JAMES STEWART (ACTOR)

'James Maitland Stewart' (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an iconic, Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor, best known for his self-effacing screen persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Oscars, winning one in competition and one life achievement. He also had a noted military career, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force.
Born in Indiana, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, he first pursued a career as an architect before being drawn to the theater in college. His first success came as an actor on Broadway, before making his Hollywood debut in 1935. Stewart's career gained momentum after his well-received Frank Capra films, including his Academy Award nominated role in ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''. Throughout his seven decades in Hollywood, Stewart cultivated a versatile career and recognized screen image in such classics as ''The Philadelphia Story'', ''Harvey'', ''It's a Wonderful Life'', ''Rear Window'', ''Rope'', and ''Vertigo''.
Stewart became so familiar to American audiences that he was most often referred to by them as "Jimmy" Stewart — a billing never found on the credits of any of his films.
Stewart left his mark on a wide range of film genres, including screwball comedies, westerns, and suspense thrillers. He worked for a number of renowned directors later in his career, most notably Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder and Anthony Mann. He won many of the industry's highest honors and earned Lifetime Achievement awards from every major film organization. He died in 1997, leaving behind a legacy of classic performance, and is considered one of the finest actors of the "Golden Age of Hollywood." He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Prewar success

Wartime activity

Postwar success

Collaborations with Hitchcock and Mann

Career in the 1960s and 1970s

Later career and death

Personal life

Politics

Military Awards

Quote

Filmography

Broadway stage performances

AFI 100 Years... series

United States National Film Registry

Awards

See also

References

External links

Biography

Early life and career

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, to devoutly Presbyterian parents of Scottish origin, Alexander M. Stewart and Elizabeth Ruth Jackson, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The eldest of three children (he had two younger sisters, Virginia and Mary) of a prosperous hardware store owner, he was expected to continue the business, which had been in the family for three generations. The young Stewart was first attracted to aviation, but abandoned dreams of being a pilot to attend Princeton University in 1928, as a member of the Class of 1932, after graduating from Mercersburg Academy. Stewart took quickly to architecture continuing to pursue the field as a graduate student, but he gradually became attracted to the school's drama and music clubs, including the famous Princeton Triangle Club.^[1] He was a member of the Princeton Charter Club.
His acting talents led him to be invited to the University Players, a performing arts club of Ivy League musicians and thespians. After performing in bit parts in the Players' productions during summer 1932, he moved to New York City in the fall, where he shared an apartment with rising actor, Henry Fonda, and director/playwright, Joshua Logan. In November, he was cast in his first major stage production as a chauffeur in the Broadway comedy ''Goodbye Again'', in which he had two lines. The play was a moderate success and brought more substantial stage roles for Stewart, including the 1934 hit, ''Page Miss Glory'', and his first dramatic stage role in Sidney Howard's ''Yellow Jack''.
With several favorably reviewed performances on Broadway, he attracted the interest of MGM and signed a contract with the company in April 1935. At first, he had trouble breaking into Hollywood due to his gangly looks and shy, humble screen presence. His first film was the poorly received Spencer Tracy vehicle, ''The Murder Man'', but ''Rose Marie'', an adaptation of a popular operetta, was more successful. After mixed success in films, he received his first substantial part in 1936's ''After the Thin Man'', playing a psychotic killer. Stewart found his footing in Hollywood thanks largely to ex-University Player Margaret Sullavan, who campaigned for Stewart to be her leading man in the 1936 romantic comedy ''Next Time We Love'' and rehearsed extensively with him.

