James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive drawl voice and down-to-earth persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics. He was known for normally portraying the average American Middle Class man, with everyday life struggles, in his films.
Stewart was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. Stewart was named the third greatest male screen legend in cinema history by the American Film Institute. He was a major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
The actor Cary Grant said of Stewart’s acting technique, “He had the ability to talk naturally. He knew that in conversations people do often interrupt one another and it’s not always so easy to get a thought out. It took a little time for the sound men to get used to him, but he had an enormous impact. And then, some years later, Marlon came out and did the same thing all over again– but what people forget is that Jimmy did it first.”
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart)
Here is a list of 10 best performances of James Stewart:
10THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan. The film is about two employees at a gift shop in Budapest who can barely stand each another, not realizing they're falling in love as anonymous correspondents through their letters.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shop_Around_the_Corner)
09HARVEY (1950)
Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull. The story is about a man whose best friend is a pooka named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall invisible rabbit.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_%28film%29)
08THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film[2][3] directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart and featuring Ruth Hussey. Based on the Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry,[4] the film is about a socialite (Hepburn) whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband (Grant) and a tabloid magazine journalist (Stewart).
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Philadelphia_Story_%28film%29)
07ROPE (1940)
Rope is a 1948 American thriller film based on the play Rope (1929) by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by Hume Cronyn (treatment)[2] and Arthur Laurents, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Sidney Bernstein and Hitchcock as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions. Starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger, it is the first of Hitchcock's Technicolor films, and is notable for taking place in real time and being edited so as to appear as a single continuous shot through the use of long takes.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_%28film%29)
06THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Shot_Liberty_Valance)
05ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver. Voelker based the novel on a 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_a_Murder)
04MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story.[2] Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was controversial when it was released, but also successful at the box office, and made Stewart a major movie star.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington)
03VERTIGO (1958)
The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a sensation of false, rotational, movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin's wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertigo_%28film%29)
02REAR WINDOW (1954)
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr. It was screened at the 1954 Venice Film Festival.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Window)
01 IT´S A WONDERFUL LIFE
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story "The Greatest Gift", which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and privately published in 1945.[3] The film is considered one of the most loved films in American cinema and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season, alongside popular classics such as Holiday Inn, A Christmas Carol, White Christmas, Meet Me in St. Louis and Miracle on 34th Street.
(Source: wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life)
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