor’s direction.

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

John Boles (1895 – 1969) was an actor and singer and a star of both silent and sound films. Boles is probably best known for playing Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931). Once sound pictures emerged, he starred in several popular musicals. He starred opposite Irene Dunne in Back Street (1932) and The Age of Innocence (1934). He starred with Shirley Temple in Curly Top and The Littlest Rebel both released in 1935. Once his film career ended, Boles went into the oil business.

Anne Shirley, John Boles, and Barbara Stanwyck

Anne Shirley (1993) began acting in silent movies when she was only four years old. She started out as Dawn O’Day, but when she portrayed Lucy Maud Montgomery’s heroine Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, she took that name for her own. Shirley progressed from child star to adult roles; she was one of many actresses who tested for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind, eventually losing out to Olivia de Havilland. Her last starring role was in Murder, My Sweet (1944). After completing that film, she retired from acting at the age of 26. Shirley was married three times. Her first husband was the actor John Payne.

Stella Dallas trivia

• The movie’s popularity spanned a radio series that lasted for 18 years.
• For her role, Stanwyck bleached her hair and wore padding to appear heavier later in the film.
• Samuel Goldwyn wanted Ruth Chatterton to play Stella, but she turned it down.
• Barbara O’Neil made her screen debut in the film and received encouragement from Stanwyck. O’Neil said Stanwyck was “a marvelous, warm-hearted person…”

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Discussion questions

1. Was Stanwyck convincing in the role of Stella? Was she worthy of the Best Actress nomination?
2. Did the mother-daughter relationship between Stella and Laurel ring true?
3. What did you think of John Boles?  Could he have been more understanding of  his young wife?
4. Anne Shirley was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Did she give an Oscar-worthy performance?
5. The Best Actress Academy Award competition was pretty stiff the year Stanwyck was nominated. The other actresses in contention were Greta Garbo in Camille (co-starring Robert Taylor who was married to Stanwyck), Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth, Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born, the winner was Luise Rainer in The Good Earth. Did the Academy get it right?