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.
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.
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.
C. K. Dexter Haven, you have unsuspected depth!
(For years I’ve been dying to post that as a reply to a CKDH post!)
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.
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.
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.”