Prewar success

Stewart began a successful partnership with director Frank Capra in 1938, when he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to star in ''You Can't Take It With You''. The heartwarming Depression-era film, starring Capra's "favorite actress," comedienne Jean Arthur, went on to win the 1938 Best Picture Academy Award. 1939 saw Stewart team with Capra and Arthur again for the political comedy-drama, ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''. Stewart replaced intended star Gary Cooper in the film about an idealistic man thrown into the political arena. Upon the film's October release, it garnered critical praise and became a box office success. For his performance, Stewart was nominated for the first of five Academy Awards for Best Actor. ''Destry Rides Again'', also released that year, became Stewart's first western film, a genre for which he would become famous later in his career. ''Made for Each Other'' (1939) had Stewart sharing the screen with irrepressible Carole Lombard in a melodrama that garnered good reviews for both stars. ''Newsweek'' wrote that they were "perfectly cast in the leading roles.^[2]"
1940 saw Stewart and Margaret Sullavan teaming again for two films. The first, the Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedy, ''The Shop Around the Corner'', starred Stewart and Sullavan as co-workers unknowingly involved in a pen-pal romance who cannot stand each other in real life (This was later remade into the romantic comedy ''You've Got Mail'' with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). ''The Mortal Storm'', directed by Frank Borzage, was one of the first blatantly anti-Nazi films to be produced in Hollywood, and featured the pair as a husband and wife caught in turmoil upon Hitler's rise to power.
Stewart also starred opposite Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in George Cukor's classic ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940). His performance as an intrusive, fast-talking reporter earned him his only Academy Award in a competitive category (Best Actor, 1941). Stewart gave the Oscar statuette to his father, who displayed it in the window of his hardware store for many years.
He went on to appear in a series of screwball comedies with varying levels of success. Stewart followed the mediocre ''No Time for Comedy'' (1940) and ''Come Live with Me'' (1941) with the Judy Garland musical ''Ziegfeld Girl'' and the George Marshall romantic comedy ''Pot o' Gold''. Foreseeing war on the horizon, Stewart enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in March 1941. Stewart's enlistment coincided with the lapse in his MGM contract and marked a turning point in Stewart's career.

Wartime activity

The Stewart family had deep military roots: both grandfathers had fought in the Civil War, and his father had served during both the Spanish-American War and World War I. Jimmy considered his father to be the biggest influence on his life, so it is not surprising that when another war came another Stewart would be in uniform. With his private pilot's license in hand and over 300 hours of flying time,^[3] it was also inevitable that Jimmy Stewart would seek to become a military flyer. In 1939, he had entered a cross-country race as a co-pilot, but his team finished "out of the money."^[4]
Nearly two years before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Stewart and fellow film star Hoagy Carmichael, seeing the need for trained war pilots, teamed with other Hollywood moguls and put their own money into creating a flying school in Glendale, Arizona which they named Thunderbird Field. This airfield trained more than 200,000 pilots during the War, became the origin of the Flying Thunderbirds, and is now the home of Thunderbird--the Garvin School of International Management.
Later in 1940 Stewart was drafted into the Army Air Corps but was rejected due to a weight problem. The USAAC had strict height and weight requirements for new recruits and Stewart was five pounds under the standard. To get up to 148 pounds he sought out the help of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's muscle man, Don Loomis, who was legendary for his ability to add or subtract pounds in his studio gymnasium. Stewart subsequently attempted to enlist in the United States Army Air Corps but still came in under the weight requirement although he persuaded the AAF enlistment officer to run new tests, this time passing the weigh-in,^[5] with the result that Stewart successfully enlisted in the Army in March 1941. He became the first major movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.
Since the United States had yet to declare war on Germany and because of the Army's unwillingness to put celebrities on the front, Stewart was held back from combat duty, though he did earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant and completed pilot training. He was later stationed in Albuquerque, NM, becoming an instructor pilot for the B-17 Flying Fortress.
The only public appearances after he went into flight school were limited engagements scheduled by the Air Corps. "Stewart appeared several times on network radio with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he performed with Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Huston and Lionel Barrymore in an all-network radio program called 'We Hold These Truths,' dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. But mostly, Stewart's days and nights were spent preparing for his upcoming flight tests, ground school and academic examinations for his commission."^[6]
"Still, the war was moving on. For the thirty-six-year-old Stewart, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable, and he had no clear plans for the future. But then a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for his immediate and decisive action, because what he dreaded most was the hope-shattering spector of a dead end."^[7] So he appealed to his commander, a pre-war aviator, who understood and reassigned him to a unit going overseas.

