0:00:14 > 0:00:18James Stewart, one of Hollywood's best-loved actors.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22He starred in an amazing number of films
0:00:22 > 0:00:25that today are considered to be true classics.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30He won an Oscar in 1940 for his role in The Philadelphia Story.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34His easy manner and warm, relaxed style
0:00:34 > 0:00:37endeared him to audiences across the world.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Stewart became a favourite
0:00:39 > 0:00:43of some of cinema's most celebrated directors
0:00:43 > 0:00:47like Frank Capra, Anthony Mann and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51As well as being an international star,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Stewart had a noted military career, reaching the rank
0:00:55 > 0:00:59of Brigadier General in the US Air Force Reserve during World War Two.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05His first film after the war was one of his best and it opened
0:01:05 > 0:01:11the discussion with Joan Bakewell at the National Film Theatre in 1972.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16It's A Wonderful Life. I believe it's your favourite movie?
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Yes, I think so. Uh...
0:01:20 > 0:01:25I don't exactly know why, it just reminded me of...
0:01:25 > 0:01:30a time when Frank Capra told me the idea of it.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It's the first picture I did after I got out of the service
0:01:33 > 0:01:41and Frank called me one day and he said, "I have an idea for a movie.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45"Why don't you come over to the house and I'll tell you it?"
0:01:45 > 0:01:48So I came over and we sat down and he said,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52"Now, this picture starts in Heaven,"
0:01:52 > 0:01:56and that shook me for a moment. LAUGHTER
0:01:56 > 0:02:01And he said, "You're in terrible trouble
0:02:01 > 0:02:09"and you are about to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge,
0:02:09 > 0:02:15"and an angel comes down
0:02:15 > 0:02:19"and he tries to save you,
0:02:19 > 0:02:25"but he can't swim, so you save him."
0:02:25 > 0:02:30And then Frank got a little mixed up
0:02:30 > 0:02:35and he said, "This sounds terrible, doesn't it?"
0:02:35 > 0:02:40And I said, "Frank, if you want to do a picture that starts in Heaven
0:02:40 > 0:02:43"where I have a guardian angel,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47"I'm your boy," and that's the way it started.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Let's go back to how it really started for James Stewart,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56because your father had a hardware store in Indiana, Pennsylvania,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00so it wasn't in the family line of business for you to become an actor.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05I understand, in a sense, your parents were never reconciled
0:03:05 > 0:03:09to the fact that you were an actor. They never quite approved, did they?
0:03:09 > 0:03:12No, my mother approved. My father just...
0:03:12 > 0:03:18He didn't accept the idea of being an actor, my being an actor,
0:03:18 > 0:03:24and I think that's the reason he kept the hardware store in operation,
0:03:24 > 0:03:31because I'm pretty sure that he felt that I was going to be found out
0:03:31 > 0:03:34sooner or later and he wanted to have a job for me to come back to.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37LAUGHTER
0:03:37 > 0:03:41But he, er, he nonetheless was quite pleased when you won an Oscar,
0:03:41 > 0:03:47- because didn't he find it of use in his business?- Yes, the day...
0:03:47 > 0:03:54The night that I won the Oscar, he called me very late.
0:03:54 > 0:04:01And said that he thought it was fine and that I should send it
0:04:01 > 0:04:07back to the hardware store and he'd put it on the knife counter.
0:04:07 > 0:04:08LAUGHTER
0:04:08 > 0:04:14And that's what I did and it stayed there for, oh, 20 years,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17under a cheese bell.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20LAUGHTER
0:04:20 > 0:04:25You joke about it, but he sounds a fairly formidable parent
0:04:25 > 0:04:30and some considerable opposition to your becoming an actor.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32In fact, you went to Princeton University
0:04:32 > 0:04:34and took a degree in architecture.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36And your friend, Henry Fonda,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40says that you are really an actor in spite of yourself, that in fact
0:04:40 > 0:04:43you were set on an architectural career
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and the acting was an accident.
0:04:45 > 0:04:52- Can you tell us about that?- Well, I suppose in a way it was an accident.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55I WAS going to be an architect. I...
0:04:55 > 0:04:59I graduated with a degree in architecture and I had
0:04:59 > 0:05:05a scholarship to go back to Princeton and get my Masters in architecture.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09I'd done theatricals in college,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14but I had done them because it was fun.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23And then I was asked up to a stock company that was run by Josh Logan
0:05:23 > 0:05:27and Bretaigne Windust and Myron McCormick
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and Margaret Sullavan and Henry Fonda.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35I was asked to come up for the summer, not to act,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37but to play my accordion.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39I played the accordion...
