He’s Got Everything—James Stewart

Genial, easy-going James Stewart is a man who has made a flawless, all-round success of his life. He has reached heights, personally and professionally, that not even he dreamed were possible. Never running before he could walk, Jimmy, by the cautious processes that are a part of his integral make-up, has managed to extract the utmost out of life—mostly hits and very few errors.

A hit in about every movie he has ever made (he has long ago lost count of how many), Jimmy, at forty-five and after almost two decades of acting, attracts top box-office grosses and critical acclaim with unfailing consistency. Everything he’s touched has been right—from a happy and full movie career to an even happier and fuller private life.

Romantically he was one of Hollywood’s enigmas for years. It was no secret that he held women in awe, thought that each and every one he ever came across was something out of this world. Too beautiful to be real. Or too real to have what he wanted in a woman—a dreamlike quality which wouldn’t dispel his belief that most women are goddesses.

He had all Hollywood on tenterhooks until he made the plunge. Ex-college pal and roommate Jose Ferrer once said, “He’s the cagiest man I’ve ever known. He’s cagey with cars, with scripts and with women, When he does marry, she’ll have to talk a very good script.”

It was a whole ten years later before Jimmy enlightened his old friend on the kind of woman he had finally chosen. In typical laconic fashion he described her. “Name’s Gloria. Guess you’ll like her all right. Must meet sometime.

And that was all Jose ever found out about the attractive Gloria until he met her. But one thing was certain. After all those years of being known as Hollywood’s “most eligible bachelor,” Jimmy had picked for himself, in the good-looking Larchmont, N.Y., divorcee and mother of two young sons, another sure-fire bet.

Jimmy Stewart married Gloria Hatrick McLean in August, 1949, in the Brentwood Presbyterian church. And the man who had been known to be only in love with acting, re-emerged in Hollywood life as a husband—and the father of two young sons.

One of the many girls whom he had escorted around town in past years said to this writer, “None of us thought Jimmy would ever get married. Oh, he was close enough a few times, but somehow he always seemed to hold back, as if he were waiting for something. Just what, not even Jimmy seemed to know.”

The ideal woman?

Jimmy answered that question in typical Stewart fashion. “The right woman!”

That he finally found her there’s no question. To their family of two sons by Mrs. Stewart’s first marriage, they added twin girls in 1951. “A big family right away was fine,” Jimmy says. “When I go in for anything, I like to get it over with.”

Today it’s a happy family that lives in the handsome, two-story, ivy-covered Stewart home in Beverly Hills. At the end of a day’s work, Jimmy shoots up the stairs to dangle the twins, Judy and Kelly, in the crook of each arm. Michael and Ronnie are not far behind. And often Gloria doesn’t hurry to join them. She realizes it’s a man’s moment.

As far as anyone recalls, Gloria and Jimmy have had only one small quarrel. It was over eight-year-old Michael, who doesn’t enjoy tidying up his room. Jimmy, when it first happened, didn’t go for that.

“He’ll snap out of it,” said Gloria, relaxedly, “and why make an issue of it when probably he’ll never have to make his own bed or clean house?”

“Just wait till he gets into the army,” said Jimmy, darkly, and didn’t speak to Gloria for a whole three minutes!

Yes, they are extraordinarily happy together, all six members of the popular James Maitland Stewart family, Beverly Hills, U.S.A. And it isn’t the independence, the security, the wealth that both parents have—it’s something else, too. It’s their love for one another, always shining within the house like a bright, golden flame.

Riches? He was always meant to be a millionaire. If he isn’t one already, he will be this time next year. You see, Jimmy is getting fifty percent of the profits of his latest movie.

Money, in fact, has never been a touchy matter with Jimmy Stewart. He has spent it freely, and perhaps not always practically. Now he has found the best way to use his money: on three attractive women, and two handsome boys. Now there will really be something to show for the spending!

Yes, it’s a long road that Jimmy has travelled towards stardom and the surrender of his bachelorhood. He’s an astute thespian and picker of the right kind of material to keep his career alive and kicking. How well he did it shows in the past years when he has stepped from one Academy Award contending picture to another.

No story would be quite complete on Hollywood’s number one contender for “the man who has everything” title without this charming true anecdote.

In his handsome Beverly Drive home, a man looked out cf his bedroom window and his mouth fell open. “Hey, Mary,” he shouted. “Come here. I think the circus has come to town.”

Mrs. Benny hurried over. “Don’t be silly, Jack—that’s the Jimmy Stewarts out for an airing with their dog.”

Hollywood’s favorite comedian scratched his head. “Some people you can’t figure out,” he sighed. “A few years ago the only thing that guy was married to was a golf ball.”

THE END

—BY MICHAEL SHERIDAN

 

It is a quote. SCREENLAND MAGAZINE MAY 1954