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The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 70

Publication:
The Tampa Tribunei
Location:
Tampa, Florida
Issue Date:
Page:
70
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

FLORIDA S-NationWorid The Tampa Tribune, Thursday, July 3, 1997 It was a wonderful life nn Hi Jimmy Stewart a. 1 i it Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in the closing scenes of "It's a Wonderful Life," his favorite movie. Jimmy Stewart dies -A, treasure Tribune file photo (1939) Jimmy Stewart with Marlene Dietrich, above, in "Destry Rides Again," and, at right, as a senator in "Mr. Smith FLORi uoes 10 wasnmgion be." In the 1940s and 1950s, Stewart successfully played such real-life heroes as ballplayer Monty Stratton, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and orchestra leader Glenn Miller.

He then took a professional risk. Director Alfred Hitchcock offered him obsessed, even paranoid, roles in "Rope," "Rear Window" and "Vertigo," where audiences saw a different Stewart from the bemused, shy stammerer of many a romantic comedy. STEWART ALSO helped invent the "adult western" in the 1950s and 1960s under the direction of Anthony Mann and John Ford. "The Naked Spur," "The Man From Laramie" and "Cheyenne Autumn" were darker portraits of cowboy life than previous Hollywood horse operas. He also worked with Ford on "How the West Was Won." Moviegoers were beguiled by the Stewart persona, the same, reliably charming manner with which he dealt with an imaginary rabbit in "Harvey" or Kim Novak's cat in "Bell, Book and Candle." Stewart's life reflected a small-town, religious upbringing and sense of responsibility: He was politically conservative.

He married only once, for 45 years. In World War II, he was sent to Eu- Trip Portfolio Jimmy Stewarts film, radio and television credits. He won an Academy Award for The Philadelphia Story" in 1940: Film: The Murder Man, 1935 After the Thin Man, 1936 Rose Marie, 1936 Next Time We Love, 1 936 Wife vs. Secretary. 1936 Small Town Girt, 1936 "Speed, 1936 The Gorgeous Hussy, 1936 Bom to Dance.

1936 Seventh Heaven. 1937 The Last Gangster. 1937 Navy Blue and Gold, 1937 Of Human Hearts, 1938 Vivacious Lady. 1938 The Shopworn Angel, 1 938 You Cant Take it With You. 1938 Made for Each Other.

1 939 Ice Follies of 1939,1939 If a Wonderful World. 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1 939 Destry Rides Again, 1939 The Shop Around the Comer, 1940 The Mortal Storm, 1940 No Time for Comedy, 1 940 The Philadelphia Story, 1940 Come Live With Me. 1941 Pot O'Gold. 1941 Ziegfeld Girl, 1941 It's a Wonderful Life, 1946 Magic Town, 1947 Call Northside 777, 1948 On Our Merry Way, or A Miracle Can Happen, 1948 Rope, 1948 You Gotta Stay Happy, 1949 The Stratton Story, 1949 Malaya, 1950 Winchester 73, 1950 Broken Arrow, 1950 The Jackpot, 1950 Harvey, 1950 No Highway, or No Highway in the Sky, 1951 The Greatest Show on Earth, 1952 "Bend of the River, 1952 Carbine Williams, 1952 The Naked Spur, 1953 Thunder Bay, 1953 The Glenn Miller Story, 1954 Rear Window, 1954 The Far Country, 1955 Strategic Air Command, 1955 The Man From Laramie, 1955 The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956 The Spirit of St.

Louis, 1957 Night Passage, 1957 Vertigo, 1958 Bell, Book and Candle, 1958 Anatomy of a Murder, 1 959 The FBI Story, 1959 The Mountain Road, 1960 Two Rode Together, 1961 X-15, narrator, 1961 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962 Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, 1962 How the West Was Won, 1 962 Take Her She's Mine, 1963 Cheyenne Autumn, 1964 Dear Brigitte, 1965 Shenandoah, 1965 The Flight of the Phoenix, 1 966 The Rare Breed, 1966 Firecreek, 1968 Bandolerol 1968 The Cheyenne Social Club, 1970 Fools' Parade, 1971 That's Entertainment, narrator, 1974 The Shootist, 1976 Airport 77, 1977 The Magic of Lassie, 1978 The Big Sleep, 1978 A Tale of Africa, or Green Horizon, 1981 An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West, 1991 (voice) Television: The Jimmy Stewart Show, series, 1971-72 Hawkins, series, 1973-74 Krueger's Christmas, TV movie, 1981 Right of Way, TV movie, 1983 North and South, miniseries, 1986 North and South Book II, miniseries, 1990 Radio: Lux Radio Theater, guest star, 1940s Screen Guild Theater, guest star, 1940s Good News From Hollywood, guest star, 1940s The Six-Shooter, series, 1952 Source: The Associiled Press A i i Tribune tile pholo (1946) cares about immediately." Self-effacing in life just as he was on screen, Stewart was more likely to credit his directors. "I won't let it get me, but too much praise can turn a fellow's head if he doesn't watch his step," he once said. To Stewart, one of his best performances may have come as a bomb group commander flying missions over Europe in 1944. "WE HIT Brunswick in 1944" he said, "and there was a lot of flak, a lot of fighter interference, a lot of airplanes going down.

To be effective even to defend ourselves we somehow had to hold the bomb group together. "That meant I had to sound like I knew what I was doing and wasn't scared and believe me, it was a better performance that I put on that day than I'd ever done in my life before. I was scared as hell! Stewart, like his father, went to Princeton. He majored in architecture, but was drawn to drama. In 1932, he followed his classmate, the director Joshua Logan, and joined the University Players, a summer stock troupe in Falmouth, where he worked with Henry Fonda.

