James Stewart traded an architecture scholarship for summer stock
Princeton awarded James Stewart a graduate architecture scholarship for an airport-terminal thesis in 1932. He declined, joined the University Players on Cape Cod instead, and roomed toward Broadway with Henry Fonda—launching the drawling everyman who later flew bombers and haunted Hitchcock thrillers.
James Maitland Stewart was born May 20, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, only son of hardware merchant Alexander Maitland Stewart and pianist Elizabeth Ruth Jackson. Shy and aviation-obsessed, he practiced accordion and model planes. Mercersburg Academy delayed graduation to 1928 after scarlet fever and a kidney infection. At Princeton (class of 1932) he majored in architecture, joined the Triangle Club, then chose theatre over the graduate award.
Broadway bits in Carry Nation and Goodbye Again led to praise for Yellow Jack (1934). An MGM contract followed The Murder Man (1935); friend Margaret Sullavan coached him into Next Time We Love, unlocking leading-man notices. Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) made him a star; The Philadelphia Story (1940) won Best Actor. After World War II service he headlined It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)—initially a flop, later a classic once copyright lapsed in the early 1970s.
Wartime flying was not publicity: he sought combat duty, commanded the 703d Bombardment Squadron, served as deputy commanding officer of the 2nd Bombardment Wing, and retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1968 as a brigadier general. Hitchcock collaborations—Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo—reshaped his persona. Across eighty films from 1935 to 1991 he collected AFI Life Achievement (1980), Kennedy Center Honors (1983), and both an Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. He died July 2, 1997.
Source: James Stewart
