# Happy 100th Birthday Jimmy Stewart
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 20, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007 "2008-05-20T19:16:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/21 "2008-05-21T18:14:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I think the first time I became aware of Stewart as an actor was in Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Thanks to “Writers Almanac,” I found that May 20 (and 21) is also the anniversary of Lindbergh’s flight. Wonder if this confluence of dates had anything to do with Stewart’s becoming a pilot. Nah, probably not.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/22 "2008-05-21T18:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078]
Wonder if this confluence of dates had anything to do with Stewart’s becoming a pilot. Nah, probably not.
[/QUOTE]
I think his dad being a veteran of both the Spanish-American War and WWI had more to do with it. He signed up before an awful lot of people.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/23 "2008-05-22T02:00:52Z")
Every so often, I hear him calling my name. “C K Dexter Haaaaaven, oh, C K Dexter Haaaaaven.” My favorites are PHILADELPHIA STORY and HARVEY.
Folks have noticed that his roles in VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW are fucked-up protagonists, but not actually villains. He also plays a fucked-up protagonist in Ford’s TWO RODE TOGETHER. Actually, as I think about it, he always played complex characters, often with layers of moral ambiguity, like in THE FAR COUNTRY or THE NAKED SPUR.
He was an Actor as well as a Star, and his performances were often stunning. Sigh. He is missed.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/24 "2008-05-22T14:57:31Z")
C. K. Dexter Haven, you have unsuspected depth!
(For years I’ve been dying to post that as a reply to a CKDH post!)
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/25 "2008-05-22T15:47:38Z")
I’d like to give props to **Anatomy of a Murder** and **The Flight of the Phoenix**. Stewart is brilliant in both of those films, particularly the former, which is the best courtroom drama ever made, bar none.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/26 "2008-05-22T17:31:07Z")
And a great scene with Lee Remick where he has a hard time keeping to the interview on the case because of her distractions. A much toned-down forerunner of the scene in “Basic Instinct,” but with underwear.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-birthday-jimmy-stewart/450007/27 "2008-05-22T17:50:42Z")
I worked at a theater and one night Jimmy Stewart and his wife came backstage to meet with the actors who had performed in a play that was a form of readers’ theater - no costumes or sets, the actors sat in chairs on stage and simply read the script.
He and his wife were very gracious and wonderful people, but there was a moment in their backstage conversation that made me burst out laughing.
In Jimmy’s famous stutter, he mentioned to the actors that he too would love to do a readers’ theater piece. His wife turned to him and said, “Jimmy, if you were on stage reading that play it would take 5 hours to finish.”
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