The Stewart Family 

James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American actor and military officer.  Known for his distinctive drawl and screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991.  Stewart was born May 20, 1908 in Indiana, PA to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a three-storied hardware store. Jimmy had 2 sisters, Virginia and Mary and was of Scottish and English descent.   

Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, PA where he was a keen athlete (football and track), musician (singing and accordian playing) and sometime actor.  His plans for the future entailed working at the J.M. Hardware Co. store that was started by his grandfather and passed down to his father.  However, this never came to fruition although his father always thought that if things didn't work out, Jimmy could come back home and take over the store. 

Alexander Maitland Stewart (1872-1961), father of Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart

Alexander owned and operated a hardware store in Indiana, PA.  When Jimmy received an Academy Award for Best Story in 1940 for The Philadelphia Story he sent the Oscar statue to his father who displayed it on a shelf in his store for 25 years where it could be viewed by all.

Jimmy entertaining 2 local children at the hardware store during a visit home.

The Stewart home located on Vinegar Hill overlooking downtown Indiana PA.

From a speech given by Jimmy Stewart on May 20, 1958 at a Boy Scout Testimonial Dinner celebrating his 50th birthday ..

Through the years Indiana has been something of tremendous importance in my life.  It's true there is something special about the place where you were raised .. your hometown. I have found through the years during the times when I've been here in Indiana that almost every direction I look and so many faces I see immediately cause a picture to be formed of an event, a happening in my life that I remember well.  I think the main thing that has kept Indiana so close to my heart is the fact that Indiana has been, and still is, the headquarters of Mr. Alex Stewart and his family.  My father has been almost fanatical in his determination to keep our family together and he has done it.  Time and distance haven't seemed to have affected this headquarters in Indiana.  I've settled down three thousand miles from Indiana.  I've traveled to points in the world three times that distance.  At times I've stayed away several years at a stretch, but I somehow have never felt that I was very far from here .. somehow I don't feel that I have ever been away.

James Maitland Stewart 

In 1929, Stewart entered Princeton University where he studied and graduated with a degree in architecture.  While at Princeton he became further involved with the performing arts as a musican and actor with the University Players.  After graduation from Princeton, engagements with the University Players took him around the northeastern United States including a run on Broadway in 1932.  Eventually, work dried up as the Great Depression deepened and it wasn't until 1934 when he followed his friend, Henry Fonda to Hollywood that things began to pick up for a young Jimmy Stewart.

After his first screen performance, Stewart worked for a time at 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 colloborations 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 start and to establish his screen persona.  Capra made what's now maybe his best-known picture, It's a Wonderful Life.  He was one of 5 major Hollywood directors (with John Huston, John Ford, George Stevens and William Wyler) who gave up their careers to make films for the military during WWII. They all suffered for their choice and were changed personally by their wartime experiences therefore they had to reclaim their places in the Hollywood studio system.  It's telling that Capra's first post-wartime film was about a man in profound despair who believes he has no place in the world and that human life would be better if he had never been born.  What saves George Bailey is typical Capra fantasy .. an angel named Clarence makes George believe in himself, again.  Stewart and Capra made 3 movies together.  Throughout their association, they had a love/love relationship.

Capra's a classic example of what a motion picture director should be.  He had this tremendous sense of story and underneath everything that happened was a basic, wonderful humor.

Jimmy Stewart 

Frank Capra, born in Bisacquino Sicily Italy on May 18, 1897

Having learned to fly in 1935 Stewart was drafted into the US Army in 1940 as a private (after twice failing the medical for being underweight).  During the course of WWII, 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 USAF Reserve after the war and officially retired in 1968.  In 1959, he was promoted to brigadier general becoming the highest-ranking actor in US military history.

Stewart achieved his combat theater goal, arriving in England as a B-24 Liberator pilot.  In September 1945, he returned home as a decorated hero having received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Palm and other medals.  

Stewart's acting career took off 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 qualities to movies like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Stewart also starred in The Glenn Miller Story (1954); The Spirit of St. Louis (1957); The Philadelphia Story (1940); The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) directed by Frank Capra.   Stewart was in several movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock .. The  Rope (1948); Rear Window (1954) with Hollywood starlet, Grace Kelly.  Kelly, like Stewart, was a Pennsylvania native being from Philadelphia;  The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Vertigo (1958).

Another of his endearing films was Harvey.  It was a 1950 American comedy-drama that centered on a man whose best friend was a 6' 3 1/2" white invisible rabbit and the ensuing debacle when the man's sister tries to have him committed to a sanatorium.

Although Jimmy remained unmarried until his 40s and was dubbed by Hedda Hopper as  "The Great American Bachelor" he married former model Gloria Hatrick McLean on August 9, 1949 and was married to Gloria until her passing in 1994.  They had 4 children .. twin girls named Kelly and Judy and two adopted sons, Ronald and Michael from Gloria's previous marriage to Edward Beale McLean, Jr. (1943-1948).

Jimmy Stewart and Family at their Beverly Hills home.

Sadly, on June 25, 1997 a thrombosis formed in Stewart's right leg leading to a pulmonary embolism and a week later on July 2, surrounded by his children, James Maitland Stewart died at the age of 89 at his home in Beverly Hills.  His last words to his family were .. "I'm going to be with Gloria now". 

James Maitland Stewart and all that he brought to the silver screen will be remembered as a talented actor, brave military hero, loving husband, good father and a giant among men.  He leaves a legacy of honesty, hard work and strong values.  He was a good man, a loyal citizen and had a wonderful life.  He, indeed, has earned his wings!