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IMDbPro

James Stewart(1908-1997)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000342
James Stewart
Home Video Trailer from Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Play trailer2:29
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
63 Videos
99+ Photos
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he was a keen athlete (football and track), musician (singing and accordion playing), and sometime actor.

In 1929, he won a place at Princeton University, where he studied architecture with some success and became further involved with the performing arts as a musician and actor with the University Players. After graduation, engagements with the University Players took him around the northeastern United States, including a run on Broadway in 1932. But work dried up as the Great Depression deepened, and it was not until 1934, when he followed his friend Henry Fonda to Hollywood, that things began to pick up.

After his first screen appearance in Art Trouble (1934), Stewart worked for a time for MGM as a contract player and slowly began making a name for himself in increasingly high-profile roles throughout the rest of the 1930s. His famous collaborations with Frank Capra, in You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and, after World War II, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) helped to launch his career as a star and to establish his screen persona as the likable everyman.

Having learned to fly in 1935, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1940 as a private (after twice failing the medical for being underweight). During the course of World War II, he rose to the rank of colonel, first as an instructor at home in the United States, and later on combat missions in Europe. He remained involved with the United States Air Force Reserve after the war and officially retired in 1968. In 1959, he was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the highest-ranking actor in U.S. military history.

Stewart's acting career took off properly after the war. During the course of his long professional life, he had roles in some of Hollywood's best-remembered films, starring in a string of Westerns, bringing his everyman qualities to movies like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)), biopics (The Stratton Story (1949), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), and The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), for instance, thrillers (most notably his frequent collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock), and even some screwball comedies.

On June 25, 1997, a thrombosis formed in his right leg, leading to a pulmonary embolism, and a week later on July 2, 1997, surrounded by his children, James Stewart died at age 89 at his home in Beverly Hills, California. His last words to his family were, "I'm going to be with Gloria now".
BornMay 20, 1908
DiedJuly 2, 1997(89)
BornMay 20, 1908
DiedJuly 2, 1997(89)
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000342
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos1710

James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Brandon De Wilde in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Elam, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Frank Chase, Chuck Roberson, Elaine Stewart, Robert J. Wilke, and Henry Wills in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Brandon De Wilde in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Brandon De Wilde in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Elaine Stewart in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart in Night Passage (1957)
James Stewart and Dianne Foster in Night Passage (1957)

Known for

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder
8.0
  • Paul Biegler
  • 1959
Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo
8.3
  • John 'Scottie' Ferguson
  • 1958
James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Beulah Bondi, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, and Eugene Pallette in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
8.1
  • Jefferson Smith
  • 1939
Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Philadelphia Story
7.9
  • Macaulay 'Mike' Connor
  • 1940

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • James Stewart, Dom DeLuise, Jon Lovitz, Cathy Cavadini, and Phillip Glasser in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
    An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
    • (voice)
  • North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986)
    North & South: Book 2, Love & War
  • Bette Davis and James Stewart in Right of Way (1983)
    Right of Way
  • Mr. Krueger's Christmas (1980)
    Mr. Krueger's Christmas
  • A Tale of Africa (1980)
    A Tale of Africa
  • Jimmie 'JJ' Walker in General Electric's All-Star Anniversary (1978)
    General Electric's All-Star Anniversary
  • The Magic of Lassie (1978)
    The Magic of Lassie
  • Robert Mitchum and Candy Clark in The Big Sleep (1978)
    The Big Sleep
  • Bette Davis, Ben Powers, and Lenny Schultz in Laugh-In (1977)
    Laugh-In
  • Airport '77 (1977)
    Airport '77
  • Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, John Wayne, Ron Howard, Richard Boone, Sheree North, and Hugh O'Brian in The Shootist (1976)
    The Shootist
  • Sentimental Journey
    • (as Mr. James Stewart)
  • Hawkins (1973)
    Hawkins
  • Harvey (1972)
    Harvey
  • James Stewart and Julie Adams in The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971)
    The Jimmy Stewart Show
    • (as Jimmy Stewart)

Director

  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
  • Lux Playhouse (1958)
    Lux Playhouse
  • Ronald Reagan in General Electric Theater (1953)
    General Electric Theater

Producer

  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
  • Lux Playhouse (1958)
    Lux Playhouse

Videos63

What to Watch: Holiday Movies on Prime Video for the Whole Family
Clip 2:09
What to Watch: Holiday Movies on Prime Video for the Whole Family
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:37
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:46
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 1:07
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:55
It's a Wonderful Life
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
Clip 0:33
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
Clip 0:44
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
Clip 1:17
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Paramount Centennial Collection
Trailer
Trailer 2:39
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:27
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:51
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:06
Trailer

Personal details

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  • Official sites
    • Facebook - The Jimmy Stewart Museum
    • The Jimmy Stewart Museum
    • May 20, 1908
    • Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA
    • July 2, 1997
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(cardiac arrest and pulmonary embolism following respiratory problems)
    • Gloria StewartAugust 9, 1949 - February 16, 1994 (her death, 2 children)
    • Kelly Stewart
    • (Sibling)
  • Other works
    (1970s) TV commercial: Firestone Tires.
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Biographical Movies
    • 15 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 3 Interviews
    • 13 Articles
    • 6 Pictorials
    • 6 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Upon accepting his Honorary Oscar in 1985, he stated, "This was the greatest award I received, to know that, after all these years, I haven't been forgotten." The audience gave him a ten-minute standing ovation, making the show run long. Steven Spielberg, who was in attendance, said that he was humbled to even be in the same room as Stewart, because he respected him so much.
  • Quotes
    Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a Jimmy Stewart imitation myself.
    • Soft-spoken, extremely polite and shy manner, with a very recognizable drawl in his voice.
    • Right of Way
      (1983)
      $250,000

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