Jimmy Stewart: Difference between revisions

{{creator|wppage=James Stewart}}

James "Jimmy" Stewart (1908-1997) was a popular actor for a good deal of the 20th century, starring in films from ''[[Harvey]]'' to ''[[The Philadelphia Story]]'' to ''[[The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance]]''. He is perhaps most famous for his role as George Bailey in the classic film ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'', with ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' getting a strong look-in. His other films included ''[[You Can't Take It Withwith You]]'', ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'', ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'', and ''[[The Flight of the Phoenix]]'', as well as numerous [[The Western|Westerns]] (including ''[[Destry Rides Again]]'', ''Winchester '73'', ''[[How the West Was Won]]'', and ''[[Shenandoah]]'') and [[Biopic|Biopics]]s (including ''[[The Glenn Miller Story]]'' and ''The Spirit of St. Louis''), and four films with [[Alfred Hitchcock]] (''[[Rope]]'', ''[[Rear Window]]'', ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'', and ''[[Vertigo]]''). A mark of his image as an everyman was his constantly being referred to by the public (and this entry) as "Jimmy Stewart", despite the fact that he was never credited as such in any of his famous film roles, always going by "James".

As a young man he attended [[Ivy League|Princeton University]], and got his first taste of show business in the [[Princeton Triangle Club]]. He fought as a pilot and commander in the [[Second World War]] and flew once as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on a bombing mission during the [[Vietnam War]] (eventually promoted to the rank of [[The Brigadier|Brigadier General]] in the [[Home Guard|Air Force Reserves]], starting from private), and was famous for being a [[Nice Guy]], both in his film roles and in real life. He had a very unusual speaking voice that is somewhat hard to describe (a sort of quasi-hesitation/stutter), and even harder to imitate.