Messages 2009
Jimmy Stewart and His Role.
February 12th, 2009
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, Jimmy Stewart.
Gosh, I wish I had taken my films as seriously as you do! I would have had a much happier life both on earth and over here.
I know it’s hard to understand and believe that in some ways, I did not grasp the messages my films projected. I was an actor playing parts. I didn’t often make the connections to my personal life. I saw myself as successful in my field, and lived a comfortable life as a result of my acting. I certainly did NOT have the passion of a Jefferson Smith [the character he played in Frank Capra’s film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington], though something in my soul understood this.
No, after those dramatic scenes were filmed, I returned to Jimmy Stewart, a Hollywood star whose passions did not rise above the pleasure I derived from making people happy and entertaining them. Yeah, sure, I loved my country and wanted to do the right thing in life. I was certainly not a corrupted sinner. But neither did I display Jefferson Smith’s courage and love of justice, even though there was a part of my soul which could relate to it.
No, most definitely, Jimmy Stewart was cut from an inferior cloth than Jefferson Smith was.
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997), popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American film and stage actor best known for his self-effacing persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Stewart left his mark on a wide range of film genres, including westerns, suspense thrillers, family films, biographies and screwball comedies. He worked for a number of renowned directors later in his career, most notably Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra and Anthony Mann. He won many of the industry’s highest honors and earned Lifetime Achievement awards from every major film organization. He died in 1997, leaving behind a legacy of classic performances, and is considered one of the finest actors of the “Golden Age of Hollywood.” He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. (Source: Wikipedia)