Stewart made his feature film debut in 1935 in "The Murder Man" as a newspaper reporter opposite Spencer Tracy. "I was all hands and feet, and didn't know what to do with either," he once said. But in his first five years in Hollywood he made 24 films, including "You Can't Take it With You" and "Destry Rides Again" with Marlene Dietrich. He even played a bad guy, just once, in 1936's "After the Thin Man." In his Oscar-winning performance in the 1940 "The Philadelphia Story," he played a reporter entranced by a spoiled heiress Katharine Hepburn. HE RECEIVED Oscar nominations as the senator in "Mr.

George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful the eccentric whose best pal is an imaginary rabbit in "Harvey" in 1950; and the defense lawyer for an Army officer in "Anatomy of a Murder" in 1959. His last movie credit was for lending his folksy voice to Sheriff Wylie Burp in the 1991 animated film "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West." He is survived by a stepson, Michael McLean, and daughters Judy Merrill and Kelly Harcourt. lavishly. The budget came to $2,362,427, reported Joseph McBride in his 1992 biography, "Frank Capra," but costs mounted to $3.18 million. With RKO's distribution fee, the total was $3.78 million, a huge amount in those days.

RKO hurried the film into December release to qualify for the Academy Awards. Unfortunately for Capra, his partner and rival Wyler had made "The Best Years of Our Lives," which was released at the same time. "Best Years" captured the reviews, the business and the Oscars. American A Tribune wire report BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Jimmy Stewart, the stammering, aw-shucks actor who embodied the small-town values of decency and moral courage both in his life and on the screen, died Wednesday.

The star of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was 89. Stewart died at home in Beverly Hills. Fighting illness and mourning the 1994 death of his wife, Gloria, he had become something of a recluse toward the end of his life. Stewart conjured up some of the most memorable performances in cinema history.

In more than 75 films, a distinguished military career and exemplary private life, Stewart emerged as a symbol of old-fashioned American values. IN HIS most memorable roles, Stewart played earnest, sometimes bashful heroes, slow to anger but possessed with bottomless reserves of perseverance. In an age of elegant, drop-dead handsome matinee idols, the lanky Stewart was more the average-looking guy next door. He was best known a3 the suicidal businessman who finds redemption in the 1946 movie "It's a Wonderful Life," one of the most-beloved films and Stewart's favorite. In "Mr.

Smith Goes to Washington" in 1939, he was an idealistic young senator who challenges the backroom deals and opportunism on Capitol Hill. In one of Stewart's most famous lines, he says: "I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if behind them they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary kindness and a little lookin' out for the other fella." Stewart won a best actor Academy Award for 1940's "The Philadelphia Story" and was nominated four other times. "He was just a great human being. I think Jimmy on the screen was what he was off the screen," said Betty Hutton, who starred with Stewart in 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth." "That's him. He doesn't act.

He doesn't have to." CHARLTON HESTON, a co-star and friend, described Stewart as role model, not only in acting but in how to behave as a celebrity. "He had much greater range as an actor than he was credited for," Heston said. "He could be the playboy or the photographer, the congressman or the cowboy. He became, along with his good friend Gary Cooper, the quintessential American male. If American men couldn't quite see they were like him, they all wanted to Wonderful An Associated Press report LOS ANGELES During his first and only meeting with his idol, Frank Capra, 20 years ago, Steven Spielberg remarked that he always took a copy of "It's a Wonderful Life" on his film locations to show the cast and crew.

Spielberg and a new generation of filmmakers revere Capra and consider "It's a Wonderful Life" their favorite movie. So do millions of Americans. Probably no other film has appeared on television more often partly be Tribune file photo (1939) rope as a bomber squadron commander, flew 20 combat missions and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. A dutiful son, he often returned to help in the family hardware store in Indiana, where his best actor Oscar was displayed in the window for 20 years. "This is where I made up my mind about certain things about the importance of hard work and community spirit, the value of family, church and God," Stewart said at his 75th birthday party in the town.

In 1995, the town opened the Jimmy Stewart Museum. His father, Alexander Stewart, continued to operate the store until he was in his late 80s. "THE MAIN reason," Stewart said, "is that he wanted to have it ready for me to come back to, if ever I needed real work instead of what he regards as make-believe." Stewart's acting seemed effortless and natural. Frank Capra, who directed "Mr. Smith" and "It's a Wonderful Life," once said Stewart was one of the few actors to achieve that level of performance where there is "no acting at all, when the actor disappears and a real live person appears on the screen, a person the audience Stern had written as a Christmas card.

It was called "The Greatest Gift." "It was the story I had been looking for all my life!" he wrote in his 1971 biography, "The Name Above the Title." Stewart had returned to his MGM contract, but the studio had found no projects for him. He leaped at the chance to work with Capra again (they had paired on "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "You Can't Take It with After the script had passed through many hands, filming began April 15, 1946. Free of studio control, Capra spent S1 ,1 Life' saved Stewart's, Capra's careers cause the copyright was inadvertently allowed to lapse, partly because people enjoy the lift Jt gives them. Both director Capra and star James Stewart credited "It's a Wonderful Life" for saving their careers.

Both had been serving in World War II for five years, an eternity to be absent from the screen. Back from the war, Capra, George Stevens and William Wyler had formed Liberty Pictures to escape from studio control. All three had trouble finding projects. Finally the head of RKO Studios showed Capra a story Phillip Van Doren.

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