Barbara Loden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Barbara Loden
Loden in 1964
Born	Barbara Ann Loden (1932-07-08)July 8, 1932 Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	September 5, 1980(1980-09-05) (aged 48) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress director
Years active	1957–1980
Spouse(s)	Laurence Joachim (m. 1954; divorced) Elia Kazan ​ (m. 1967)​
Children	2

Barbara Ann Loden (born July 8, 1932 – died September 5, 1980) was an American actress and director. She worked in both movies and theater. She is known for her unique style.

Barbara grew up in North Carolina. She started her career young in New York City. She worked as a model and dancer. Later, she joined The Ernie Kovacs Show in the 1950s. She also became a member of the famous Actors Studio. She acted in movies directed by her husband, Elia Kazan. One of these was Splendor in the Grass (1961). In 1964, she won a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway play After the Fall.

In 1970, Loden wrote, directed, and starred in Wanda. This was a very important independent film. It won the International Critics Award at the 1970 Venice Film Festival. During the 1970s, she also directed plays. She made two short films too. Barbara Loden died in 1980 at age 48.

Life and Career Highlights

Growing Up and Early Work (1932–1954)

Barbara Loden was born on July 8, 1932, in Asheville, North Carolina. Her father was a barber. She said she was a "hill-billy's daughter." When her parents divorced, she was raised by her grandparents. They lived in the Appalachian Mountains in Marion, North Carolina.

Barbara was a shy and quiet person. At age 16, she moved to New York City. There, she started working as a model. She also danced at the Copacabana nightclub. Later, she studied at the Actors Studio to become an actress.

Starting in Theater and TV (1955–1959)

Loden first appeared on the New York stage in 1957. This was in a play called Compulsion. She also acted with Robert Redford in The Highest Tree. She joined the cast of The Ernie Kovacs Show. She said Ernie Kovacs helped her a lot. He gave her a job as a stunt sidekick on his show.

Movies and Marriage (1960–1966)

Loden in Splendor in the Grass (1961)

In 1960, Loden was in Elia Kazan's movie Wild River. She played a secretary. She became more famous for her role in Splendor in the Grass (1961). In this movie, she played Warren Beatty's sister.

She played Maggie in the play After the Fall (1964). This play was written by Arthur Miller. Barbara won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for this role. She also won an award from the Outer Critics Circle. Loden said the play's story was similar to her own life.

Barbara married her first husband, Larry Joachim, in the 1950s. They had a son named Marco. Later, she married film director Elia Kazan in 1966. They had another son, Leo.

Her acting career in movies had some challenges. She was supposed to be in The Swimmer with Burt Lancaster. But her scenes were later reshot with a different actress.

Directing Films and Plays (1967–1980)

Barbara Loden read a newspaper story about a woman who thanked a judge for her prison sentence. This story inspired her to write the movie script for Wanda. The movie is about a poor woman in Pennsylvania who gets involved in a bank robbery.

Loden decided to direct the film herself. She worked with Nicholas T. Proferes, who was the cinematographer and editor. They made the movie on a small budget of $115,000.

Wanda shows a quiet, lonely woman. The movie used a special style called cinéma vérité. This made it feel very real and unplanned. It was one of the first American movies directed by a woman to be shown in theaters. Film critic David Thomson said Wanda was full of unexpected moments.

Wanda was the only American film accepted at the Venice Film Festival in 1970. It won the International Critics' Prize there. It was also shown at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. In 2010, the movie was restored and shown again.

Even though Wanda was not widely released, it was important. It showed a different kind of female character. Loden said her character, Wanda, was "trying to get out of this very ugly type of existence, but she doesn't have the equipment." In 2017, Wanda was chosen for the United States National Film Registry. This means it is considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Barbara Loden did not make another feature film. But she directed two educational short films. The first was The Frontier Experience (1975). It was about a pioneer woman trying to survive winter. The second was The Boy Who Liked Deer (1978). This film was about vandalism.

Just before she died, Loden was interviewed for a documentary. It was called I Am Wanda (1980). This film showed Loden teaching acting classes.

Death

In 1978, Barbara Loden was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had written other screenplays about American life. She was planning to direct a movie based on The Awakening. But her cancer treatments stopped her from starting it.

Barbara Loden died from breast cancer on September 5, 1980. She was 48 years old.

Style and Themes

Wanda has a cinéma vérité style. This means it tried to show the world "as it actually is." Loden often worked with actors who were not professionals. This made the film feel very natural and unplanned. The movie was made with a very small crew of only four people.

Loden's work as an actress and filmmaker was inspired by her own life. She said the character Maggie, who she won a Tony for playing, was like her. Maggie was "not educated" and "had a very strong need to be accepted."

A main theme in Wanda and The Frontier Experience is women feeling like they don't have control over their lives. Both films show mothers in tough situations.

Wanda has been called a feminist film. However, Loden did not plan for it to be. It is known for showing a woman who is not always easy to like.

Legacy

Filmmaker Marguerite Duras was inspired by Wanda. She praised Loden's ability to truly become her character. Duras said there was a "miracle in Wanda."

Elia Kazan compared Loden's acting to Marlon Brando. He said she always brought something new and surprising to her roles.

In 2012, a book about Barbara Loden was published in French. It was called Supplément à la vie de Barbara Loden. It mixed facts and fiction about her life and Wanda. It was later translated into English as Suite for Barbara Loden. In 2021, another book, Still Life: Notes on Barbara Loden's "Wanda" (1970), was published. It looks at the themes of Wanda and why it is still important today.

Stage Credits

Awards and Nominations

• Tony Award – Best Featured Actress, 1964 (for After the Fall)
• International Critics Award — Venice Film Festival, 1970 (for Wanda)

Images for kids

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  Loden in 1964

See also

In Spanish: Barbara Loden para niños