In August 1943 he was finally assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group in Sioux City, Iowa, first as Operations Officer of the 703rd Bombardment Squadron and then its commander. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to Tibenham, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to Major. In March 1944, he was transferred as Group Operations Officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 outfit that had been experiencing difficulties. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended, he was promoted to Colonel, one of only a few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.
At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the Court Martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty when they accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurich the previous March - the first instance of US personnel being tried over an attack on a neutral country. The Court acquitted the accused.^[8]
Stewart continued to play an active role in the United States Air Force Reserve after the war, achieving the rank of Brigadier General on July 23, 1959.^[9] Stewart did not often talk of his wartime service, perhaps due to his desire to be seen as a regular soldier doing his duty instead of as a celebrity. He did appear on the TV series, ''The World At War'' to discuss the October 14, 1943, bombing mission to Schweinfurt — the mission known in USAF history as ''Black Thursday'' due to the incredibly high casualties it sustained. Fittingly, he was identified only as "James Stewart, Squadron Commander" in the documentary.
In 1966, Brigadier General James Stewart rode along as an observer on a B-52 Stratofortress bombing run during the Vietnam War; he also flew combat duty missions during that conflict. At the time of his B-52 mission, he refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve. He served as Air Force Reserve commander of Dobbins Reserve Base in the early 1950s and after 27 years of service, Stewart retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.

Postwar success

Upon Stewart's return to Hollywood in the fall 1945, he decided not to renew his MGM contract; instead, he signed with an MCA talent agency. The move made Stewart one of the first independently contracted actors, and gave him more freedom to choose the roles he wished to play. For the remainder of his career, Stewart was able to work without limits to director and studio availability.
For his first film in five years, Stewart appeared in his third and final Frank Capra production, ''It's a Wonderful Life''.^[10] Stewart appeared as George Bailey, a small-town man and upstanding citizen, who becomes increasingly frustrated by his ordinary existence and financial troubles. Driven to suicide on Christmas Eve, he is led to reassess his life by Clarence Odbody AS2,^[11] an "angel, second class," played by Henry Travers. Although the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Stewart's third Best Actor nomination, it received only moderate success at the box office, possibly due to its dark nature. However, in the decades since the film's release, it grew to define Stewart's film persona and is widely considered as a sentimental Christmas film classic and, according to the American Film Institute, one of the best movies ever made.
Stewart also returned to the stage for the Mary Chase-penned comedy ''Harvey'', which opened to nearly universal praise in November 1944. Elwood P. Dowd, the protagonist and Stewart's character, is a wealthy eccentric, whose best friend is an invisible rabbit, living with his sister and niece. His eccentricity, especially the friendship with the rabbit, is ruining the niece's hopes of finding a husband. While trying to have Dowd committed to a sanitorium, his sister is committed herself while the play follows Dowd on an ordinary day in his not-so-ordinary life. James Stewart took over the role from Frank Fay in 1947 and gained an increased Broadway following in the unconventional play. The play, which ran for nearly three years with Stewart as its star, was successfully adapted into a 1950 film, directed by Henry Koster, with Stewart playing Dowd and Josephine Hull as his sister, Veta. For his performance in the film, Stewart received his fourth Best Actor nomination.
After ''Harvey'', the comedic adventure film ''Malaya'' and the conventional biographical film ''The Stratton Story'' in 1949, Stewart entered what many critics cite as his "golden era" as an actor. During the 1950s, he took on more challenging roles and expanded into the western and suspense genres, thanks largely to collaborations with directors Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann. Other notable performances by Stewart during this time include the critically acclaimed 1950 Delmer Daves western ''Broken Arrow'', which featured Stewart as an ex-soldier making peace with the Apache; a troubled clown in the 1952 Best Picture ''The Greatest Show on Earth''; and Stewart's role as Charles Lindbergh in Billy Wilder's 1957 film ''The Spirit of St. Louis''. He also starred in the Western radio show ''The Six Shooter'' for its one season run from 1953-1954.

