James Stewart

Zipping along here, stuck on a track with movie star bios.  James, or Jimmy, Stewart is one of the classic stars of cinema and Marc Eliott does his usual excellent work in the bio.  Stewart was tall, thin, awkward at times, spoke slowly, moved slowly but when galvanized showed great anger and force of personality.  He was friendly but reserved.  As with so many of these movie stars, his climb to the top was fitful and difficult.  His father ran a hardware store in small-town Pennsylvania and wanted James to take over the business.  Stewart followed his heart, on the well-trod track to regional theater, Broadway and Hollywood.  He was a true patriot and he was a bomber pilot in World War II, flying many missions in Europe, until he collapsed from the stress and strain, seeing so many fellow crewman killed and wounded.  Like some other actors, he balked at the military’s attempts to keep actors out of combat and insisted on serving in the same way as ordinary Americans.  He refused to talk extensively about his experience and would not take a role in any movie about war, especially if it was intended to glorify combat.

He starred in a variety of films–comedies, dramas, westerns, mysteries.  His only Oscar award was for The Philadelphia Story, in which he really was kind of secondary to Cary Grant’s role.  Many of the films he was best known for–Vertigo, It’s a Wonderful Life, for example–were not big hits when first released.  Those movies, and Stewart, greatly benefited when television discovered the old Hollywood inventory and began regularly playing those classic films.  Vertigo to me is his stellar work–Hitchcock brought out aspects of Stewart that had previously not been seen.

Jimmy married late, acquired two stepsons in the marriage and had two daughters with his wife, to whom he was devoted.  One of the stepsons died in Vietnam, a devastating blow.  He had the kind of stable marriage and family life that was rare in Hollywood.  He was a decent person, with many friends and he was a fan favorite around the world.  He was a conservative and stuck to his guns during the late part of his career when Hollywood turned heavily liberal.  He and Ronald Reagan were close friends.  Stewart was and still would be an excellent role model for young men, exemplifying good values and hard work, modest about his own contributions to society.