Ruby Stevens was determined, ambitious and tough. She had to fend for herself in so many ways as a child and always felt apart, on her own.

I bought a gun safe with velvet shelves and a built-in dehumidifier to house the hundreds of original [Barbara] Stanwyck letters I amassed that I first kept in the lettuce crisper of a refrigerator in my basement.

I've published many biographies over the years and enjoyed working with writers on their research, discussing it, thinking about it and how it revealed their subject - and one day the impulse came to me to write a life of someone. I made a long list of possible subjects and [ Barbara] Stanwyck was on the list.

I would say she [Barbara Stanwyck] did her job as best she could an honest day's work for an honest day's pay - and when it was over, it was over.