There are a slew of actors and actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood who had transitioned after their movie careers were over into television. One such actress, Barbara Stanwyck, never thought she would be in a popular TV series playing in her favorite format, the Westerns, when she starred in November 1935's "Annie Oakley." Stanwyck loved the rough-and-tumble atmosphere on the set surrounding her first Western movie she was in. Thirty years later, she found herself on TV playing the part of a wealthy ranching family's matriarch in 1965's 'The Big Valley.' Ironically her Western debut in 1935 is credited as one of cinema's earliest "girl with guns' character.
Although the movie "Annie Oakley" embellishes on the shooting expert's relationship with husband Toby Walker (Preston Foster), there are many nuggets of truth in the RKO-produced biopic. In the late 1800s, the Ohio-born Phoebe Ann Mosey was one of the nation's best sharpshooters, headlining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Several parallels between Oakley's real husband, expert marksman Frank Butler, and the fictitious Toby Walker are given, including the famous 'skeet' shooting contest between Annie and Butler. The real Annie learned to hunt for her family at an early age. She earned a reputation of shooting much sought-after by local restaurants delectable quails in the head during flight so the meat wouldn't be tainted by the bullets' lead.
In "Annie Oakley," Jeff Hogarth (Melvyn Douglas), a representative to Buffalo Bill's show, was so impressed by Annie during that skeet shooting contest he introduced her to the showman. Like the real Bill Cody, he wasn't at all interested in hiring the female shooter until he saw the display of her unique and entertaining sharpshooting. He immediately signed Annie, where she became one of his show's main attractions. Annie eventually branched out beyond Bill's Wild West Show by barnstorming throughout Europe. In one memorable scene based on fact in 1890, the German Kaiser, young Friedrich Wilhelm II, the Emperor responsible for World War One, volunteered during her show to have a lit cigarette shot out of his mouth by Annie. This was the first time, besides her husband, Oakley performed this potentially fatal trick. Shooting her trusty Colt .45 at a distance, she succeeded flawlessly hitting the cigarette from his lips. History may have been different had Annie missed and shot him in the head, sparing millions of lives,.
Several film critics note the similarities between Annie and Stanwyck, including reviewers The Metzinger Sisters, who wrote, "Always a fighter, Stanwyck embodied Annie Oakley's spirit of rugged determination and confidence in one's own abilities, as can be seen in this film." By the time the actress was 28 making "Annie Oakley," she drew accolades on her acting style. "Stanwyck is splendid in the role of Annie Oakley," wrote critic Andre Sennwald of the New York Times. "This is indeed her most striking performance in a long time." It helped that George Stevens, directing his first Western, was handling the production. He would go on to direct such Western classics as 1953 "Shane" and 1956 "Giant."
In his most famous role, Native American Cheyenne actor Richard Thunderbird played Chief Sitting Bull. Film critic Pauline Kael saw how Stevens delicately handled the real-life relationship between the leader of the Sioux and Annie, describing how the director "makes some of the points about race he made later in 'Giant,' but here they're lighter and better. They seem to grow casually out of the American material; the movie feels almost improvised."
Stanwyck's "Annie Oakley" served as a basis for Irving Berlin's 1946 Broadway hit "Annie Get Your Gun," which was made into a 1950 musical film with Betty Hutton as Annie and Howard Keel as Frank Butler. The real Annie died nine years before Stanwyck's screen portrayal. Her grieving husband, Frank, 66, was so despondent he stopped eating and died 18 days later. Reportedly Annie's ashes were placed in one of her trophies and buried inside Frank's coffin.
Although the movie "Annie Oakley" embellishes on the shooting expert's relationship with husband Toby Walker (Preston Foster), there are many nuggets of truth in the RKO-produced biopic. In the late 1800s, the Ohio-born Phoebe Ann Mosey was one of the nation's best sharpshooters, headlining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Several parallels between Oakley's real husband, expert marksman Frank Butler, and the fictitious Toby Walker are given, including the famous 'skeet' shooting contest between Annie and Butler. The real Annie learned to hunt for her family at an early age. She earned a reputation of shooting much sought-after by local restaurants delectable quails in the head during flight so the meat wouldn't be tainted by the bullets' lead.
In "Annie Oakley," Jeff Hogarth (Melvyn Douglas), a representative to Buffalo Bill's show, was so impressed by Annie during that skeet shooting contest he introduced her to the showman. Like the real Bill Cody, he wasn't at all interested in hiring the female shooter until he saw the display of her unique and entertaining sharpshooting. He immediately signed Annie, where she became one of his show's main attractions. Annie eventually branched out beyond Bill's Wild West Show by barnstorming throughout Europe. In one memorable scene based on fact in 1890, the German Kaiser, young Friedrich Wilhelm II, the Emperor responsible for World War One, volunteered during her show to have a lit cigarette shot out of his mouth by Annie. This was the first time, besides her husband, Oakley performed this potentially fatal trick. Shooting her trusty Colt .45 at a distance, she succeeded flawlessly hitting the cigarette from his lips. History may have been different had Annie missed and shot him in the head, sparing millions of lives,.
Several film critics note the similarities between Annie and Stanwyck, including reviewers The Metzinger Sisters, who wrote, "Always a fighter, Stanwyck embodied Annie Oakley's spirit of rugged determination and confidence in one's own abilities, as can be seen in this film." By the time the actress was 28 making "Annie Oakley," she drew accolades on her acting style. "Stanwyck is splendid in the role of Annie Oakley," wrote critic Andre Sennwald of the New York Times. "This is indeed her most striking performance in a long time." It helped that George Stevens, directing his first Western, was handling the production. He would go on to direct such Western classics as 1953 "Shane" and 1956 "Giant."
In his most famous role, Native American Cheyenne actor Richard Thunderbird played Chief Sitting Bull. Film critic Pauline Kael saw how Stevens delicately handled the real-life relationship between the leader of the Sioux and Annie, describing how the director "makes some of the points about race he made later in 'Giant,' but here they're lighter and better. They seem to grow casually out of the American material; the movie feels almost improvised."
Stanwyck's "Annie Oakley" served as a basis for Irving Berlin's 1946 Broadway hit "Annie Get Your Gun," which was made into a 1950 musical film with Betty Hutton as Annie and Howard Keel as Frank Butler. The real Annie died nine years before Stanwyck's screen portrayal. Her grieving husband, Frank, 66, was so despondent he stopped eating and died 18 days later. Reportedly Annie's ashes were placed in one of her trophies and buried inside Frank's coffin.