James Stewart
Over the course of his career, James Stewart starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Oscars, winning one in competition and one life achievement. He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute and became, in the words of Andrew Sarris, "the most complete actor-personality in the American cinema". He also distinguished himself during the Second World War, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force.
Biography
James Maitland Stewart was born May 20, 1908 in Indiana, PA, USA, the son of the local hardware store owner. When not doing chores, the spindly, spectacled youth wrote and staged plays and his acting debut was in a boy scout play. He then appeared on stage with a local magician - Jimmy's job was to fill any awkward pauses by playing the accordion.After a hometown elementary education, he went on to Mercersburg (PA) Academy, where he played baseball and football, excelled in track, became interested in aviation and radio engineering, sang in the glee club, played accordion, and, during summers, poured concrete with a road gang and hauled brick for a construction company.
It was at Princeton University--where he was studying toward a B.S. degree in architecture, which he received in 1932--that Stewart became interested in performing. He became involved in the university's Triangle Club shows though Josh Logan, later a famed Broadway director, who was a year ahead of him. Logan was instrumental in forming the University Players in Falmouth, MA, and following Stewart's graduation from college, Logan invited him to join the company for the summer. 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 Logan and also rising actor, Henry Fonda. 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.
Stewart won his first major role on Broadway in 1934, as a gallant soldier-guinea pig in "Yellow Jack," On the recommendation of Hedda Hopper, MGM scheduled a screen test, and in 1935 Stewart was signed to a long-term contract but at first, he had trouble breaking into the big time 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 Sullivan, who campaigned for Stewart to be her leading man in the 1936 romantic comedy Next Time We Love.
Stewart's intelligent, deceptively casual acting in two dozen movies over the next few years earned him stardom. Among these early films, mostly comedies and romantic dramas, were "Wife vs. Secretary," "Born to Dance", "Navy Blue and Gold," "You Can't Take It With You," "Made for Each Other" and "No Time for Comedy." Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was Stewart's real breakthrough into major stardom; a hugely popular modern morality play set against the backdrop of the Washington political system.
With the entry of the US into the Second World War Stewart put his acting career on hold. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1941, and began flying combat missions on March 31, 1944. He was appointed Operations Officer of the 453rd Bomb Group and, subsequently, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Wing, 2nd Air Division of the 8th Air Force. He ended the war with 20 combat missions, twice receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat. Before the war ended, he was promoted to Colonel, one of only a few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years. Jimmy 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.He retired in 1968, the highest ranking entertainer in the US military.
The film for which Stewart is best remembered is 'Its a Wonderful Life' in which he stars as George Bailey, the kind of nice guy who does so much for others that he ends up with almost nothing. The film ranks number eleven on the AFI's all time list.
Returning from war in late 1945, Stewart shook off his country-boy manner and found a harder edge. He assumed a new persona, a complex, sometimes cryptic image that was shaped in collaborations in the 1950s and '60s with directors like Hitchcock, Mann and John Ford.
By the early '70s, he announced his semi-retirement from movies, but still occasionally resurfaced in pictures like the 1976 John Wayne vehicle The Shootist and 1978's The Big Sleep.
In his later years Stewart became a familiar figure on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, reading his own poetry.
Stewart died at the age of 89 on July 2, 1997 from a pulmonary embolism following respiratory problems. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