0:05:39 > 0:05:42LAUGHTER ..in a tea room next to the theatre.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44LAUGHTER
0:05:44 > 0:05:46And I lasted one night.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54They said my playing spoiled people's appetites,
0:05:54 > 0:06:00and then they gave me various jobs as a prop man, and as small parts,
0:06:00 > 0:06:06and I was offered a very small part in a play going to New York.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09So the time came to go back to college,
0:06:09 > 0:06:16and I just felt that having this tiny little part in a play on Broadway,
0:06:16 > 0:06:21it just seemed to me to be a lot more exciting than going back to school.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25And that's sort of the way it started.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28In 1935, you went to Hollywood.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31MGM offered you a contract.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35What was it like arriving from Broadway,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39not really sure that you'd given up architecture, even by this time?
0:06:39 > 0:06:41What impression did it make on you?
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Oh, it was very exciting right from the start.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49You were doing tiny little parts in big pictures
0:06:49 > 0:06:53with stars like Myrna Loy and Bill Powell,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57and then you would get a big part in a tiny little picture
0:06:57 > 0:06:59that they also made.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04In the meantime, you were learning your craft by acting,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09which I've always thought is the only way you can learn.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12In fact, you were often working on several films at the same time?
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Yeah, I was working on five at once, one time.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16JOAN LAUGHS
0:07:16 > 0:07:20- How did you know which you were playing?- Well, it was pretty hard.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23I had to be briefed every once in a while.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27In those days, the big studios would trade you
0:07:27 > 0:07:29like they trade ball players.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37You would be traded to another studio, maybe for another actor,
0:07:37 > 0:07:43or you would be traded for a script, or perhaps,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48you would be traded and the other studio would be allowed to use
0:07:48 > 0:07:51that studio's backlot for a while.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55- LAUGHTER - What did they trade you for?
0:07:55 > 0:08:00I don't know. They said, one time, they traded me for seven horses.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Seven stunt horses.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07LAUGHTER
0:08:07 > 0:08:10You've appeared in several biographical films, of course.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13You've played Glenn Miller and you played Lindbergh.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17Is it more difficult to be convincing and natural in them?
0:08:17 > 0:08:19How do you approach that kind of part?
0:08:21 > 0:08:29You have to make a thing believable without using the device of acting.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32And I... That doesn't make any sense at all.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35But... LAUGHTER
0:08:35 > 0:08:41I've sort of, over the years, I've...developed a theory.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47I'm getting to believe that in films,
0:08:47 > 0:08:55what everybody is striving for is to produce moments.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Not a performance, not a characterisation,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01not something that you get into the part and it's...
0:09:01 > 0:09:04You produce moments...
0:09:06 > 0:09:13..that create a feeling of believability to what you're doing.
0:09:14 > 0:09:21Now the moments sometimes don't work. Sometimes it doesn't go...
0:09:21 > 0:09:23It... Nothing happens.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31William Wyler has always been very famous for taking a lot of takes,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36and there's the story that he had had this scene with a bunch of
0:09:36 > 0:09:42very competent people, a very important scene in the movie,
0:09:42 > 0:09:47and he'd already done it 30 times, and one of them came and said,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52"Willy, I want to know what were doing wrong.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56"What do you want us to do now? I don't know what..."
0:09:56 > 0:09:59And Willy said, "No, you're doing it fine.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03"I'm just waiting for something to happen." LAUGHTER
0:10:03 > 0:10:07And that's what I mean by creating moments.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Another thing that happened over the years that bears this out
0:10:14 > 0:10:18is that people come up to me and say,
0:10:18 > 0:10:23"Boy, I like that picture you did."
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Now, they won't remember the name of the picture,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31they won't remember where they saw it,
0:10:31 > 0:10:36they won't remember who was in it, or who directed it, but they say,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39"You know that picture, you were in this room..."
0:10:39 > 0:10:41LAUGHTER
0:10:41 > 0:10:44"..and you were some kind of a lawyer or something,
0:10:44 > 0:10:49"and this fellow was over there, and he turned to you and he said...
0:10:49 > 0:10:53"And I forget what he said, but you looked at him
0:10:53 > 0:10:56"and, boy, that look, that was some look you give them."
0:10:56 > 0:10:57LAUGHTER
0:10:59 > 0:11:06And a great many times, you remember that moment too.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11And you thought it was pretty good. Every once in a while.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17I remember, just while I'm on this, in this moment thing,
0:11:17 > 0:11:23I was making a picture in British Columbia, a Western,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27and we were on the Columbia ice fields.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32And it was raining and there was heavy mist around,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35and we couldn't shoot, so we were all huddled around a fire.
0:11:37 > 0:11:44And suddenly, out of the mist came a man, and he was not a young man.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47He had a beard... It wasn't exactly a beard.
0:11:47 > 0:11:54He just hadn't shaved for a while. And he was sort of a miner type,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57was dressed like a miner.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02And he came closer to us and he said,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05"Which one of you fellas is Stewart?" And I said, "I am."