Collaborations with Hitchcock and Mann

James Stewart's collaborations with director Anthony Mann expanded Stewart's popularity and expanded his career into the realm of the western. Stewart's first appearance in a film helmed by Mann came with the 1950 western classic, ''Winchester '73''. The film, which became a massive box office hit upon its release, set the pattern for their future collaborations. Other Stewart-Mann westerns, such as ''Bend of the River'' (1952), ''The Naked Spur'' (1953), ''The Far Country'' (1954), and ''The Man from Laramie'' (1955) were perennial favorites among young audiences entranced by the American West. Frequently, the films featured Stewart as a troubled cowboy seeking redemption, while facing corrupt cattlemen, ranchers and outlaws. Their collaborations laid the foundation for many of the westerns of the 1950s and remain popular today.
Stewart and Mann also collaborated on other films outside the western genre. 1953's ''The Glenn Miller Story'' was critically acclaimed, garnering Stewart a BAFTA Award nomination, and (together with ''The Spirit of St. Louis'') cemented the popularity of Stewart's portrayals of "American heroes." ''Thunder Bay'', released the same year, transplanted the plot arch of their western collaborations in the present day, with Stewart as a Louisiana oil-driller facing corruption. ''Strategic Air Command'', released in 1955, allowed Stewart to use his experiences in the United States Air Force on film.
Stewart's starring role in ''Winchester '73'' was also a turning point in Hollywood. Universal Studios, who wanted Stewart to appear in both that film and ''Harvey,'' balked at his $200,000 asking price. Stewart's agent, Lew Wasserman, brokered an alternate deal, in which Stewart would appear in both films for no pay, in exchange for a percentage of the profits and cast approval. It wasn't the first such deal at Universal; Abbott and Costello also had a profit participation contract, but they were no longer top-flight moneymakers by 1950. Stewart ended up earning about $600,000 for ''Winchester '73'' alone. Hollywood's other stars quickly capitalized on this new way of doing business, which further undermined the decaying "studio system."

The second collaboration to define Stewart's career in the 1950s was with acclaimed mystery and suspense director Alfred Hitchcock. Stewart had previously appeared in Hitchcock's technologically innovative 1948 film ''Rope'', and the two collaborated for the second of four times on the 1954 hit ''Rear Window''. Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, the central character of the film, portrayed by Stewart, projects his fantasies and fears onto the people he observes out his apartment window while on hiatus due to a broken leg. Jeffries gets into more than he can handle, however, when he believes he has witnessed a salesman murder his wife.
After starring in Hitchcock's remake of the director's own production, ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', Stewart starred in what many consider Hitchcock's most personal film, ''Vertigo''. The film starred Stewart as Scottie, a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who develops an obsession with a woman he is shadowing. Scottie's obsession inevitably leads to the destruction of everything he once had and believed in. Though the film is widely considered a classic today, it met with negative reviews and poor box office receipts upon its release, and marked the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock. The director blamed the film's failure on Stewart looking too old to still attract audiences, and replaced him with Cary Grant for ''North by Northwest'' (1959). In reality, Grant was actually four years older than Stewart. (Stewart's character's fear of heights in ''Vertigo'' is ironic considering Stewart's actual flying experiences.)

Career in the 1960s and 1970s

In 1960, James Stewart was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and nominated for his fifth and final Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1959 Otto Preminger film ''Anatomy of a Murder''. The early courtroom drama starred Stewart as Paul Biegler, the lawyer of a man who claims temporary insanity after murdering the man who raped his wife. Stewart's nomination was one of seven for the film, and saw his transition into the final decades of his career.
The early 1960s saw Stewart taking lead roles in three John Ford films. The first, 1962's twist-ending ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (with John Wayne), is a classic "psychological" western, with Stewart featured as an Eastern attorney who goes against his nonviolent principles when he is forced to confront a psychopathic outlaw (played by Lee Marvin) in a small frontier town. At story's end, Stewart's character — now a rising political figure — faces a difficult ethical choice as he attempts to reconcile his actions with his personal integrity on the day Liberty Valance was shot. The film's billing is unusual in that Stewart was given top billing over Wayne in the trailers and on the posters but Wayne had top billing in the film itself, a system later repeated by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in ''All the President's Men''. ''How the West Was Won'' and ''Cheyenne Autumn'' were western epics released in 1962 and 1964 respectively. While the Cinerama production ''How the West Was Won'' went on to win three Oscars and reaped massive box office figures, ''Cheyenne Autumn'', in which a white-suited Stewart played Wyatt Earp in a long sequence in the middle of the movie, failed domestically and was quickly forgotten.

