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Jimmy graduated from Princeton with a degree in Architecture. Due to the depression, Stewart thought there would not be many jobs available, so he took up an offer from a friend. He spent the next summer preparing a show for Broadway with the Falmouth Players. When the show headed to New York, Jimmy followed suit. He was enamored with it all. He started on Broadway with bit parts, moved to small parts, and those led to leading roles until he was discovered by Hollywood. 

In 1935, Stewart signed a contract with MGM studios and began his impressive film career. During the 1930s, he made twenty-one feature films and continued to hone his acting skills. He starred in films with Spencer Tracy, Ginger Rogers, Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, and Edward G. Robinson.

MGM casted him in musicals, dramas, comedies, and westerns. Frank Capra took notice of him in Navy Blue and Gold and casted him in You Can’t Take It with You. In 1938, this film won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Stewart then starred in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and received his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. He won the New York Critics Award, but not the Academy Award. This happened again twenty years later with Anatomy of a Murder.

Jimmy did win the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story also starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in 1940. Stewart was riding high and MGM was expecting big things from him. What he chose to do next was bigger than anyone could have imagined. Like his ancestors before him, Stewart enlisted in the United States Army to the dismay of MGM.

The Stewart family tradition of serving in the military goes back to Jimmy’s third great grandfather, Fergus Moorhead, who served in the Revolutionary War. Jimmy’s maternal grandfather was a general for the Union in the Civil War. His father Alex, served in both the Spanish-American War and World War I. Jimmy Stewart entered the Army as a private and at the end of WWII was a colonel in the Army Air Corps, fully decorated as the result of the 20 combat missions he flew over Germany as leader of a squadron of B-24’s. Among the medals, he was awarded were two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Croix de Guerre.

 

Stewart continued his military career after WWII by serving in the Air Force Reserves and rose to the rank of Brigadier General. President Reagan awarded him the Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award that can be awarded to a civilian in the United States.

Stewart’s success continued into the 1960s and 1970s by acting in movies such as, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Shenandoah, and The Flight of the Phoenix. He also had his own television series The Jimmy Stewart Show and played the recurring role of Hawkins in the mystery movie of the week.

 

Jimmy was a popular guest on many television shows in the ’80s and was recognized as one of the great actors of the golden age of Hollywood. Stewart received his second Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille and American Film Institute Awards for Lifetime Achievement.

He accidentally started a new career as a poet when he recited his poem A Dog Named Beau on The Johnny Carson Show. Jimmy Stewart’s book of poems became a bestseller and continues to sell very well today.

Stewart went into semi-retirement when health began to fail him. He retired permanently from public life after his beloved wife of forty-five years passed away. 

 

James Maitland Stewart (Jimmy) died on July 2, 1997. He 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 earned his wings!

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