Jimmy Stewart

You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks. Always be yourself.

James Maitland Stewart (20 May 1908 – 2 July 1997), popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor, best known for his self-effacing screen persona. In his military career he reached the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Quotes

• When I got back from the war in 1946 people didn't want the Mr. Smith kind of movie any more, and I refused to make war pictures.
  • On how he started doing westerns, as quoted in "Innocent Revisited" in TIME magazine (29 June 1970)

• I've always been skeptical of people who say they lose themselves in a part. Someone once came up to Spencer Tracy and asked, "Aren't you tired of always playing Tracy?" Tracy replied, "What am I supposed to do, play Bogart?" You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.
  • As quoted in "Innocent Revisited" in TIME magazine (29 June 1970)

Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.

• If you can do a part and not have the acting show.
  • A definition of good acting, given in an interview on WNET TV (13 March 1987); sometimes quoted as "It’s well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show."

• I've sort of gotten into the habit of looking for the vulnerable guy, the guy who makes mistakes, the guy who can't figure things out all the time but keeps at it.
  • On roles he looks for, as quoted in "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89" at CNN (2 July 1997)

• Hollywood dishes out too much praise for small things I won't let it get me, but too much praise can turn a fellow's head if he doesn't watch his step.
  • As quoted in "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89" at CNN (2 July 1997)

• I'm going to be with Gloria now.
  • His last words, about his wife Gloria, who had died in 1994, as quoted in "Morbid Fascination" by Emily Yoffe in Slate (4 December 1997)

• Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.
  • As quoted in The Ultimate Writer's Guide to Hollywood (2004) by Skip Press, p. 199

Quotes about Stewart

• I don't go to movies very much. In fact, I never cared for them. But when I do go, I like to watch Jimmy Stewart. I met him when he was making Strategic Air Command at St. Petersburg, Fla. and like him very much.
  • Stan Musial, as quoted in "The Scoreboard: private life of Stan Musial" by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (May 15, 1955), Sec. 4, p. 3

Movie roles and quotes

• Rope: Rupert Cadell
• Harvey: Elwood P. Dowd
• It's a Wonderful Life: George Bailey
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Jefferson Smith
• Vertigo: Detective John 'Scottie" Ferguson
• The Philadelphia Story: Macaulay 'Mike' Connor
• Rear Window: L.B. Jeffries

External links

• James Stewart on IMDb
• Profile at Turner Classic Movies
• "James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89" in The New York Times (3 July 1997)
• The Jimmy Stewart Museum
• Jimmy Stewart Fansite
• National Museum of the United States Air Force: Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart
• Kennedy Center Honors: James Stewart
• Presidential Medal of Freedom: Jimmy Stewart
• News from Princeton University, Princeton to Honor Famed Alumnus Jimmy Stewart '32 With Tribute and Theater Dedication
• Movie stills and captions
• Life Magazine in 1945: Col. James M. Stewart stands with his father outside of the family's hardware store.