James Stewart: A Biography

In the most penetrating and in-depth biography yet written about the beloved screen icon, award-winning author Donald Dewey delves beneath the persona into the usually unremarked turmoil of the actor's private life and behind the earnest Capraesque image so often accepted as the Stewart identity. He draws upon extensive research and nearly two hundred interviews with childhood neighbors, fellow workers, old loves, airmen who flew with Stewart during World War II, as well as with close and estranged family members and friends. This riveting biography follows Stewart from his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and a childhood shaped by a strong-willed father, to the fateful encounter at Princeton University with actress Margaret Sullavan, to his first professional theatrical experiences on Cape Cod, and the forging of a remarkable life-long friendship with Henry Fonda in New York, to his unexpected stardom at MGM. During WWII, Stewart rushed to enlist in the Army Air Corps, and details of his heroic military record are disclosed here for the first time. Dewey explores the craft behind a trademark Stewart performance, and discusses in detail each of the more than seventy-five movies in Stewart's filmography.