His "aw shucks" demeanor has served him well as the good guy, the shy guy or the nice guy in films like Harvey and You Can't Take It with You. Alfred Hitchcock turned him into a dramatic leading man in films like Rear Window and Vertigo. Stewart also starred in his share of westerns, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Naked Spur and The Man from Laramie.


Right of Way (1983): $250,000
The Shootist (1976): $50,000
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952): $50,000
Harvey (1950): $200,000 + % net profits
Winchester '73 (1950): $600,000
Rope (1948): $300,000
The Philadelphia Story (1940): $3,000/week
The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939): $350/week
Made for Each Other (1939): $350/week
You Can't Take It with You (1938): $350/week
The Shopworn Angel (1938): $350/week
Vivacious Lady (1938): $350/week
Of Human Hearts (1938): $350/week
Navy Blue and Gold (1937): $350/week
The Last Gangster (1937): $350/week
Seventh Heaven (1937): $350/week
After the Thin Man (1936): $350/week
Born to Dance (1936): $350/week
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936): $350/week
Speed (1936): $350/week
Small Town Girl (1936): $350/week
Important News (1936): $350/week
Wife vs. Secretary (1936): $350/week
Next Time We Love (1936): $350/week
Rose-Marie (1936): $350/week
The Murder Man (1935): $350/week
Art Trouble (1934): $50/day

Ranked #10 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] The James Stewart Museum was dedicated in Indiana, Pennsylvania on 20 May 1995 When Stewart won the Best Actor Oscar in 1940, he sent it to his father in Indiana, Pennsylvania, who set it in his hardware shop. The trophy remained there for 25 years. Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Wee Kirk O' the Heathers Churchyard , on the left side, up the huge slope, to the left of the Taylor Monument, space 2, lot 8. He held the highest active military rank of any actor in history. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps and rose to the rank of colonel; after the War, he continued in the US Air Force Reserve becoming a brigadier general (1- star). Ed McMahon was also commissioned a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard in 1966 and continued to serve after he began his acting career. Two former actors outranked him: John Ford was an actor before becoming a director and a rear admiral (2-star) in the US Naval Reserve; President Ronald Reagan was Commander-in-Chief, but he made his last theatrical TV appearance in 1965. When he left to serve in WWII, his father gave him a letter which he kept in his pocket everyday until the war ended. Often incorrectly noted as having achieved the highest rank in Boy Scouting, Eagle Scout, while in his youth in Indiana, Pennsylvania; he was a scout for four years, attaining Second Class. He appeared in a series of award-winning commercials promoting the Boy Scouts, and served as a volunteer with the Orange County and Los Angeles Area Councils. He was awarded the Silver Beaver, the highest adult award. Was a regular on the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts." He was even a guest of honor in 1978. Recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 1983. Many of his works were donated to Brigham Young University in 1983, including his personal copy of It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Was of Northern Irish heritage from County Antrim. When Stewart served as an officer and a pilot in the Army Air Corps in WWII, one of the sergeants in his unit was Walter Matthau. His two natural children, twin daughters Judy and Kelly Stewart, were born May 7, 1951. His wife, Gloria Stewart (the former Gloria Hatrick McLean), a former model from Larchmount, New York, also brought two sons to the marriage: Ronald and Michael (aged 5 and 2 at the time of the wedding in 1949), whom he adopted. Ronald later died on active service, as a Marine officer on June 8, 1969 in Vietnam. President Harry S. Truman was an admirer of Stewart's work, and even commented that if he'd had a son, he'd have wanted him to be "just like Jimmy Stewart." A true "regular guy," he genuinely disliked the glamour often basked in by Hollywood stars, avoiding expensive clothes and fancy cars. His mother's maiden name was Jackson. Her father, Col. Samuel Jackson, served in the Civil War. Was of Scottish and Irish heritage. His hair began receding during World War II. By the early 1950s, he was wearing a toupee for all his movie roles, though he often went without it in public. His baldness was made less obvious by wearing a gray toupee for many movie roles. Was named #3 on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends Actor list by the American Film Institute Was very good friends with Ronald Reagan, Henry Fonda, John Wayne and Gary Cooper. Died one day after Robert Mitchum. Hosted the Academy Awards in 1946 (alongside Bob Hope), 1958 (alongside David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Rosalind Russell, Bob Hope and "Donald Duck"). While filming The Big Sleep (1978) in August 1977, Stewart appeared to be much older than his actual age of 69 as the rich, wheelchair-bound Gen. Sternwood. The fact is that he had a hearing impairment and was having memory problems, which caused him to keep flubbing his lines. It's believed that these health problems brought about his retirement from movies shortly afterwards, although he was also concerned with the violence and explicit sexual content of modern films and saw no future for himself in the movie industry. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award, by his friend President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985. Of all the movies he has done It's a Wonderful Life (1946) was his favourite. His performance as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is ranked #8 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). His jazz and blues piano-playing skills were showcased in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). His performance as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is ranked #60 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. According to the curator of the James Stewart Museum, he was exactly 6'3" tall. His military physical would have indicated he was 6'3", since he was 138 lb., five pounds under the 143 required for his draft eligibility. The weight / height requirements for the US Air Force prior to October 1999 was 143 lb. minimum for a man of 6'3". By the late 1950s, he reported that his weight was up to 160 lb. Stewart never recovered from his wife's death in February 1994, and vowed to make no further public appearances after her funeral service. Thereafter he spent most of his time in his bedroom, coming out only at the insistence of his housekeeper for meals. Newspaper reports suggested Stewart had Alzheimer's disease. Over the Christmas holiday season in 1995 he failed to negotiate a rise leading to a dining area and fell, cracking his head on the bill of a wooden duck that his daughter Judy had given him as a gift some years previously. In December 1996, when he was due to have his battery changed in his pacemaker, he told his children that he'd rather not have that done. He wanted to let things take their natural course. On 31 January 1997, Stewart tripped over a potted plant in his bedroom, and cut open his forehead. He was taken to St John's Hospital, in Santa Monica, where he was given twelve stitches. A few weeks later, he was hospitalized for a blood clot and irregular heartbeat. He had a blood clot in his right knee, and the swelling soon spread through his entire leg. At 11:05 am on 2 July 1997, James Stewart died of cardiac arrest at the age of eighty-nine. Campaigned for Richard Nixon in the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections. His mother Bessie died on 2 August 1953, a week after suffering a severe heart attack at the age of seventy-eight. During the 1980s he was one of the most prominent critics of the colorization of old movies, even testifying before a congressional committee about what he called the "denaturing" of It's a Wonderful Life (1946). "If these color-happy folks are so concerned about the audience," he said, "let them put their millions of dollars into new films, or let them remake old stories if they see fit, but let our great film artists and films live in peace. I urge everyone in the creative community to join in our efforts to discourage this terrible process." In 1980 he was hospitalized for five days with an irregular heartbeat. Three years later the condition resurfaced and doctors at St John's Hospital in Santa Monica installed a pacemaker. Stewart and Richard Widmark both wore toupees and had hearing problems. On the set of Two Rode Together (1961) director John Ford became frustrated with the two stars being unable to hear his instructions and exclaimed, "Fifty years in this goddamn business, and what do I end up doing? Directing two deaf hairpieces!" He considered himself to be miscast in Rope (1948) and Bell Book and Candle (1958). He never had any cosmetic surgery, unlike his friends Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda and John Wayne. Stewart was sometimes amused when critics would always compare him with Henry Fonda, in particular his one marriage versus Fonda's five marriages. Stewart was dismayed that people forgot he had been romantically linked with numerous actresses before finally marrying at the age of 41. He wore the same hat in all of his westerns. John Ford complained on the set of Two Rode Together (1961): "Great, now I have actors with hat approval!". His favorite movies were westerns, he said, "because they're told against the background of a very dramatic period in our history" and "give people a feeling of hope, an affirmative statement of living.". Originally intended to make On Golden Pond (1981), but Jane Fonda bought the rights before he could. He actively sought the role of Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), even though the producers felt he was far too old for the part, simply because he admired Lindbergh so much. Profiled in "Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors", Gary Yoggy, ed. (McFarland, 1998). In March 2008 a proposal was submitted to award Stewart the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his services to the nation. After Boris Yeltsin seized power in Russia in December 1991, Stewart was involved in arranging for It's a Wonderful Life (1946) to be screened on Russian television. Following the release of Winchester '73 (1950), he appeared on the list of Top 10 Stars at the US box office for the first time, a position he retained until the end of the decade. Along with Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford, Stewart has 8 films in the Imdb's Top 250 movie list. Daughter Kelly and her husband teach at the University of California, Davis. Daughter Kelly graduated from Stanford and got a PhD from Cambridge University. He has two grandsons, John and David Merritt. Gary Cooper considered him to be his closest friend. Allegedly hated the nickname "Jimmy".