James Stewart

The Percentage That Broke the Contracts

James Stewart stood nearly six foot three and weighed just over 130 pounds when he arrived in Hollywood. He had a natural stutter that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives tried, without success, to correct. But that everyday-man air ended up being his best financial investment.

In 1950, Stewart made a decision that changed the industry's finances forever. He gave up his fixed salary to star in Winchester ’73. In exchange, he asked for a share of the box office profits.

It was a risky move because the project could flop at the box office. But the western was a hit, and he pocketed six hundred thousand dollars at the time. That deal with Universal put an end to the era of actors enslaved by the major studios.

Nobody expected that kid from Pennsylvania to shake up the system.

Before becoming a star, he studied architecture at Princeton University. There he discovered theater almost by accident and joined a touring company. Although his father wanted him to return to the family hardware business, Stewart chose to try his luck in New York.

The Shadow Under the Cowboy Hat

Alfred Hitchcock saw something dark behind that good-neighbor gaze that families loved. In 1958, they shot Vertigo, and audiences discovered a Stewart who was obsessive and almost cruel. He was no longer the idealistic hero trying to save the world in the 1930s.

The war changed him on the inside. During his missions as a combat pilot in Europe, he witnessed too much real death. That is why his mature characters always carry that edge of restrained desperation.

Stewart flew twenty bombing missions over Nazi Germany.

He came back from the war with the rank of colonel and partial deafness from the roar of the engines. It was hard for him to face a camera again, since movies seemed frivolous compared with what he had left behind. Frank Capra had to persuade him, almost by force, to make It's a Wonderful Life in 1946.

And the gamble paid off.

The Drought and the Quiet Retirement

By the late 1960s, movies had changed, and men of his generation began to feel left behind. Stewart didn't complain or chase trends he didn't understand. He retreated to his ranch and horse breeding while accepting supporting roles in disaster movies and twilight westerns.

In 1976, he starred in The Shootist alongside John Wayne. It was a symbolic farewell for both of them. Stewart played a doctor who diagnoses Wayne's character with terminal cancer. It was one of the few times he was seen genuinely crying on a film set.

His private life was as spare as his speaking style. He married only once, to Gloria Hatrick McLean in 1949, and stayed with her until death parted them.

In 1991, he voiced a sheriff dog in the animated film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. It was his last credited work on the big screen.

He died at his Beverly Hills home on July 2, 1997, from a pulmonary embolism. He was eighty-nine years old.

His death certificate doesn't mention his two Oscars or his rank of Brigadier General in the reserves.