The James Stewart performance that inspired Clint Eastwood: “He had a demon that drove him”
There are certain actors who embody the idea of a golden age of Hollywood, when you think back to black and white movies and iconic lines, theirs are the faces that immediately spring to mind. Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant… and James Stewart is, without doubt, one of those actors. Thanks to films like It’s a Wonderful Life and Vertigo, he has gone down as one of the all-time greats, a genuine cinematic idol.
Perhaps surprisingly, given his stammering voice, Stewart thrived as a young actor while attending Princeton University and forged a career on Broadway before earning a first major role in Frank Capra’s ‘Best Picture’-winning comedy You Can’t Take it With You in 1938.
Major success then followed with his performance in The Philadelphia Story two years later, which saw him paired with Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the romantic comedy that told the tale of a woman caught between her ex-husband and her newspaper colleague beau. It went down a storm on release and picked up six Oscar nominations, winning Stewart ‘Best Actor’ and is now thought of as one of the finest films in history.
But Stewart was far from finished despite being an Academy Award winner. Following a stint in World War II serving as a pilot in the US Air Force, he returned to movies in spectacular fashion, teaming up with Capra once more for the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life in 1946.
That film was nominated for five Oscars but didn’t actually do too well on release, barely breaking even. But it has since gone on to become one of the most beloved festive films, with some channels in the US showing it over and over again at Christmas time. Stewart’s role as the broke, suicidal father was monumental. A rare, genuine glimpse into the pressure of losing work while providing for a family.
Two years later, Stewart made Rope, his first movie with Alfred Hitchcock and kicked off what many consider the peak period of his performances, leading to Vertigo and Rear Window. Rope is a fantastic film, one of the best of the 1940s, and Stewart is superb in the story of two men trying to commit the perfect murder.
Stewart’s partnership with Hitchcock continued into the 1950s, in addition to his moving into westerns with a good deal of success. One of those was 1953’s The Naked Spur, alongside future Psycho star Janet Leigh in a movie that was nominated for ‘Best Screenplay’ at the following year’s Oscars. Stewart’s role in it went down as one of his favourites from his long career, especially because it inspired perhaps the most iconic western star of all time: Clint Eastwood.
Stewart revealed in his biography back in 1979: “’I think that film stands out today because it was ahead of its time,’ said Jim. ‘It’s kinda like the films of Clint Eastwood. None of the characters was all good or all bad… (but) most of all, I liked me. I was this man who was… it was like he was possessed.'”
Concluding, “He had a demon that drove him. He had a violence that was driving him mad. I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard that Clint Eastwood was influenced by that film and by my performance in it. Yeah, I liked me in that one.”
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