The Best Gentlemen Actor That I Have Ever Known

Jimmy Stewart may have passed away more than a decade ago but in my mind he will always be one of my favorite actors, always fresh in

my thoughts. His demeanor as one of the good guys is forever embellished in my mind.He was the best gentlemen actor that Ihave ever known

Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Oscars, winning one in competition and one life achievement. He also had a remarkable military career, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in theUnited States Air Force.

He was born in Indiana Pa. on May 20th 1908.He was first attracted to Architecture but was eventually drawn into the theater at Princeton University. He made his way into Hollywood in 1935 where he would team up Director Frank Capra where he would be nominated for an Academy Award in one of his great classic films "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". Stewart also starred opposite Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in George Cukor's classic The Philadelphia Story (1940). His performance as an intrusive, fast-talking reporter earned him his only Academy Award in a competitive category (Best Actor, 1941), and he beat out his good friend Henry Fonda.

Before entering military service Stewart went on to appear in a series of screwball comedies with varying levels of success. He followed the mediocre No Time for Comedy (1940) andCome Live with Me (1941) with the Judy Garland musical Ziegfeld Girl and the GeorgeMarshall romantic comedy Pot o' Gold. Stewart was drafted in late 1940. Stewart chose to become a military flyer. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II. Stewart was initially held back from combat duty. Although he enlisted as a private, he earned a commission as a Second Lieutenant and completed pilot training. He was subsequently stationed in Albuquerque, NM, becoming an instructor pilot for the B-17 Flying Fortress. In August 1943 he was finally assigned to the 445th BombardmentGroup in Sioux City, Iowa, first as Operations Officer of the 703rd Bombardment Squadronand then its commander. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to RAF Tibenham, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to Major. In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded theCroix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made chief of staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of only a few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years. Stewart continued to play an active role in the United States Air Force Reserve after the war, achieving the rank of Brigadier General on 23 July 1959. A little know fact was that in 1966,Brigadier General James Stewart flew as a non duty observer in a B-52 on a bombing mission during the Vietnam conflict. Stewart retired from the Air Force on 31 May 1968.

Upon Stewart's return to Hollywood in fall 1945, he decided not to renew his MGM contract.He signed with an MCA talent agency. For the remainder of his career, Stewart was able to work without limits to director and studio availability. During the 1950s, he took on more challenging roles and expanded into the western and suspense genres, thanks largely to collaborations with directors Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock. James Stewart's collaborations with director Anthony Mann expanded Stewart's popularity and expanded his career into the realm of the western. Stewart's first appearance in a film directed by Mann came with the 1950 western classic, Winchester '73. The film set the pattern for their future collaborations.

In 1960, James Stewart was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for BestActor and received his fifth and final Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for his role in the 1959 Otto Preminger film Anatomy of a Murder. He also took the leading roles in three of John Ford films.As an aviator, Stewart was particularly interested in aviation films and had pushed to appear in several in the 1950s. He continued in this vein in the 1960s, most notably in a role as a hard-bitten pilot in Flight of the Phoenix (1965). He would later transfer his talents from movies to television and would appear periodically on the Johnny Carson late night show where he would share his poems that he had written throughout his life. They would later be complied into a collection titled Jimmy Stewart and His Poems. I will always remember the poem that he had dedicated to his dog called "Beau" that brought tears to many peoples eyes. He would later return to films with a major role in the Shootist, John Wayne's final film.

Stewart was offered the role of the father in On Golden Pond which went instead to Henry Fonda and earning Stewart’s friend his first Best Actor Oscar, just before his death. Long-time friend Grace Kelly, his favorite female co-star, died shortly afterwords. A few months later, Stewart starred with Bette Davis in Right of Way, which had the distinction of being the first made-for-cable movie. After filming several television movies in the 1980s, including Mr. Krueger's Christmas. James Stewart retired from acting to spend time with his family.Stewart died at the age of 89 on 2 July 1997, at his home in Beverly Hills, of cardiac arrest and a pulmonary embolism following a long illness from respiratory problems. His death came just one day after fellow screen legend and The Big Sleep co-star Robert Mitchum had died of lung cancer and emphysema. Stewart is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

There are many names that could describe Jimmy Stewart,but I think that the one word that pops into my head the most is Gentleman. I have written countless articles about"Jimmy" because I feel he, above everyone else, deserves them. For he was truly the best Gentleman Actor that I had ever known.