Barbara Stanwyck ‘Always Had Feelings’ for Ex-Husband Robert Taylor

The funeral of veteran actor Robert Taylor, who died from lung most cancers at 57 in 1969, was held on the Forest Garden Church of the Recessional in Glendale, California. Governor Ronald Reagan, a longtime buddy of the actor, gave the eulogy. Display legend Barbara Stanwyck, who had been Robert’s first spouse, wore a yellow swimsuit and shed tears.

Regardless of harm emotions and the movement of time, Barbara, a four-time Oscar nominee whose credit included Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity and TV’s The Massive Valley, might always remember Robert, her second and remaining husband. The pair had been wed for 12 years, parted methods in 1952 and reunited on display screen for 1964’s The Evening Walker. “Barbara and I’ve remained good mates,” Robert stated.

Barbara later confessed it wasn’t as straightforward as that. “Shedding anyone you’re keen on by loss of life or divorce is tough,” she confided in 1981. “Bob and I didn’t keep mates. We turned mates once more. Time does maintain issues.’’

Barbara Stanwyck Thought Robert Taylor Was ‘Enjoyable’

Brooklyn-born Barbara arrived in Hollywood in 1929, recent from Broadway. The previous Ziegfeld woman discovered her good area of interest enjoying tough-talking however passionate ladies. “Barbara was extremely versatile,” says Jeanine Basinger, former professor of movie research at Wesleyan College. “She might sing and dance, do comedy with impeccable timing, and she or he was a very good dramatic actress. She was additionally in a number of nice movies which have held up over time.”

Barbara was on the cusp of her first Oscar nomination when she met Robert at a cocktail party. “My first thought of [Robert] was, ‘He’s a number of enjoyable,’” she recalled. The pair found that they each shared an excellent humorousness, a love of the outside and an unpretentious demeanor. “He was on the top of his bodily magnificence at the moment,” says Dan Callahan, creator of Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Lady. “He was very, very stunning.”

Their friendship blossomed right into a romance, however Barbara was leery of dedication. She had solely lately divorced her first husband, Frank Fay, a vaudeville comic who’d develop into bodily abusive when his spouse’s star eclipsed him. “He was hitting her in public locations like nightclubs,” explains Callahan, who says the final straw got here when Frank endangered their adopted son, Dion. “He threw Dion into the pool when he was just a bit child. That was it for her.”

The romance of Barbara and Robert carried on till Photoplay revealed an “exposé” about Hollywood’s well-known single lovers in 1939. “Barbara Stanwyck shouldn’t be Mrs. Robert Taylor,” the article learn. “However she and Bob have constructed ranch properties subsequent to one another. Commonly, as soon as per week, they go to Bob’s mom, Mrs. Brugh, for dinner.”

Fearing a scandal, MGM Studios insisted the couple marry as quickly as potential. “And in these days, the studio actually did personal you,” notes Callahan. They eloped to San Diego on Might 13, however waited till midnight to trade vows to keep away from being wed on an unfortunate date. That evening, Barbara and Robert drove again to L.A. as a result of each had been in the course of filming new films. “It was my second marriage ceremony in three days,” Robert stated at a press convention. “Friday I used to be married to Hedy Lamarr on the studio. I might scarcely hold from smiling in entrance of the cameras as a result of I used to be pondering of my very own plans and the way we had saved them secret.”

Inside Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck’s Break up

However being compelled into marriage didn’t sit effectively with Robert, and it fueled his resentment. On the onset of World Struggle II, he enlisted and served as a flight teacher for 3 years. “There was a interval the place they weren’t seeing that a lot of one another,” says Callahan. And once they had been dwelling, the studio demanded they do photograph shoots collectively. “The stress on having to place up this entrance is a part of what started to fade their marriage.”

In 1950, Barbara flew to Italy to affix her husband, who was filming the epic Quo Vadis. In Venice, the couple had been photographed driving in a gondola, visiting a church and feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco. It was one other try to generate good publicity. “The gossip columns had been saying Robert had been going round with one of many youthful ladies within the film,” says Callahan. When Barbara confronted her husband in non-public and requested if he wished a divorce, Robert shocked her by saying sure. “Sooner or later, it’s important to save face,” Callahan says about Barbara’s quick agreement to the split. “However she did at all times have emotions for him.”

Barbara would produce other lovers — she loved a four-year romance with Robert Wagner within the Fifties — however she by no means remarried. Robert Taylor additionally by no means utterly acquired over Barbara. When he was on his deathbed in 1969, his second spouse, German actress Ursula Thiess, invited Barbara to go to him within the hospital and attend his memorial. “Barbara went to his funeral and wept,” says Callahan. “It was not standard habits for her. She additionally saved images of him till the day she died.”