Having played his last romantic lead in 1958's ''Bell, Book and Candle'', and silver-haired (although not all was his -- he had begun wearing a hairpiece in the early 1950s), Stewart transitioned into more family-related films in the 1960s. These included the successful Henry Koster outing ''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation'' (1962), and the less memorable films ''Take Her, She's Mine'' (1963) and ''Dear Brigitte'' (1965), which featured French model Brigitte Bardot. The Civil War period film ''Shenandoah'' (1965) and the western family film ''The Rare Breed'' fared better at the box office; the Civil War movie was a smash hit in the South.
As an aviator, Stewart was particularly interested in aviation films and had pushed to appear in several in the 1950s. He continued in this vein in the 1960s, most notably in a role as a hard-bitten pilot in ''Flight of the Phoenix'' (1965). Subbing for Stewart, famed stunt pilot and air racer Paul Mantz was killed when he crashed the "Tallmantz Phoenix P-1," the specially-made, single-engine movie model, in an abortive "touch-and-go".
After a progression of lesser western films in the late '60s and early '70s, James Stewart transitioned from cinema to television. He first starred in the NBC comedy ''The Jimmy Stewart Show'', which featured Stewart as a college professor. He followed it with the CBS mystery ''Hawkins'', in which he played a small town lawyer investigating his cases. The series garnered Stewart a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic TV Series, but failed to gain a wide audience and was cancelled after one season. During this time, Stewart periodically appeared on Johnny Carson's ''The Tonight Show'', sharing poems he had written at different times in his life. His poems were later compiled into a short collection titled ''Jimmy Stewart and His Poems'' (1989).
Stewart finished the decade with a major role in John Wayne's final film, ''The Shootist'' (1976) where Stewart played a doctor giving Wayne's gunfighter a terminal cancer diagnosis. At one point, both Wayne and Stewart were flubbing their lines repeatedly and Stewart turned to director Don Siegel and said, "You'd better get two better actors." Stewart also appeared in supporting roles in ''Airport '77'', the 1978 remake of ''The Big Sleep'' with Robert Mitchum, and ''The Magic of Lassie'' (1978).

Later career and death

After filming several television movies in the 1980s, including ''Mr. Krueger's Christmas'', James Stewart retired from acting to spend time with his family. Following his retirement he suffered from many health problems including heart disease, skin cancer, deafness and senile dementia. He returned only to voice Sheriff Wylie Burp in the successful 1991 animated film ''.
One of Hollywood's most shrewd businessmen, Stewart had diversified investments including real estate, oil wells, a charter-plane company and membership on major corporate boards. He became a multimillionaire. In the 1980's and 90’s, he did voice overs for commercials for Campbell's Soups.^[12]
In 1989, Stewart joined Peter F. Paul in founding the American Spirit Foundation to apply entertainment industry resources to developing innovative approaches to public education and to assist the emerging democracy movements in the former Iron Curtain countries and Russia. Paul arranged for Stewart, through the offices of President Boris Yeltsin, to send a special print of ''It's a Wonderful Life'', translated by Moscow University, to Russia as the first American program ever to be broadcast on Russian television. On January 5, 1992, coinciding with the first day of the existence of the democratic Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, and the first free Russian Orthodox Christmas Day, Russian TV Channel 2 broadcast ''It's a Wonderful Life'' to 200 million Russians who celebrated an American holiday tradition with the American people for the first time in Russian history.
In association with politicians and celebrities that included President Ronald Reagan, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, California Governor George Deukmejian, Bob Hope and Charlton Heston, Stewart worked from 1987 to 1993 on projects that enhanced the public appreciation and understanding of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Stewart died at the age of 89 on July 2, 1997, of cardiac arrest and a pulmonary embolism following a long illness from respiratory problems. He had also suffered from Alzheimer's disease. His death came just one day after fellow screen legend and ''The Big Sleep'' co-star Robert Mitchum had died of lung cancer and emphysema. Stewart is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Jimmy Stewart has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street. In 1972, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was awarded various lifetime achievement awards from the Academy Awards (1985), American Film Institute (1980), Lincoln Center (1990), Golden Globe Awards (1965), National Board of Review (1990) and the Screen Actors Guild (1969).
In his hometown, Indiana, Pennsylvania, a larger-than-life statue of Stewart was erected on the lawn of the Indiana County Courthouse on May 20, 1983 to celebrate Stewart's 75th birthday. In 1995, The Jimmy Stewart Museum, a museum dedicated to his life and career, opened as well in Indiana, Pennsylvania. A replica of his statue, rendered in green fiberglass resides in the museum.
In honor of his years of service with the US Air Force, Brig. Gen. Stewart's original WWII A-2 jacket (a Rough Wear 1401 contract) has been displayed for many years at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. A patch for the 703rd Bomb Squadron is still sewn on the front of the jacket.
James Stewart has a small airport in his honor in Indiana, PA.
In November 1997, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich led an unsuccessful attempt to have Los Angeles International Airport renamed in Stewart's honour.^[13]
In 1998, a year after the death of Jimmy Stewart, a monument was erected in memory of him in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, where he hosted his annual "Jimmy Stewart Marathon". The monument consists of a 25-foot flagpole, atop a rock pedestal, with a plaque praising the actor.
On 13 Aug 2007, Building 52 on Bolling AFB, Washington D.C. was dedicated to Jimmy Stewart and was renamed Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart Theater. In the 1940's the facility served as the base theater. In honor of General Stewart's distinguished military and film careers, the first video shown in the newly dedicated theater was a 10-minute Air Force recruitment spot he did as a lieutenant.
On August 17, 2007, the United States Postal Service issued a 41-cent commemorative postage stamp honoring James Stewart,^[14] with the ceremonies being held at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.

