James Stewart Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Profession Actor
Birth name James Maitland Stewart
Nationality American
Birth May 20, 1908 (Indiana, Pennsylvania – United States)
Death July 2, 1997  (Los Angeles – United States)
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Pennsylvania in 1908, son of a hardware merchant and graduate in architecture, James Stewart made his debut in front of the camera at the age of 26, with minor roles in comedies: His Wife and His Typist (1936 ) , where he opposite Jean Harlow and Clark Gable , thrillers, dramas and even musicals: Born to Dance .

It was under the direction of Frank Capra in You Won’t Take It With You (1938) that Stewart rose to stardom. A crazy romantic comedy, the film was a huge success (Oscar for best film and best director). The following year, playing Mr. Smith in the Senate , Stewart became the quintessential Caprian hero, forever associating his lanky figure with a clumsy, naive hero whose unwavering integrity always triumphs over corruption and adversity. Mr. Smith won the Oscar for best screenplay and best editing, and earned Stewart a nomination for best actor – an award he won in 1940 for his role opposite Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in George Cukor ‘s Indiscretions . The same year, a year before enlisting in the army, he was the hero of another romantic comedy classic, The Shop Around the Corner (1940) , by Ernst Lubitsch . After the war, from which he emerged promoted to Colonel (following this experience, he was tempted to abandon acting to devote himself to a career in the army!), he reunited with Capra one last time for Life is Beautiful ( 1946). An ode to family values, the film was a flop at the time of its release, but is now popular with the American public during the Christmas holidays. In 1948 The Rope marked his first collaboration with the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock . There will also be Rear Window , alongside Grace Kelly , The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with Doris Day , and finally Cold Sweats (1958) where he falls in love with the mysterious Kim Novak . Just like Cary Grant , Stewart embodies a whole section of Hitchockian cinema, playing the stubborn amateur detective, braving dangers alone against everyone in suspense classics. Anthony Mann directed him in no less than 8 films in the 1950s,

, where he has the opportunity to defend less civilized characters than usual, although always positive, but also a biopic: Unfinished Romance , on the life of jazzman Glenn Miller His passion for music is at the origin a little falling out with Mann: against his advice, Stewart insisted on playing the trumpet himself, but without the necessary talent to do so…

We also remember The Fantastic Voyage , a dramatic comedy where he plays opposite Marlene Dietrich , and Under the Biggest Top in the World (1952) where, against the odds, he played a clown under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille , alongside Charlton Heston . He played the title role in Billy Wilder ‘s Charles Lindbergh’s Odyssey before reuniting with Kim Novak under the direction of Richard Quine in The Adorable Neighbor . He appeared at a less sustained pace in the 60s and 70s, always alongside the greatest: with Otto Preminger for Autopsy of a Murder (1959), a “trial film”; then to John Ford . He will play the middle-aged sheriffs, adventurers and cowboys, mythical heroes of a part of American history; notably in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , alongside Lee Marvin and John Wayne . This was followed by a dramatic war film, Flight of the Phoenix (1965) with Richard Attenborough , and other westerns which offered him his last major roles. Andrew V. McLaglen directed him in The Meadows of Honor (1965), Rancho Bravo (1966), and Bandolero! (1968) where he played alongside Raquel Welch , then in 1976 it was The Last of the Giants , by Don Siegel , opposite John Wayne . In 1978 he made an appearance opposite Robert Mitchum in The Big Sleep by Michael Winner , and received a second Oscar as a reward for his career in 1984. His last major commitment, in the 80s/90s, was to fight against the colorization of black and white films. He appeared in 96 films over nearly 60 years of cinema.