# Proof That Jimmy Stewart was one of the Coolest People on the Planet
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 16, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850 "2007-08-16T20:25:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/1 "2007-08-16T20:25:21Z")
[He’s getting a stamp, but that’s not what makes him so cool.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070816/ap_en_ot/stewart_stamp;_ylt=A0WTcVWZsMRGVToAQw7qChkF)
> [@](#):
>
> Robinson, of Collierville, Tenn., recalled one time when a creative tail gunner managed to “liberate” a keg of beer from the officer’s club.
>
> That evening, Stewart wandered into a hut where some men were resting, picked up a cup, walked over to the “hidden” keg, poured himself a beer and sat back and drank it slowly, relaxing in a chair.
>
> “We were shaking in our boots,” Robinson said.
>
> But Stewart merely got up, wiped out the cup, asked the men to keep an eye out for a missing keg of beer, and left.
🆒
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/2 "2007-08-16T22:35:03Z")
When I hear various discussions about “great American heroes,” I invariably toss Jimmy Stewart’s name in for consideration.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/3 "2007-08-16T22:49:30Z")
Until I watched the old BBC documentary series “World at War” I had no idea Stewart had been an officer, a pilot I think, in WWII. One episode was as about air battles, and at one point you start hearing that unmistakable voice speaking, before he’s on camera being interviewed. He halted his movie career to go to war, not knowing whether it could be picked up again.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/4 "2007-08-16T22:55:01Z")
Jimmy Stewart killed my daddy. It was a Thursday, there was a knock on the door, I said “Who is it?” and he answered, clear as a bell, “Jimmy Stewart… and I’m here to kill your daddy!” I answered “He’s in his bedroom. Go around back because the dog had a mess on the den floor.” To this day I feel some guilt, but mostly just hatred for Jimmy Stewart.
ETA: Oh, sorry, you meant the _actor_ Jimmy Stewart. I thought you were talking about the serial-killing State Farm claims adjustor Jimmy Stewart from my childhood.
I agree, he was cool. I loved it when he’d let a profanity slip on the Carson show.
A former professor used to work for him- down the line a bit- in a men’s store that he owned and said he was unbelievably generous to his employees. Each Christmas he came by to wish them a merry Christmas and slip them several hundred dollars in cash even though he only set foot in the place about twice a year.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/5 "2007-08-16T23:01:21Z")
Stewart made colonel in the Army Air Forces, the highest rank of any actor-turned-soldier in World War II. His first movie upon his return was _It’s a Wonderful Life_.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/6 "2007-08-16T23:03:39Z")
Oddly enough, I just saw “Rear Window” for the first time last night, playing on the big screen at the Arclight. It was great, and I enjoyed him in it. I don’t know that I’d ever seen him in anything before, but I certainly respect his acting from what I’ve seen.
Nice to know he was a cool guy in real life, to boot.
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### Author:  [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/7 "2007-08-16T23:35:50Z")
[QUOTE=Baker]
Until I watched the old BBC documentary series “World at War” I had no idea Stewart had been an officer, a pilot I think, in WWII. One episode was as about air battles, and at one point you start hearing that unmistakable voice speaking, before he’s on camera being interviewed. He halted his movie career to go to war, not knowing whether it could be picked up again.
[/QUOTE]
I seem to recall hearing that, when he got his first Army paycheck after enlisting, he dutifully sent 10% to his agent.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/8 "2007-08-16T23:58:48Z")
**Sampiro** , was that a famous quote (or a riff on a famous quote), or did you just come up with that? I totally laughed. 😃
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### Author:  [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/9 "2007-08-17T01:45:07Z")
I remember him being on Johnny Carson’s show, and performing a cheer from his college days (Yale?). He must have been about 75 at the time. **That** is cool.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/10 "2007-08-17T02:05:59Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
Stewart made colonel in the Army Air Forces, the highest rank of any actor-turned-soldier in World War II. His first movie upon his return was _It’s a Wonderful Life_.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, after the war, he ended up a Brigadier General (one star) in the USAF Reserves.
He also flew 20 missions in B-24 bombers over Europe.
> **[James Stewart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart_(actor))**
>
> James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart appeared in 80 films from 1935 to 1991. His films are considered among the greatest of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors; he received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in 1983, as well as t...
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/11 "2007-08-17T02:18:12Z")
Jimmy Stewart will be remembered as a great American. He’s my favorite movie star of all time. From Wikipedia:
> [@](#):
>
> In August 1943 he was finally assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group in Sioux City, Iowa, first as Operations Officer of the 703rd Bombardment Squadron and then its commander. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to Tibenham, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to Major. In March 1944, he was transferred as Group Operations Officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 outfit that had been experiencing difficulties. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended, he was promoted to Colonel, one of only a few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.
After the war, he continued in the reserves and rose to the rank of Brigadier General.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/12 "2007-08-17T02:37:02Z")
It gets better- Stewart tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps, but was turned down because he was deemed too skinny.
