Classic Jimmy Stewart Movies

One of the best things about Jimmy Stewart is that he starred in a every genre of movie there is. You can find him in great Hitchcock suspenseful movies as well as westerns and feel good movies like Bell Book and Candle and It`s a Wonderful life.

James Maitland Stewart was born in 1908 in Pennsylvania. As a child Jimmy dreamt of being a pilot in the Navy. Instead he attended college at Princeton. While there he got interested in acting. After he graduated he joined the University Players. Here he met Henry Fonda. The two friends shared an apartment in New York City.

In 1935, three years after he graduated Jimmy signed a contract with MGM. The salary was $350 a week. He moved into an apartment right next door to Greta Garbo. His first job at MGM was helping with screen tests for actresses. But he finally got his big break in 1936 in The Thin Man.

In 1938 Stewart began a partnership of some sort with director Frank Capra. They made the movie Can't Take it With You. It stared Jimmy along side Jean Arthur. The two would pair up again Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

In 1940 Jimmy was drafted into the US Army Air Corps. He was already an enlisted member of the Army when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. In 1943 Stewart was sent overseas as a pilot. He was eventually promoted to Major while in Europe. By the time war ended he had been promoted all the way up to Colonel.

He returned to acting after the war. His first movie back was It`s a Wonderful Life. In later years he took more serious roles. He began to play more flawed characters in Hitchcock films.

After his returned from WWII he married Gloria Hatrick McLean. They remained married for decades until she died in 1994. Jimmy Stewart died three years later in 1997.