0:12:05 > 0:12:09And he came over and looked at me and he said, "Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11"Now I recognise you."
0:12:11 > 0:12:14He said, "Well, I heard you was here
0:12:14 > 0:12:17"and I thought I'd come up and say hello.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22"I've seen a lot of your pictures." Picture shows, he called them.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26He said, "But I think the one I like best, you were in this room..."
0:12:26 > 0:12:28LAUGHTER
0:12:28 > 0:12:32"..and, uh, your girlfriend was in the next room..."
0:12:32 > 0:12:37"and, um, there were fireflies outside
0:12:37 > 0:12:41"and you recited a piece of poetry to her
0:12:41 > 0:12:45"and I thought that was a nice thing for you to do."
0:12:46 > 0:12:53And I remembered exactly the moment, and exactly the film.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I remembered who was in it and who directed it.
0:12:56 > 0:13:03And I also realised that that picture had been released 20 years before.
0:13:05 > 0:13:11And it made a tremendous impression on me, that man.
0:13:14 > 0:13:21To think that I had been part of creating a moment
0:13:21 > 0:13:27that this man had liked and had remembered for 20 years.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33And I'll never forget it. This, uh...
0:13:33 > 0:13:36This is what I mean by "the moment".
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Magic moments in cinema was a favourite theme of Stewart's,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42and he returned to that
0:13:42 > 0:13:46in an interview with Mike Parkinson in 1973.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50But it was his distinctive way of talking
0:13:50 > 0:13:51that got the conversation started.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55What about this unmistakable voice of yours?
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Because, going back to the screen awards, you got two ovations.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00You're the only man I've known
0:14:00 > 0:14:02in the history of television who got two ovations.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06You got one when you walked on, and you got one when you said, "Well..."
0:14:06 > 0:14:09LAUGHTER
0:14:09 > 0:14:14I mean, that's extraordinary, but true. Is the voice...?
0:14:14 > 0:14:18It's not acquired, it's natural, is it? It's always been with you?
0:14:18 > 0:14:19Always. Always been with me.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22LAUGHTER
0:14:22 > 0:14:23In that form?
0:14:24 > 0:14:29Yes, I don't ever remember trying to change it.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Except, perhaps, when I played Lindbergh.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35I tried to raise the voice, because he has a very high voice
0:14:35 > 0:14:37and he talks very fast.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40He talked like that, and he was very definite, you know,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and he doesn't hem and haw the way I do.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45LAUGHTER
0:14:45 > 0:14:50So I tried to get it. I don't know whether I did or not.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51But that's what I tried to do.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53LAUGHTER
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Did anyone ever suggest, at any time,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57that you should have your voice trained?
0:14:57 > 0:15:00That you should go to a voice specialist or something?
0:15:00 > 0:15:06Well, not exactly the training in the voice, but I remember... Oh, dear!
0:15:06 > 0:15:11I remember I was in a play in New York.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14I played an Austrian nobleman.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17- MICHAEL CHUCKLES - Sorry!
0:15:19 > 0:15:24It should give you a little idea that I needed the work.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26LAUGHTER
0:15:29 > 0:15:34I felt I did need the work, but it was a play...
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Very sad, terrible, sad, tragic play,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43with a young girl by the name of Greta Maren,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46who the Shuberts had brought over.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51But I somehow felt that I should give some suggestion
0:15:51 > 0:15:55of an Austrian accent of some kind.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58And there was a woman in New York in those days
0:15:58 > 0:16:03by the name of Frances Robinson Duff, who taught drama,
0:16:03 > 0:16:09who taught voice, who people would go to when they got a part,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and she would coach them sort of mostly in voice
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and mostly in projection and so on.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19And I went to Miss Duff, and this was tough going, you know.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22It was five bucks a throw for the lessons,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24but I felt that this was important.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28And she said, "Yes, I think we can work out
0:16:28 > 0:16:32"some kind of suggestion of an accent."
0:16:32 > 0:16:36But after three lessons, she called me in and she said,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"I'm going to have to let you go."
0:16:38 > 0:16:40LAUGHTER
0:16:40 > 0:16:46She said, "There's no way I can teach you an Austrian accent.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51"But any time in the future that you feel that you'd like to learn
0:16:51 > 0:16:53"to speak English properly..."
0:16:53 > 0:16:55LAUGHTER
0:16:55 > 0:16:58APPLAUSE
0:17:01 > 0:17:07- Do you remember the first part you played?- Yeah, Murder Man. It was...
0:17:07 > 0:17:13I was taken up to the producer, by a fellow,
0:17:13 > 0:17:19a very good friend of mine, the casting director of MGM, Billy Grady,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23who was really responsible for getting me out into the movies.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And he said, "Here's the fellow, Stewart.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29"I thought maybe he'd be good for the part of Shorty."