Many guys would have been delighted by rejection, while others would have shrugged and said “I tired,” before going back to a safe career in Hollywood. Instead, Stewart went on a muscle-building and weight gain regimen, and re-applied several weeks later. THIS time, he was accepted.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/13 "2007-08-17T02:39:18Z")
A great actor, and a great American. According to historian Garry Wills, when Reagan was just beginning his political career, a mutual friend joked, “No, no. Jimmy Stewart for Governor. Ronald Reagan for Best Friend.”
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/14 "2007-08-17T02:39:32Z")
[QUOTE=astorian]
It gets better- Stewart tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps, but was turned down because he was deemed too skinny.
Many guys would have been delighted by rejection, while others would have shrugged and said “I tired,” before going back to a safe career in Hollywood. Instead, Stewart went on a muscle-building and weight gain regimen, and re-applied several weeks later. THIS time, he was accepted.
[/QUOTE]
Make that “I tried.”
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/15 "2007-08-17T02:40:51Z")
[QUOTE=astorian]
Make that “I tried.”
[/QUOTE]
Oh, and here I was thinking Jimmy had pioneered the lolcat as well. 😃
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### Author:  [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/16 "2007-08-17T03:50:59Z")
To be fair about it, the AAF was more heavily officer-driven than the more grounded army types, and Stewart didn’t really spend any real time as a Private - he was commissioned as a pilot. Aviation people coming in from scratch enlisted, started out as Privates/Cadets, and were commissioned upon completion of their training as 2nd Lieutenants, skipping all that Corporal/Sergeant stuff.
And the early AAF people started out as officers in the Signal Corps, Artillery, Engineers or Infantry, and took their aviation training as officers. In fact, Army aviation started out with balloons and such in the Signal Corps. Early in WWII. the AAF became a quasi-independent thing, with autonomy comparable to the non-flying army bits, and its’ own senior generals, including Spaatz, Arnold, LeMay…
Given the explosive turnover and growth in the AAF, lots of people went from Lt/Cpt to LTC/Col. He popped up in rank by taking leadership at the air group level. Rank just didn’t work the same for aviators as it did for ground pounders. A better comparison would be to look at the proportion of 2LT people going to Colonel.
It’s one thing for a smart natural leader to go from a junior pilot to a lead officer in a bomber groups, another entirely for a private to go from grunt to command of a regiment or battalion.
I’d be way more impressed by a real private serving in the ground components of the Army or Marine Corps going from Private to Colonel. Hell, Audy Murphy pretty much won nearly every medal out there, and it took him four years or so to go from Private to 1LT.
As an aside, Henry Ford made it to Captain(USN), and Ronald Reagan served as a Captain(Army). I don’t recall any other actors at flag rank in a substantial military track besides Stewart.
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### Author:  [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/17 "2007-08-17T03:56:50Z")
Jimmy Stewart was a fine man. He wrote some pretty bad poetry in his later years, which I recall him reciting on the Tonight Show.
_Discipline was not his bag
But when you were with him things sure didn’t drag.
He’d dig up a rosebush just to spite me,
And when I’d grab him, he’d turn and bite me._
I wished he was my grandpa.
Then I saw him in his earlier days, and I could picture him in a more romantic light.
One of the coolest things about him was his marriage. From what I recall, he married a divorcee at a time when he was a Very Eligible Hollywood Bachelor, and his choice of wife was not viewed with as much applause as it might have been in a later era. If what I’ve read is true, theirs was a truly long and happy marriage, and he was devoted to Gloria until her death, and was never the same afterward. They had a real love story.
You don’t hear people say much negative about him; he seemed to have been that kind of man.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/18 "2007-08-17T04:02:07Z")
After he died, many Jimmy Stewart stories came to light.
One young actor was terrified of working with such a famous man. One day JS came to work with a box of tomatoes. “We got too many, anyone want some?” It sort of broke the ice.
After war he was promoting a movie and was flown to Franco’s Spain. The local agent for the film company reported he looked poorly after a rough flight from London. At the hotel the manager was very apologetic. It was hotel policy not to take actors as guests, due to the excitement it might cause for the other guests.
Jimmy took a seat as the man called around town looking for a room. After half an hour he handed the manager his Air Force ID card.
“Oh, GENERAL Stewart, well then everything is fine.”
Great guy.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/19 "2007-08-17T05:00:34Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp]
Oh, and here I was thinking Jimmy had pioneered the lolcat as well.
[/QUOTE]
Im n ur kokpit, bommin ur krowtz.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proof-that-jimmy-stewart-was-one-of-the-coolest-people-on-the-planet/415850/20 "2007-08-17T05:03:11Z")
Why did Dana Carvey portray him as such a mean old guy? I can’t find it on YouTube, but I remember an SNL skit that had the “real ending” of _It’s a Wonderful Life_, wherein he leads an angry mob to Mr. Potter’s bank and personally kicks the old guy to death.
It was funny, but seemed almost blasphemous.
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