Personal life

Stewart was almost universally described by his collaborators as a kind, soft spoken man and a true professional.^[15]
After World War II, Stewart settled down, at age 41, marrying former model Gloria Hatrick McLean on August 9, 1949. Stewart adopted her two sons, Michael and Ronald, and together they had twin daughters, Judy and Kelly, on May 7, 1951. They remained devotedly married until her death on February 16, 1994, due to lung cancer. Ronald McLean was killed in action on June 8, 1969, at the age of 24, while serving in Vietnam.^[16] Dr. Kelly Stewart is an anthropologist at the University of California, Davis.
While visiting India in 1959, he reportedly smuggled the remains of a supposed yeti, the so-called Pangboche Hand, by hiding them in his luggage (specifically, in Gloria's underwear) when he flew from India to London, as a favor to Tom Slick.^[17]
Stewart was a lifelong supporter of Scouting. He was a Second Class Scout when he was a youth, an adult Scout leader, and a recipient of the prestigious Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In later years, he made advertisements for BSA, which led to him sometimes ''incorrectly'' being identified as an Eagle Scout.^[18] (Jefferson Smith in ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', was also the leader of the "Boy Rangers," an organization patterned after cub scouts.) An award for Boy Scouts, The James M. Stewart Good Citizenship Award has been presented since May 17, 2003.^[19]
One little-known talent of Stewart's was his homespun poetry. Once on ''The Tonight Show'' with Johnny Carson, Stewart read from his poem, "My Dog, Beau." By the end of his reading, Carson's eyes were welling with tears.^[20] This was later parodied on a late 1980s episode of the NBC sketch show ''Saturday Night Live'', with Dana Carvey as Jimmy Stewart reciting the poem on ''Weekend Update'' and bringing then anchor Dennis Miller to tears.