0:17:29 > 0:17:30TITTERING
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And the producer said, "Well, look, the fellow's 12 feet tall.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36"How do you want Shorty?" And Bill said,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"Well, maybe, I thought you might change the name."
0:17:39 > 0:17:43And the producer said, "Well, now you want to rewrite the script too?"
0:17:43 > 0:17:48- So I got the part, but I was still Shorty.- You were still Shorty.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51And if you winked, you missed me, in that one.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52It was just a tiny little...
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Now, let's have a look at a film that you made in the '30s,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59where you are more easily recognisable.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01If we can have a look at it now.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05It's a film called Born To Dance, which I've no doubt you'll remember.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06Let's have a look at it.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09You really want to go on the stage?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Well, I hope to.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Well...
0:18:14 > 0:18:18success and all that, do you think that'll change you?
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Of course not! Why do you ask?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Oh, I don't know.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26It just seems that that kind of success
0:18:26 > 0:18:28always does something to people.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30At least, I've noticed it.
0:18:30 > 0:18:31Just recently?
0:18:31 > 0:18:36Oh, Nora, the difference between you and girls that...
0:18:36 > 0:18:38That amount to something?
0:18:40 > 0:18:45- I wish you knew what you amounted to with me.- Tell me.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52# I know too well that I'm just wasting precious time
0:18:52 > 0:18:56# Me thinking such a thing could be
0:18:56 > 0:18:59# That you could ever care for me
0:18:59 > 0:19:01LAUGHTER IN STUDIO
0:19:01 > 0:19:04# I'm sure that you'll hate to hear
0:19:04 > 0:19:08# That I adore you, dear
0:19:08 > 0:19:11# But grant me, just the same
0:19:11 > 0:19:17# I'm not entirely to blame
0:19:17 > 0:19:25# For you'd be so easy to love
0:19:25 > 0:19:30# So easy to idolise all others above... #
0:19:30 > 0:19:32APPLAUSE
0:19:39 > 0:19:42That's, uh... That's pretty bad, wasn't it?
0:19:42 > 0:19:45LAUGHTER
0:19:45 > 0:19:49You know, I... I, uh... I had a terrible experience with that.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52That's a hard song. It became a big hit, you know, Easy To Love.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54- Beautiful song. - Beautiful song.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57But the range in it is frightening.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02And I was a little worried about it.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07I recorded the song, but then, when I went to the preview of the picture,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10I was sort of interested in what I would sound like singing.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15And when I started to sing, it wasn't me. It was somebody else.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17It turned out to be a fellow by the name of Art Jarrett,
0:20:17 > 0:20:23who sang with the orchestra that they'd put in because... Yeah.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25LAUGHTER
0:20:25 > 0:20:29But at the end, they... After the picture was...
0:20:29 > 0:20:33The picture was quite successful, and at the end,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36they decided to leave my voice in because they said,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41"You just can't hurt that tune, that Cole Porter tune,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45"and so, leave his voice in."
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It sounded, in fact, as if your voice hadn't broken.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50You know, it was like a boy soprano, wasn't it?
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Well, it's so high! Gee!
0:20:52 > 0:20:54I asked Cole Porter, I said,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56"Couldn't you cut it down a note or two?"
0:20:56 > 0:20:57And he didn't like that at all.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00LAUGHTER
0:21:00 > 0:21:03But the range, you know, the range...
0:21:03 > 0:21:05And besides, I can't sing!
0:21:05 > 0:21:07LAUGHTER
0:21:07 > 0:21:11What about yourself in that period? Because you're thin now, aren't you?
0:21:11 > 0:21:12You must have been very skinny then.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Did they ever try and build you up into some kind of virile sex symbol?
0:21:16 > 0:21:18You know, muscles and everything?
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Well, they had the fellow at MGM by the name of Don Loomis,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25who was a weightlifter, and I went up for a part to somebody
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and they said, "Go down to Don Loomis and put on 20 pounds."
0:21:28 > 0:21:34Well, I hadn't put on 20 pounds for 20 years.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36But I went down to Don Loomis, and he looked and he said,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41"Well, we'll have to start from scratch here with you, James."
0:21:41 > 0:21:44But I got hooked on this.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46I got hooked on this weightlifting thing,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and he had all the health foods, blackstrap molasses,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and I did all this, I did all the weightlifting,
0:21:53 > 0:21:58and I found myself for the first time in my life in the morning
0:21:58 > 0:22:01doing this, and the muscle came up, and I'm looking...
0:22:01 > 0:22:06And all this. And I couldn't wear my shirts any more.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11I had to get new shirts, and I got bigger around here.
