"If Bess and I had a son we'd want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart." –Harry Truman
By all accounts, Jimmy Stewart was as nice in real life as so many of the characters he played in the movies were. He was, in contrast to so many other celebrities, a refreshingly regular guy in his daily life. Stewart would have turned 104 today, and we're marking the date by retelling a few of our favorite anecdotes from his personal life… plus, of course, watching a few of our favorite films.
James Maitland Stewart grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, the son of a hardware store owner. Throughout his career, his father often urged him to leave Hollywood and come back to Pennsylvania to settle down and lead a quiet, respectable life. When Stewart won his only Oscar – in 1941, for The Philadelphia Story – he sent it home to his dad. To his credit, Stewart's father displayed the Oscar prominently at his store.
Stewart was good friends with Henry Fonda, despite their very different politics (Stewart was a staunch Republican, Fonda a devoted Democrat). For a time, they shared an apartment. In later years, their children remembered that one of their favorite pastimes was to build and paint model airplanes together.
Stewart and his wife Gloria owned a dog, Beau, whom the family loved very much. When Stewart was on location in Arizona, Beau became very ill, and the vet called to say he needed to be put to sleep. Stewart replied, "Keep him alive and I'll be there." He took an immediate leave of absence from the film, rushed home, and got to spend a few days with Beau before he said goodbye. Later, remembering petting his beloved dog's head at night, Stewart wrote a poem about Beau – one of many poems he wrote in his life. When he read "Beau" on The Tonight Show, both Stewart and Johnny Carson were moved to tears.
I remember that show well, I was in tears also ........... jbd