Politics

Politically, Stewart was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party.^[21] Ironically, one of his best friends was Henry Fonda, despite the fact that the two men had very different political ideologies. One political argument in the spring of 1947 resulted in a fist fight between the two friends, but the two apparently maintained their friendship by never discussing politics again.^[22] There is brief reference to their political differences in character in their movie ''The Cheyenne Social Club''. When Fonda moved to Hollywood, he lived with Stewart and the two gained a reputation as playboys. Once married, both men's children noted that their favorite activity when not working seemed to be silently painting model airplanes together.^[23]

Military Awards

★ Distinguished Service Medal

★ Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster

★ Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

★ Army Commendation Medal

★ American Defense Service Medal

★ European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 Service Stars

★ World War II Victory Medal

★ Armed Forces Reserve Medal

★ French Croix de Guerre with Palm

★ Presidential Medal of Freedom

Quote

"You hear so much about the old movie moguls and the impersonal factories where there is no freedom. MGM was a wonderful place where decisions were made on my behalf by my superiors. What's wrong with that?"^[24]

Filmography

Main articles: James Stewart filmography

From the beginning of James Stewart's career in 1935 through his final theatrical project in 1991, he appeared in 92 films, television programs and shorts. Through the course of this illustrious career, he appeared in many landmark and critically acclaimed films, including such classics as ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', ''The Spirit of St. Louis'' and ''Vertigo''. His roles in ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', ''The Philadelphia Story'', ''It's a Wonderful Life'', ''Harvey'', and ''Anatomy of a Murder'' earned him Academy Award nominations (he won for ''Philadelphia Story''). Stewart's career defied the boundaries of genre and trend, and he made his mark in screwball comedies, suspense thrillers, westerns and family films.

Broadway stage performances

★ ''Carry Nation'' (Oct. 1932–Nov. 1932)

★ ''Goodbye Again'' (Dec. 1932–Jul 1933)

★ ''Spring in Autumn'' (Oct. 1933–Nov. 1933)

★ ''All Good Americans'' (Dec. 1933–Jan. 1934)

★ ''Yellow Jack'' (May 1934)

★ ''Divided By Three'' (Oct. 1934)

★ ''Page Miss Glory'' (Nov. 1934–Mar. 1935)

★ ''A Journey By Night'' (Apr. 1935)

★ ''Harvey'' (July–Aug. 1947; July–Aug. 1948 - replacing vacationing Frank Fay)

★ ''Harvey'' (revival, Feb. 1970–May 1970)

AFI 100 Years... series

★ Jimmy Stewart was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time.

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)

★
★ Jimmy Stewart is one of the the most represented stars with five films on the list of 100 films.

★
★ Jimmy Stewart is one of the the most represented stars with ten films on the list of 400 nominees.

★
★ ''Vertigo''...# 9

★
★ ''It's a Wonderful Life''...# 20

★
★ ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''...# 26

★
★ ''The Philadelphia Story''...# 44

★
★ ''Rear Window''...# 48

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers

★
★ Jimmy Stewart played the main role in two out of the top five films.

★
★ ''It's a Wonderful Life''...# 1

★
★ ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''...# 5

★
★ ''The Spirit of St. Louis''...# 69

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions

★
★ ''It's a Wonderful Life''...# 8

★
★ ''Vertigo''...# 18

★
★ ''The Shop Around the Corner''...# 28

★
★ ''The Philadelphia Story''...# 44

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills

★
★ ''Rear Window''...#14

★
★ ''Vertigo''...# 18

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs

★
★ ''The Philadelphia Story''...# 15

★
★ ''Harvey''...# 35

★ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains

★
★ 50 greatest movie heroes

★
★ ''It's a Wonderful Life''...George Bailey ...# 9

★
★ ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''...Jefferson Smith ...# 11

United States National Film Registry

★ Films preserved in the United States National Film Registry starring James Stewart.

★
★ Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

★
★ Destry Rides Again (1939)

★
★ The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

★
★ The Philadelphia Story (1940)

★
★ It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

★
★ The Naked Spur (1953)

★
★ Rear Window (1954)

★
★ Vertigo (1958)

★
★ How the West Was Won (1962)

Awards

'Year'	'Award'	'Work'	'Won?'
'''Academy Awards'''
1940	Best Actor	''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''	No
1941	Best Actor	''The Philadelphia Story''	Yes
1946	Best Actor	''It's a Wonderful Life''	No
1951	Best Actor	''Harvey''	No
1960	Best Actor	''Anatomy of a Murder''	No
1985	Honorary Award	Lifetime Achievement	Yes
'''BAFTA Awards'''
1955	Best Foreign Actor	''The Glenn Miller Story''	No
1960	Best Foreign Actor	''Anatomy of a Murder''	No
'''Golden Globes'''
1951	Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama	''Harvey''	No
1963	Best Actor - Musical or Comedy'	''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation''	No
1965	Cecil B. DeMille Award	Lifetime Achievement	Yes
1974	Best TV Actor - Drama	''Hawkins''	Yes
'''NYFCCs'''
1939	Best Actor	''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''	Yes
1959	Best Actor	''Anatomy of a Murder''	Yes