0:22:11 > 0:22:18I had to get another suit, and all this. And I did it for over a year.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25Uh... I didn't get the part, but I got stronger.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30But finally, one day, when I'd gotten to lift really heavy weights,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33really heavy, and got really good, I finally put it down and I said,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35"I can't do this any more.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38"This is a mechanical thing. There's something wrong.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39"I can't do this any more."
0:22:39 > 0:22:42And in three weeks, I was back to 130 pounds,
0:22:42 > 0:22:47and I had to get new shirts and change all the things.
0:22:47 > 0:22:55- So that idea of sort of changing my build didn't work.- No.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58So, pursued by the ladies, were you, in the early days?
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Well, uh...
0:23:00 > 0:23:02LAUGHTER
0:23:06 > 0:23:08You speak freely on this programme!
0:23:08 > 0:23:11LAUGHTER
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Well, I, uh...
0:23:15 > 0:23:17I... I...
0:23:17 > 0:23:18It was fun being a bachelor.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25You had, in fact, a very distinguished war record.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28You went right the way through the war as an active serving officer.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32But what kind of welcome did you get when you got back home, Jimmy?
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Well, it was fine. Very quiet.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The first thing I saw, someone had written,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43"Welcome home, Jim," on a sheet
0:23:43 > 0:23:45and put it up on the courthouse,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and I could see it from my home in Indiana.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51And there were a lot of people came to see me,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53and I went down to the hardware store
0:23:53 > 0:23:57and walked up Main Street and said hello to a lot of people.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01There was a man, a photographer from Life Magazine,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03by the name of Peter Stackpole,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and he was there taking pictures, and somebody said,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10"Now, is there anything else you would do, that you would want to do?
0:24:10 > 0:24:13"Would you go fishing?" And, uh...
0:24:15 > 0:24:20..I said, "Yes," but I must've said it in a way that gave them
0:24:20 > 0:24:25the impression that I'd missed fishing all these four years,
0:24:25 > 0:24:31that I kept receiving the magazine Field And Stream all through it.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33And I really wasn't that much of a fisherman,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37but I found myself in a boat with Woody Woodward,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40who worked for my father, and Peter Stackpole,
0:24:40 > 0:24:46and we were plug casting for bass, in a little lake outside of town.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50And I hadn't done it for a long time, and I kept getting backlashes,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54and Peter was trying to get a picture of me, at least getting a cast off.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58In the meantime, Woody pulled in a couple of bass.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I still was getting backlashes.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And Peter said, "Well, I think we have enough. Let's go home.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08"It's all right. I have enough." And I said, "No, one more time.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14"I've got it all right." And I hooked it on something, and I looked...
0:25:14 > 0:25:16I'd hooked Peter Stackpole.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18LAUGHTER
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And he said, "Let's go home. Let's go."
0:25:21 > 0:25:26So we went home and then there were people for dinner,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and it was a full day. It was a full day.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32But after everybody went home,
0:25:32 > 0:25:37and after my sisters and my mother went upstairs, my father sat down
0:25:37 > 0:25:43in his favourite chair in the living room and he said, "Now, sit down.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47"Now, tell me, tell me, what was it like?"
0:25:47 > 0:25:51And I said, "Well, I, uh...
0:25:51 > 0:25:54"I flew my crew down to South America,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57"and then I went over to Dakar,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00"and then getting up to England,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03"I had to wait in Marrakesh for a while because of weather,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06"and then we finally got..."
0:26:06 > 0:26:08And I looked, and he was fast asleep.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17- And he never asked me very much about it any more.- A real hero's welcome!
0:26:17 > 0:26:19What about getting back into movies?
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Because you started with a bang, didn't you,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25with a marvellous movie made by Frank Capra? It's A Wonderful Life.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27I mean, did you want to get back into the movies?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Oh, I certainly did. But I...
0:26:31 > 0:26:38It was sort of a nebulous period in my career,
0:26:38 > 0:26:44because I didn't exactly know whether the type of thing
0:26:44 > 0:26:47that I had done before, whether that would be accepted.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And it turned out that it wasn't very accepted.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54- It's A Wonderful Life didn't do very well.- Didn't it?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56And the next picture didn't do very well,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and it was sort of falling back
0:26:58 > 0:27:02on that sort of thing that I'd gotten into,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05the romantic comedy, and people didn't want that.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07But, before you go on then, Jimmy,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11can we have a look at this scene, then, from Wonderful Life?
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I didn't realise, in fact, that it wasn't a commercial success.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19- It's a nice little movie, isn't it? - But it...it's amazing.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23It's my favourite picture, and Frank Capra's favourite picture.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31VOICES SING A JOLLY TUNE
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Oh, Merry Christmas! Glad you've come!
0:27:35 > 0:27:37How about some of that good spaghetti?
