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Patrick Stoner welcomes your questions about movies and the people who make them. Send your questions to pstoner@whyy.org. Here's the current question and answer:


Q: Jimmy Stewart is gone. What is his legacy?

A: Wellllll, ahhh [rubs chin] ... it ... it ... it's huge!

While other actors' films are gathering dust or, worse, being laughed at because their acting style is so dated, Stewart will still seem to modern audiences like someone you know (or would like to know). His understated acting gave the appearance of a man who was improvising, but he was usually in complete control of each moment and able to repeat it precisely, if necessary.

It's true that his famous stammer sometimes covered a search for the exact line, but if it worked, if it felt right for the character, that stammer would be worked into every take and end up in the final cut. There was a lot of effort put into that seeming "effortlessness."

I remember seeing Stewart do a guest shot on the old Jack Benny comedy show on TV in the fifties. The idea was that Jack visited Jimmy on the set of a movie and kept interrupting Stewart, so the actor had to redo the same scene several times. It was a simple scene -- just an entrance with a few lines and a cross from the front door to the living room while handling a few props. What made this interesting was the fact that Stewart repeated the movements, lines, head tilts, pauses, and looks exactly the same each time.

It's a cliche to say that Jimmy Stewart embodied our national sense of decency, but it's true. He was not ashamed to deliver the most open-hearted, even corny speeches with apparent sincerity. I don't want to know anyone who wasn't at least once in his or her life moved by the final scene of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Yes, it's ludicrously exploitative of our emotions, but look how well he pulls it off, as he did in several Frank Capra films.

My favorite pre-war Jimmy Stewart film was THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (for which he won the Oscar). It wasn't just his individual style there, it was also his ability to play off of the two classiest people in Hollywood -- Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He let each exhibit that astounding charm for which they were deservedly famous without losing his own charisma. Stewart was the personification of what his colleagues call a "generous actor."

Then, after coming back from the war -- having led flights into genuinely dangerous battles -- he took on a new screen persona: Jimmy Stewart became a darker, more intense character. The guileless, charming boy became a man, with a mature charm that was a role model for many young boys growing up in the '50s -- including this one.

He was one of those rare stars -- remaining popular and recognized to the final years of his long life. Everyone that I have met who knew him said that he deserved his fame. He wore it well.

Just one example: an older colleague of mine was walking with Jimmy Stewart on the street, and they were stopped regularly by those with the courage to say hello to someone that everyone recognized. When one clearly awed man got an autograph for his wife, he thanked Stewart and said, "I'm sorry to bother you like this. I know it's an imposition on you. Thank you so much." My friend tells me that Jimmy Stewart replied, "No, no, you don't understand. I not only don't mind your stopping me, it means everything to me. Thank YOU."

That's a star!

Here are some of my favorite Jimmy Stewart films (in order of preference):

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