Tyronne
Tash Jayasinghe
Cibbuano
James Stewart
January 31st 2008 04:20
Jimmy Stewart was born May 20, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He left this world July 2, 1997.
Among the many memorable films he starred in were Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Shootist.
The way he spoke, with an almost stuttering drawl, usually softly and with great courtesy – it made it seem unreasonable to disagree with him.
He joined the Air Force a year before Pearl Harbor. At first, they would not let him enlist. He didn't weigh enough. But, he began talking to the recruitment officer, and that would have been fun to hear. Did he go on & on, doing a version of the famous filibuster in his movie, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington?. However he did it, eventually the recruiter accepted him.
He won an Oscar for his role in the Philadelphia Story, in 1941. He gave it to his father, who kept it in the window of his hardware store. The store's address was on Philidelphia Street in the hometown where Jimmy was born. Jimmy had been born at home, on that same street.
Distinctive as his voice was, you wouldn't necessarily think of him as a singer. But it was Jimmy Stewart who sang, for the first time, the Cole Porter song “Easy To Love”. Jimmy said, “..the song had become such a big hit that they felt even my singing couldn't ruin it.”
According to Hollywood lore, Jimmy's best friend was Henry Fonda. When young they argued over politics, getting into a fist fight, which Henry won. But when Henry moved to Hollywood he stayed with Jimmy Stewart. At that time they were bachelors, and apparently earned frisky reputations. After they each had married, in later years they appeared to enjoy quietly working in the same room, where they painted model airplanes.
However, they did end up talking politics, from opposite sides of the fence, once again during the McCarthy hearings over Communism. Jimmy felt that Communist influence was a profoundly dangerous influence in the film community, and Henry disagreed, feeling that the hearings, and subsequent blacklistings, were wrong, ruining lives and un-American.
Their argument was so bitter, according to family, that they pulled back from it rather than lose the friendship between them that had endured decades....
As he aged, his hearing started to fail significantly. On the set of the The Shootist it was said that the difficult acoustics on the sound stages made it difficult for the actor to hear his cues. John Wayne had a similar problem (The Shootist was his final film). The director of the movie, Don Siegel, suppposedly told the two of them that they just weren't trying hard enough.
John Wayne replied to the director, “If you'd like the scene done better, you'd better get a couple of better actors.”
His visits to the Johnny Carson show were charming, and youtube has at least one:
Jimmy Stewart
Some of his best quotes are:
“There ought to be a law against any man who doesn't want to marry Myrna Loy.”
On John Wayne, “ I can't imagine there's anyone in the country who doesn't know who he is. Kids will be talking about him long after the rest of us are gone. John will make the history books, as Will Rogers did, because he has lived his life to reflect the ideals of his country.”
On himself, “I'm the inarticulate man who tries. I dont really have all the answers, but for some reason, somehow, I make it.”
On his fiftieth birthday Jimmy Stewart gave a speech at a Boy Scout dinner. He had been a Boy Scout (I remember the commercials they used to have – President Jimmy Carter was in one...)
He spoke of an America that was vanishing...
“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.”
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