0:27:37 > 0:27:40LIVELY SINGING CONTINUES
0:27:50 > 0:27:51(Oh, God.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55(Oh, God.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01(Dear Father in Heaven...
0:28:05 > 0:28:10(..I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13(show me the way.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15(I'm at the end of my rope. I...
0:28:18 > 0:28:21(Show me the way. Oh, God.)
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Are you all right, George? Want somebody to take you home?
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Why you drink so much, my friend? Please go home, Mr Bailey.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38- This is Christmas Eve.- Bailey?
0:28:38 > 0:28:41- Which Bailey? - This is Mr George Bailey.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46CUSTOMERS SCREAM
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Next time you talk to my wife like that, you'll get worse!
0:28:48 > 0:28:50She cried for an hour!
0:28:50 > 0:28:52It isn't enough she slaves teaching your stupid kids
0:28:52 > 0:28:54how to read and write, you had to bawl her out!
0:28:54 > 0:28:55Get out of here, Mr Welsh!
0:28:55 > 0:28:57Now, wait! I want to pay for my drink!
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Never mind, you get out of here quick! You hit my best friend!
0:29:00 > 0:29:01Get out!
0:29:07 > 0:29:08You all right, George?
0:29:08 > 0:29:12- Who was that?- He gone. No worry.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15- His name is Welsh. He no come into my place no more.- Oh, Welsh.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18- That's what you get for praying. - Last time he come in here.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20You hear that, Nick?
0:29:20 > 0:29:23- You bet. - Where's my insurance policy?
0:29:23 > 0:29:26- Oh, here it is.- Oh, no, please no go this way, Mr Bailey.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28- No, no, you no feel good! Sit down and rest.- I'm all right.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Please, no go away! Please!
0:29:33 > 0:29:34TYRES SCREECH
0:29:36 > 0:29:37APPLAUSE
0:29:45 > 0:29:49- You said, Jimmy, that that was your favourite movie of all.- Mmm.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53- Of all the movies you've made, that's still...- Yeah.- Why is that?
0:29:53 > 0:29:57I don't know. A lot of reasons. I just noticed that scene there.
0:29:58 > 0:30:06That scene, I remember when I first read the first draft of the script,
0:30:06 > 0:30:13that scene, the little prayer, affected me when I read it.
0:30:16 > 0:30:22When I did it in the movie it did, and it did the same to me right now.
0:30:22 > 0:30:23- Mmm.- Uh...
0:30:23 > 0:30:29And this is a theory that I've always had, that...
0:30:32 > 0:30:39..creating moments in movies, this, I think, is the important thing.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43- Mm.- Nobody knows exactly how it happens.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48But...what you should do is
0:30:48 > 0:30:54to prepare yourself as best you can to make these moments happen.
0:30:56 > 0:31:04Because, in a movie, it's really not so much the performance.
0:31:04 > 0:31:11It's really not. There are moments. Moments, just like there, I think.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13And, in fact, coming up now, let's have a look at it now.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16We've got one of those magic moments, actually.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18It's the moment in the movie, The Glenn Miller Story,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Miller discovers the sound, puts the clarinet in the front section,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26and gets the sound he's been looking for. Let's have a look at it now.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29MUSIC: PARED DOWN VERSION OF "Moonlight Serenade"
0:31:36 > 0:31:38HE PLAYS NOTES ON PIANO
0:31:52 > 0:31:55HE PLAYS MORE NOTES
0:32:08 > 0:32:10HE PLAYS A CHORD
0:32:15 > 0:32:18BAND PLAYS "Moonlight Serenade"
0:33:27 > 0:33:30CLARINET SOLO
0:33:38 > 0:33:41CLARINET SOLO CONTINUES
0:33:54 > 0:33:55AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:34:01 > 0:34:05He looks like he's got it, maybe! Listen to those kids!
0:34:05 > 0:34:07There's no maybe about it, Mr Schribman. That's it.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09That's the sound.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33APPLAUSE
0:34:42 > 0:34:45- It's a marvellous moment, isn't it? - Yeah.- It's a good movie, that.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48I mean, the music's superb. I could listen to that all night.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55I remember in the preview of the movie, they used stereophonic sound
0:34:55 > 0:35:03for the first time, but they held it and didn't turn it on until...
0:35:03 > 0:35:08- The ballroom, with the band. - Yeah, yeah. Very effective.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Can you define for us, Jimmy, the character
0:35:11 > 0:35:15that you've come to be associated with through all your movies?
0:35:15 > 0:35:18I mean, we've all got our very definite ideas
0:35:18 > 0:35:20of what Jimmy Stewart's like on screen,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22the kind of characters he portrays,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25but have you ever thought about it yourself?
0:35:25 > 0:35:28I really haven't analysed it very much.
