Pieces of Time: The Life of James Stewart - Softcover

Gary Fishgall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 143511082X ISBN 13: 9781435110823

Publisher: Fall River Press, 2009

Synopsis

When James Stewart died in 1997 at the age of eighty-nine, the star of Vertigo and more than seventy other film classics left the world a rich legacy of unforgettable screen performances. Pieces of Time, Gary Fishgall's portrait of the personable actor everyone knew as "Jimmy," reveals Stewart to have been a man who, off-screen, bore striking resemblance to the boyish persona that won America's heart onscreen: decent but stubborn; hardworking but not particularly ambitious; wealthy but content with one sweater, a good pair of shoes, and an old Volvo. From his childhood in small-town Pennsylvania and performances in undergraduate plays at Princeton, Stewart made a remarkable leap to Broadway and then to MGM in its heyday. He skyrocketed to celebrity, starring in such films as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and The Philadelphia Story (1940), for which he won his first Oscar. he was the first box-office star to enlist in the armed forces during World War II and he returned to Hollywood a decorated hero, having flown more than twenty bombing missions over war-ravaged Europe. He channeled his sense of self-sacrifice and honor into such memorable postwar performances as small-town hero George Baily in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Later in Stewart's life. Alfred Hitchcock and other distinguished directors encouraged hime to explore the darker aspects of his amiable screen personality through complex characters such as L.B. Jefferies in Rear Window (1954) and "Scottie" Ferguson in Vertigo (1958). Written with the support of his family and based on interviews with the actor's friends and colleagues, this definitive biography gives the facts of Stewart's stellar career as well as backstage stories involving Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Kim Novak, and other Hollywood legends. Pieces of Time is a delight for any fan or film buff who wants to revel in the magic of Stewart's wonderful life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fall River Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 143511082X
• ISBN 13: 9781435110823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416