James Stewart

Why did James Stewart do so well as the smart, good-natured guy? Reviewing his life, his only secret comes to light: James Stewart was a great guy and very smart. Born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, James Maitland Stewart’s father was a humble ironmonger who worked hard to pay for his son to study architecture. After graduating from Princeton, one of the most prestigious universities in the country, Stewart decided to try becoming an actor when he met director Joshua Logan , who asked him to join his theater group, the University Players, which also included Henry Fonda .. Both young men went to New York, where they quickly excelled in several Broadway productions. Dazzled by Stewart’s talent, famed entertainment commentator Hedda Hopper arranged for him to audition for MGM. He passed the exam with flying colors, and became a secondary of numerous titles.

Capra was the first of the great directors who took advantage of his qualities. He had seen him in Cadets of the Sea (1937) and thought that he gave the image that he exactly needed for his film Vive como quieras . He needed someone who seemed as honest as Gary Cooper in his smash hit The Secret of Living (1936), but smarter. The play went so well that they would repeat it on two memorable occasions, in 1939 in Knight Without a Sword and in 1946 in one of the peaks of their filmography, How Beautiful It Is to Live! , the quintessential Christmas classic.

He began his golden decade, the 1940s, working on key works by great directors, such as Ernst Lubitsch ‘s Surprise Bazaar and The Philadelphia Story, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar. He sent the statuette to his father, who proudly placed it on one of the shelves in his store, located on a street that happened to be called Philadelphia.

He then had to take a break in his career, due to World War II. Upon his return from the army, a colonel, although he would eventually rise to the rank of general, Stewart married Gloria Hatrick McLean, with whom he was united until his death in 1994.

He also became the public’s favorite actor, with films like The Invisible Harvey , Anatomy of a Murder or The Rope , the first of his collaborations with Hitchcock, who saw in him the ideal actor for his usual ordinary citizens who became heroes through his regret. With the master of suspense he reprized in The Man Who Knew Too Much , Rear Window  and Vertigo .

For the master John Ford , Stewart was the antithesis of the tough hero played by John Wayne , in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , one of his roundest westerns. In this genre, Stewart embodied the American pioneer ideal in Winchester 73 and four other Westerns by director Anthony Mann . Late in his career he was starring in lighter, unassuming titles, retiring in the early 1980s. The legendary actor died on July 2, 1997, of a stroke.