Stewart, James Maitland

(1908-1997)

   The actor, James Stewart (better known as “Jimmy”), was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania. After attending Mercersburg Academy, he went to Princeton University in 1928 and graduated with a degree in architecture in 1932. However, he had already begun acting while a student. Soon after leaving Princeton, he found work with a theater group, making his first appearance on Broadway that year. After several successful stage roles, he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934 and appeared in his first film in 1936. Stewart acted in a number of movies including You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and It’s a Wonderful World (1939) and also did radio work before his major breakthrough as a star in the western, Destry Rides Again and Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, both in 1939. In 1940, he won an Oscar for his role in The Philadelphia Story in which he starred with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

   Stewart was initially rejected for the draft as underweight, but after fattening himself up was accepted for the Army Air Corps in 1941. He rose to the rank of colonel and was awarded the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for his service during World War II. After the war, Stewart starred in the lead role in Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Although not an enormous success at the time, the film was to become a perennial Christmas classic in later years. However, his career was really re-established with his performances in the western Winchester ’73 and the comedy Harvey, both in 1950. He also played the lead in Broken Arrow (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), The Glenn Miller Story (1953), and in two films by Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958), and as Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957). Stewart’s career in cinema spanned through to the 1970s; in addition, he often appeared in roles on television. He was given a Life Achievement Award by the American Film Institute in 1980 and an Honorary Academy Award in 1985.