Historical Figure
James Stewart
1908–1997
American actor and military officer (1908–1997)
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Biography
James Maitland Stewart was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart appeared in 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. His films are considered some of the greatest films of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors; he received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in 1983, as well as the Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985.
Timeline
The story of James Stewart, told in moments.
Wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story. He thinks he doesn't deserve it and that Henry Fonda should have won for The Grapes of Wrath. His father puts the Oscar in the hardware store window for 25 years.
Enlists as a private in the Army Air Corps, nine months before Pearl Harbor. He's already a movie star. He flies 20 combat missions over Germany as a B-24 pilot, earns the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, and reaches the rank of Brigadier General in the reserves.
Rear Window opens, the third of four films he makes with Alfred Hitchcock. He plays a wheelchair-bound photographer who might have witnessed a murder. Vertigo comes four years later. Hitchcock calls Stewart the most cooperative actor he's ever worked with.
Dies of a pulmonary embolism at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 89. He'd made over 80 films. His wife Gloria died three years earlier, and friends say he never got over it.
In Their Own Words (14)
Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.
As quoted in The Ultimate Writer's Guide to Hollywood (2004) by Skip Press, p. 199, 2004
I've sort of gotten into the habit of looking for the vulnerable guy, the guy who makes mistakes, the guy who can't figure things out all the time but keeps at it.
On roles he looks for, as quoted in "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89" at CNN (2 July 1997), 1997
Hollywood dishes out too much praise for small things I won't let it get me, but too much praise can turn a fellow's head if he doesn't watch his step.
As quoted in "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89" at CNN (2 July 1997), 1997
I'm going to be with Gloria now.
His last words, about his wife Gloria, who had died in 1994, as quoted in "Morbid Fascination" by Emily Yoffe in Slate (4 December 1997), 1994
If you can do a part and not have the acting show.
A definition of good acting, given in an interview on WNET TV (13 March 1987); sometimes quoted as "It’s well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show.", 1987
Artifacts (15)
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