Barbara Stanwyck ‘Always Had Feelings’ for Ex-Husband Robert Taylor: She ‘Wept’ at His Funeral

The funeral of veteran actor Robert Taylor, who died from lung cancer at 57 in 1969, was held at the Forest Lawn Church of the Recessional in Glendale, California. Governor Ronald Reagan, a longtime friend of the actor, gave the eulogy. Screen legend Barbara Stanwyck, who had been Robert’s first wife, wore a yellow suit and shed tears.

Despite hurt feelings and the flow of time, Barbara, a four-time Oscar nominee whose credits included Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity and TV’s The Big Valley, could never forget Robert, her second and final husband. The pair were wed for 12 years, parted ways in 1952 and reunited on screen for 1964’s The Night Walker. “Barbara and I have remained good friends,” Robert said.

Barbara later confessed it wasn’t as easy as that. “Losing somebody you love by death or divorce is hard,” she confided in 1981. “Bob and I didn’t stay friends. We became friends again. Time does take care of things.’’

Barbara Stanwyck Thought Robert Taylor Was ‘Fun’

Brooklyn-born Barbara arrived in Hollywood in 1929, fresh from Broadway. The former Ziegfeld girl found her perfect niche playing tough-talking but passionate women. “Barbara was extremely versatile,” says Jeanine Basinger, former professor of film studies at Wesleyan University. “She could sing and dance, do comedy with impeccable timing, and she was a really good dramatic actress. She was also in a lot of great films that have held up over time.”

Barbara was on the cusp of her first Oscar nomination when she met Robert at a dinner party. “My first thought about [Robert] was, ‘He’s a lot of fun,’” she recalled. The pair discovered that they both shared a good sense of humor, a love of the outdoors and an unpretentious demeanor. “He was at the height of his physical beauty at that time,” says Dan Callahan, author of Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman. “He was very, very beautiful.”

Their friendship blossomed into a romance, but Barbara was leery of commitment. She had only recently divorced her first husband, Frank Fay, a vaudeville comedian who’d become physically abusive when his wife’s star eclipsed him. “He was hitting her in public places like nightclubs,” explains Callahan, who says the last straw came when Frank endangered their adopted son, Dion. “He threw Dion into the pool when he was just a little kid. That was it for her.”

The romance of Barbara and Robert carried on until Photoplay published an “exposé” about Hollywood’s famous unmarried lovers in 1939. “Barbara Stanwyck is not Mrs. Robert Taylor,” the article read. “But she and Bob have built ranch homes next to each other. Regularly, once a week, they visit Bob’s mother, Mrs. Brugh, for dinner.”

Fearing a scandal, MGM Studios insisted the couple marry as soon as possible. “And in those days, the studio really did own you,” notes Callahan. They eloped to San Diego on May 13, but waited until midnight to exchange vows to avoid being wed on an unlucky date. That night, Barbara and Robert drove back to L.A. because both were in the middle of filming new movies. “It was my second wedding in three days,” Robert said at a press conference. “Friday I was married to Hedy Lamarr at the studio. I could scarcely keep from smiling in front of the cameras because I was thinking of my own plans and how we had kept them secret.”

Inside Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck’s Split

But being forced into marriage did not sit well with Robert, and it fueled his resentment. At the onset of World War II, he enlisted and served as a flight instructor for three years. “There was a period where they weren’t seeing that much of each other,” says Callahan. And when they were home, the studio demanded they do photo shoots together. “The pressure on having to put up this front is part of what began to fade their marriage.”

In 1950, Barbara flew to Italy to join her husband, who was filming the epic Quo Vadis. In Venice, the couple were photographed riding in a gondola, visiting a church and feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco. It was another attempt to generate good publicity. “The gossip columns were saying Robert had been going around with one of the younger women in the movie,” says Callahan. When Barbara confronted her husband in private and asked if he wanted a divorce, Robert surprised her by saying yes. “At some point, you have to save face,” Callahan says about Barbara’s quick agreement to the split. “But she did always have feelings for him.”

Barbara would have other lovers — she enjoyed a four-year romance with Robert Wagner in the 1950s — but she never remarried. Robert Taylor also never completely got over Barbara. When he was on his deathbed in 1969, his second wife, German actress Ursula Thiess, invited Barbara to visit him in the hospital and attend his memorial. “Barbara went to his funeral and wept,” says Callahan. “It was not usual behavior for her. She also kept photographs of him until the day she died.”