0:35:28 > 0:35:36I imagine that the sort of overall look at it would be I'm the plodder.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42I'm the inarticulate man that tries,
0:35:42 > 0:35:48that I'm a pretty good example
0:35:48 > 0:35:52of...true human frailty.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54LAUGHTER
0:35:54 > 0:36:00I don't really have all the answers. I have very few of the answers.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05But for some reason, somehow, I make it.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10- Yeah.- I get... I get through.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13I'm at the head of the wagon train.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16For some reason, we get across the Rockies.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:36:18 > 0:36:20For some reason...
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Four years later, Stewart was back at Parkinson.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31Now aged 69, his big-screen appearances were increasingly rare.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35But people still loved to hear him talking about his life,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38his work, and his adventures in Hollywood.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40These are the great days in Hollywood, weren't they?
0:36:40 > 0:36:44The '30s, when the film industry WAS Hollywood.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46What do you remember, when you think back, Jimmy,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49over the many, many years that you've been there
0:36:49 > 0:36:51and been a star there?
0:36:53 > 0:36:54You mean...
0:36:54 > 0:36:57Well, what was it like in the '30s, when you were there, for instance?
0:36:57 > 0:37:00I mean, the studio system was going, wasn't it?
0:37:00 > 0:37:06Well, the whole thing was so exciting, and the whole idea...
0:37:06 > 0:37:11They say there was a certain magic about it. Well, I agree with that.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15The idea of being...
0:37:15 > 0:37:21I was a contract player at MGM when I came from the New York stage,
0:37:21 > 0:37:26and the idea of being on the lot where pictures were being made
0:37:26 > 0:37:33with Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow and Lionel Barrymore
0:37:33 > 0:37:38and Myrna Loy and William Powell and Wallace Beery,
0:37:38 > 0:37:43and all these people that you'd see every once in a while...
0:37:43 > 0:37:48Everything... Everything was excitement.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53It was like a family, and it seemed that the whole town,
0:37:53 > 0:37:59everybody would gather at a wonderful nightclub, the Trocadero,
0:37:59 > 0:38:04and we worked six days a week then, and Saturday night,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08we'd all collect at the Trocadero, and it was an all-night affair.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10And everybody performed.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15I remember one night, a little girl got up and said...
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Her mother was with her, with pigtails and bobby socks on,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22and the little girl got up and said,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26"Here's a little girl that MGM has just signed,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30"and her mother brought her down, and she wants to sing a song."
0:38:30 > 0:38:36She started to sing, and she sang for an hour. She was 14, I think.
0:38:36 > 0:38:4213, 14, 15. Judy Garland. First time anybody... And it was magic.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46- Did she have the magic THEN? - Then, absolutely. Absolutely.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48You mentioned a name there, of course,
0:38:48 > 0:38:53of one of the greatest sex symbols of all time, Jean Harlow.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54Now, you worked with her, didn't you?
0:38:54 > 0:38:59Yes, I was in a picture with her called Wife Versus Secretary.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04I had a very small part, but I was sort of the boy next door,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08and we had been through high school together and everything,
0:39:08 > 0:39:15but then Gable was also in the picture, so you know the sort of...
0:39:15 > 0:39:18But we had one scene... LAUGHTER
0:39:18 > 0:39:25..one scene in the car, and it was sort of the goodbye scene.
0:39:25 > 0:39:33She was interested in...other things, and sort of saying goodbye to me.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38And I had most of the dialogue, because I was trying to
0:39:38 > 0:39:42tell her my story and plead with her to stay with me and everything.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45And, of course, I had had months to learn it,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49so I knew it very well, and I did it,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51and the scene ended with a kiss.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Now this was at night.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56We worked at night and at all times,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01and she was actually on another scene in the picture,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and I was on another picture at night,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07and we met and were going to do this scene.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15Clarence Brown was directing, and he said, "Well, let's just rehearse it."
0:40:15 > 0:40:20And I went through it and everything, and it ended with a kiss.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22This is a rehearsal.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I had never been kissed like that ever in my life!
0:40:25 > 0:40:27LAUGHTER
0:40:27 > 0:40:29I was born in Pennsylvania.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32LAUGHTER
0:40:36 > 0:40:41And Clarence Brown, the director, said, "Well, that seemed all right.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47"Let's go for a take." So we went for a take, and the same thing.
0:40:47 > 0:40:55And at the last kiss, this one was a real barn-burner.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57LAUGHTER
0:40:57 > 0:41:00And I, uh...
0:41:00 > 0:41:03This took me back a little.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05I didn't know exactly how to take it,
0:41:05 > 0:41:10but Clarence Brown saw what a good time I was having, and he said,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14"Why don't we do a couple more takes, just to make sure?"
0:41:14 > 0:41:17LAUGHTER
0:41:17 > 0:41:20And I spoiled the thing, I started blowing my lines.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23And he said, "OK, we'll print that first one."
