He was America’s favorite son—and one time, he was their bad guy.
Jimmy Stewart’s career is sort of incomprehensible by today’s standards. This incomparable actor became a symbol of the wholesome, all-American guy that we all rooted for. He was the insecure and vulnerable everyman who could make classics out of It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but who you’d also believe is an adventurous photographer with fears of commitment in Rear Window and an obsessive creep in Vertigo.
Stewart also did something no one had done at the time—he enlisted in World War II and went and fought. He put his career on hold and did what he thought was his patriotic duty. He rode out the storm into being considered one of the greatest leading men of all time.
He did this by playing heroes, but it took him playing more villains to change the public’s perception of him and send him into eternity.
Check out this video from The Royal Ocean Film Society, and let’s talk afterward.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
