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's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century.
Stewart became the first major American movie star to enlist in the United States Army to fight in World War II. He was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945, becoming one of the few Americans to ever rise from private to colonel in only four years. After his experiences in the war, he considered returning to Pennsylvania to run the family store. However, he was given a new beginning by Frank Capra, who asked him to star in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), the first postwar film for both of them.
There's a story told by Alistair Cooke once: "Not long after the second war was over, James Stewart arrived at a grand hotel in Madrid (where he’d been booked in) to make a movie in Spain. The director (I think it was with him) confidently asked the reservation clerk if Mr James Stewart’s suite was ready. The clerk whispered tensely, “Is it the James Stewart?” Indeed it was.
The man was mortified. If he’d been a character in a novel, he would have wrung his hands, a gesture I have never seen done in life. He sorrowfully explained that the owner of the hotel had long ago banned all movie stars from staying in his hotel. It had happened once, it seems; and, after some unfortunate gaffe, the star had shown himself unworthy of a hotel that catered only to ladies and gentlemen. The star was told to leave and, in Groucho Marx’s words, “Never darken our towels again.”
The director, who was accompanying Stewart, was stumped. Stewart himself, shuffling in the awkward manner that was as natural to him in life as it was to him on the screen, dived into an inner pocket and produced some sort of identity card. “Maybe,” he murmured, “this would help.” The clerk looked at it and leapt in delight. “Of course, Major General Stewart’s suite will be ready immediately.” And, I’m told, the man started snapping his fingers with the practiced air of a Flamenco dancer."
