Actor Barbara Stanwyck, who was
born into poverty and spent several years in foster care but went on to become
one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. Barbara opposed the presidency of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and believed people could prosper without government intervention or
assistance.
She was an early member of the
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) after its
founding in 1944. The mission of this group was to "... combat ...
subversive methods [used in the industry] to undermine and change the American
way of life."
She publicly supported the investigations of
the House Un-American Activities Committee and encouraged her husband Robert
Taylor to appear before the committee as a friendly witness. It was Stanwyck who
persuaded Jack L. Warner at Warner Bros. to buy the rights to The Fountainhead.