See also

★ List of film collaborations

★ Indiana County-Jimmy Stewart Airport

References

1. Princeton Triangle Club
2. Jones, McClure and Twoomey 1970, p. 67.
3. Smith 2005, p. 25-26.
4. Smith 2005, p. 26.
5. Smith 2005, p. 30. Note: Stewart later confided that he had a "friend" operating the weight scales.
6. Smith 2005, p. 31-32.
7. Smith 2005, p. 49-50.
8. Maxwell Air Force Base
9. FBI Award
10. Cox 2005, p. 6. Note: Although Stewart was always Capra's first choice, in an interview later in life, he conceded that "Henry Fonda was in the running."
11. Cox 2005, p. 70.
12. James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89
13. Los Angeles Airport
14. United States Postal Service
15. Eliot 2006, p. 164- 168. Note: In the aftermath of Stewart's Supporting Actor Oscar win, a great deal of industry support and commentary indicated that James Stewart was well-regarded as a professional.
16. NY Times
17. Milestones — Jimmy Stewart
18. Lawson, Terry C. ''Erroneous Eagle Scouts Letter''. Eagle Scout Service, National Eagle Scout Association, Boy Scouts of America, 2005. [1] Access date: June 09 2005.
19. James M. Stewart Good Citizenship Award
20. [2]
21. Political Donations
22. Robbins 1985, p. 99. This tale may be apocryphal as Jhan Robbins quotes Stewart as saying: "Our views never interfered with our feelings for each other, We just didn't talk about certain things. I can't remember ever having an argument with him – ever!"
23. IMDB Movie Biography
24. Wayne, Jane Ellen.''The Leading Men of MGM''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-78671-475-1.


★ ''Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart.'' National Museum of the United States Air Force. National Museum of the United States Air Force Access date: 18 February 2007.

★ Coe, Jonathan. ''James Stewart: Leading Man''. London: Bloomsbury, 1994. ISBN 0-7475-1574-3.

★ Collins, Thomas W. Jr. "Stewart, James." ''American National Biography Online''. [3], Access date: 18 February 2007.

★ Cox, Stephen. ''It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book''. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2003. ISBN 1-58182-337-1.

★ Eliot, Mark. ''Jimmy Stewart: A Biography''. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-5221-1.

★ ''The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page''. The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page, Access date: 18 February 2007.

★ Jones, Ken D., McClure, Arthur F. and Twomey, Alfred E. ''The Films of James Stewart''. New York: Castle Books, 1970.

★ Munn, Michael. ''Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind The Legend''. Fort Lee, New Jersey: Barricade Books Inc., 2006. ISBN 1-56980-310-2.

★ Pickard, Roy. ''Jimmy Stewart: A Life in Film''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. ISBN 0-312-08828-0.

★ Prendergast, Tom and Sara, eds. "Stewart, James". ''International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 4th edition''. London: St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55862-450-3.

★ _____. "Stewart, James". ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 5th edition''. London: St. James Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55862-529-1.

★ Robbins, Jhan. ''Everybody's Man: A Biography of Jimmy Stewart''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985. ISBN 0-399-12973-1.

★ Smith, Starr. ''Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press, 2005. ISBN 0-7603-2199-X.

★ Thomas, Tony. ''A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart''. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8065-1081-1.

★ Wright, Stuart J. ''An Emotional Gauntlet: From Life in Peacetime America to the War in European Skies- A History of 453rd Bomb Group Crews''. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. ISBN 0-29920-520-7.

External links

★

★

★

★ Profile at Turner Classic Movies

★ Obituary, NY Times, July 3, 1997, ''James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89''

★ The Jimmy Stewart Museum

★ Presidential Medal of Freedom: Jimmy Stewart