0:41:23 > 0:41:27Is it difficult for you now to find parts?
0:41:27 > 0:41:30I mean, you must get offered an awful lot of rubbish, mustn't you?
0:41:32 > 0:41:36I, uh... I don't get offered much of anything.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39LAUGHTER
0:41:40 > 0:41:45They, the parts, they're just not writing the parts, you know,
0:41:45 > 0:41:51great big parts for people that I have been around as long as I have.
0:41:51 > 0:41:59You know, I'm old! And the parts just aren't coming like they used to.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02- You're still a great star, though. - Ah! I just...
0:42:02 > 0:42:03You're a bigger star than
0:42:03 > 0:42:06any of these people coming through today, that's for sure.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09The whole thing has been a wonderful life.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12I've been tremendously fortunate.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17I've loved every minute of it, and I have a wonderful marriage,
0:42:17 > 0:42:25and I'm a happy man, and I consider every day gravy.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:42:32 > 0:42:37We end with a classic example of why audiences love James Stewart.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Here he is on the Wogan show in 1988,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44wearing his heart on his sleeve, sharing a poem he'd written
0:42:44 > 0:42:49about his favourite pet dog, who'd recently died, whose name was Beau.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57I just made up my mind that I'd write about my friend, Beau,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and try to make it rhyme.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03And it came out like this.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08He never came to me when I would call
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Unless I had a tennis ball,
0:43:11 > 0:43:13Or he felt like it,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16But mostly he didn't come at all.
0:43:16 > 0:43:17When he was young
0:43:17 > 0:43:20He never learned to heel Or sit or stay,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22He did things his way.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Discipline was not his bag
0:43:24 > 0:43:28But when you were with him things sure didn't drag.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31He'd dig up a rose bush just to spite me,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34And when I'd grab him, he'd turn and bite me.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36He bit lots of folks from day to day,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40The delivery boy was his favourite prey.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43The gasman wouldn't read our meter,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46He said we owned a real man-eater.
0:43:46 > 0:43:47LAUGHTER
0:43:47 > 0:43:51He set the house on fire but the story is too long to tell.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Suffice to say that he survived and the house survived as well.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00And on evening walks, and Mom took him,
0:44:00 > 0:44:03He was always first out the door.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08The old one and I brought up the rear Because our bones were sore.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11And he would charge up the street with Mom hanging on,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13What a beautiful sight they were!
0:44:13 > 0:44:16And if it was still light and the tourists were out,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19They created a bit of a stir.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22But every once in a while, he'd stop in his tracks
0:44:22 > 0:44:25And with a frown on his face turn around.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28It was just to make sure that the old one was there
0:44:28 > 0:44:31To follow him where he was bound.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34We're early-to-bedders in our house -
0:44:34 > 0:44:37I guess I'm the first to retire.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40As I leave the room he'd look up at me
0:44:40 > 0:44:43And get up from his place by the fire.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46He knew where the tennis balls were upstairs,
0:44:46 > 0:44:48And I'd give him one for a while,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50And he'd shove it under the bed with his nose
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And I'd dig it out with a smile.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56But before very long He'd tire of the ball
0:44:56 > 0:45:00And be asleep in his corner In no time at all.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05And there were nights when I would feel him
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Climb upon our bed
0:45:08 > 0:45:11And lie between us And I'd pat his head.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15And there were nights when I'd feel this stare
0:45:15 > 0:45:19And I'd wake up and he'd be sitting there
0:45:19 > 0:45:22And I'd reach out my hand to stroke his hair
0:45:22 > 0:45:26And sometimes I'd feel him sigh
0:45:26 > 0:45:31And I'd think, "I know the reason why."
0:45:31 > 0:45:37He'd wake up at night And he would have this fear
0:45:37 > 0:45:41Of the dark, of life, of lots of things,
0:45:41 > 0:45:44And he'd be glad to have me near.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49And now he's dead.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52HIS VOICE CRACKS
0:45:52 > 0:45:56And there are nights when I think I feel him
0:45:56 > 0:46:02Climb upon our bed and lie between us,
0:46:02 > 0:46:04And I pat his head.
0:46:04 > 0:46:10And there are nights when I think I feel that stare
0:46:10 > 0:46:15And I reach out my hand to stroke his hair,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17But he's not there.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24VOICE BREAKING Oh, how I wish that wasn't so,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28I'll always love a dog named Beau.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31APPLAUSE
0:46:31 > 0:46:33APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH
0:46:40 > 0:46:44In January 1997, James Stewart died at home, aged 89.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49In tributes, he was called an American national treasure,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52and the embodiment of decency and moral courage.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57But his friend, Doris Day, possibly put it best, saying simply,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01"Jimmy Stewart had a wonderful life."
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd