The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 1870.
A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out at sea

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view.

Historical perspective[link]

The earliest forms of storytelling were thought^{[by whom?]} to have been primarily oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of religious ritual, rock art may^{[original research?]} have served as a form of storytelling for many ancient cultures. The Australian Aboriginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance. People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.

With the advent of writing and the use of stable, portable media, stories were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins (parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film, and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world.

Contemporary storytelling[link]

Modern storytelling has a broad purview. In addition to its traditional forms (fairytales, folktales, mythology, legends, fables etc.), it has extended itself to representing history, personal narrative, political commentary, and evolving cultural norms. Contemporary storytelling is also widely used to address educational objectives.^[1]

Oral traditions[link]

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An African storyteller in Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Paris, France.

Albert Bates Lord examined oral narratives from field transcripts of Yugoslav oral bards collected by Milman Parry in the 1930s, and the texts of epics such as the Odyssey and Beowulf.^[2] Lord found that a large part of the stories consisted of text which was improvised during the telling process.

Lord identified two types of story vocabulary. The first he called "formulas": "rosy-fingered dawn", "the wine-dark sea", and other specific set phrases had long been known of in Homer and other oral epics. Lord, however, discovered that across many story traditions, fully 90% of an oral epic is assembled from lines which are repeated verbatim or which use one-for-one word substitutions. In other words, oral stories are built out of set phrases which have been stockpiled from a lifetime of hearing and telling stories.

The other type of story vocabulary is theme, a set sequence of story actions that structure a tale. Just as the teller of tales proceeds line-by-line using formulas, so he proceeds from event-to-event using themes. One near-universal theme is repetition, as evidenced in Western folklore with the "rule of three": three brothers set out, three attempts are made, three riddles are asked. A theme can be as simple as a specific set sequence describing the arming of a hero, starting with shirt and trousers and ending with headdress and weapons. A theme can be large enough to be a plot component. For example: a hero proposes a journey to a dangerous place / he disguises himself / his disguise fools everybody / except for a common person of little account (a crone, a tavern maid or a woodcutter) / who immediately recognizes him / the commoner becomes the hero's ally, showing unexpected resources of skill or initiative. A theme does not belong to a specific story, but may be found with minor variation in many different stories. Themes may be no more than handy prefabricated parts for constructing a tale, or they may represent universal truths – ritual-based, religious truths, as James Frazer saw in The Golden Bough, or archetypal, psychological truths, as Joseph Campbell describes in The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

The story was described by Reynolds Price, when he wrote:

A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens – second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths.^[3]

Märchen and Sagen[link]

Folklorists sometimes divide oral tales into two main groups: Märchen and Sagen.^{[citation needed]} These are German terms for which there are no exact English equivalents, however we have approximations:

Märchen, loosely translated as "fairy tale(s)", take place in a kind of separate "once-upon-a-time" world of nowhere-in-particular. They are clearly not intended to be understood as true. The stories are full of clearly defined incidents, and peopled by rather flat characters with little or no interior life. When the supernatural occurs, it is presented matter-of-factly, without surprise. Indeed, there is very little effect, generally; bloodcurdling events may take place, but with little call for emotional response from the listener.^{[citation needed]}

Sagen, best translated as "legends", are supposed to have actually happened, very often at a particular time and place, and they draw much of their power from this fact. When the supernatural intrudes (as it often does), it does so in an emotionally fraught manner. Ghost and lovers' leap stories belong in this category, as do many UFO stories and stories of supernatural beings and events.^{[citation needed]}

Another important examination of orality in human life is Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982). Ong studies the distinguishing characteristics of oral traditions, how oral and written cultures interact and condition one another, and how they ultimately influence human epistemology.

Storytelling and learning[link]

Storytelling is a means for sharing and interpreting experiences. Stories are universal in that they can bridge cultural, linguistic and age-related divides. Storytelling can be used as a method to teach ethics, values, and cultural norms and differences. ^[4] Learning is most effective when it takes place in social environments that provide authentic social cues about how knowledge is to be applied ^[5]. Stories provide a tool to transfer knowledge in a social context.

Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain consists of cognitive machinery necessary to understand, remember and tell stories ^[6]. Humans are storytelling organisms that both individually and socially, lead storied lives^[7] . Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Facts can be understood as smaller versions of a larger story thus storytelling can supplement analytical thinking.

Stories are effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore remember. While the storylistener is engaged, they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a transformative and empathetic experience ^[8]. Listening to a storyteller can create lasting personal connections, promote innovative problem solving and foster a shared understanding regarding future ambitions ^[9] . The listener can then activate knowledge and imagine new possibilities. Together a storyteller and listener can seek best practices and invent new solutions.

Stories tend to be based on experiential learning, but learning from an experience is not automatic. Often a person needs to attempt to tell the story about that experience before realizing its value. In this case it is not only the listener that learns, but also the teller who becomes aware of their own unique experiences and backgrounds ^[10] . This process of storytelling is empowering as the teller effectively conveys ideas and with practice is able to demonstrate the potential of human accomplishment. Story taps into existing knowledge and creates bridges both culturally and motivationally toward a solution.

As art form[link]

Aesthetics[link]

The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there are a number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure, with identifiable beginnings, middles and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action, and protention/future anticipation; a substantial focus on characters and characterization which is "arguably the most important single component of the novel";^[11] a given heterogloss of different voices dialogically at play – "the sound of the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and registers";^[12] possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition "addresses" and "interacts with" reading audiences (see Reader Response theory); communicates with a Wayne Booth-esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted narrative, and other at other times much more visible, "arguing" for and against various positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly including the use of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden White, Metahistory for expansion of this idea); is often enmeshed in intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities, parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort toward bildungsroman, a description of identity development with an effort to evince becoming in character and community.

Festivals[link]

Storytelling festivals feature the work of several storytellers. Elements of the oral storytelling art form include visualization (the seeing of images in the mind's eye), and vocal and bodily gestures. In many ways, the art of storytelling draws upon other art forms such as acting, oral interpretation, and performance studies.

Several storytelling organizations started in the US during the 1970s. One such organization was the National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling (NAPPS), now the National Storytelling Network and the International Storytelling Center. NSN is a professional organization that helps to organize resources for tellers and festival planners. The ISC runs the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.^[13] Australia followed their American counterparts with the establishment of storytelling guilds in the late 1970s. Australian storytelling today has individuals and groups across the country who meet to share their stories.

Currently, there are dozens of storytelling festivals and hundreds of professional storytellers around the world, and an international celebration of the art on World Storytelling Day.

Emancipation of the story[link]

In oral traditions, stories are kept alive by being re-told again and again. The material of any given story naturally undergoes several changes and adaptations during this process. When and where oral tradition was pushed back in favor of print media, the literary idea of the author as originator of a story's authoritative version changed people's perception of stories themselves. In the following centuries, stories tended to be seen as the work of individuals, rather than a collective effort. Only recently, when a significant number of influential authors began questioning their own roles, the value of stories as such – independent of authorship – was again recognized. Literary critics such as Roland Barthes even proclaimed the Death of the Author.

In business[link]

For many multi-media communication complex institutions, communicating by using fiction storytelling techniques can be a more compelling and effective route than using only dry facts.^[14] Daphne A. Jameson undertook some research into the manner in which language is used in business meetings. Her analysis led her to the following major conclusions:

Using narrative to manage conflicts For managers storytelling is an important way of resolving conflicts, addressing issues and facing challenges. Managers used narrative discourse to deal with conflicts, because direct action was often impossible.

Using narrative to interpret the past and shape the future In a group discussion a process of collective narration can help to influence others and unify the group by linking the past to the future. In discussions, the managers transformed problems, requests and issues into stories. Jameson calls the collective group construction storybuilding.

Using narrative in the reasoning process Storytelling plays an important role in reasoning processes and in convincing others. In the meetings, the managers preferred stories instead of abstract arguments or statistical measures. When situations were complex, narrative allowed them to involve more context.^[15]

In marketing[link]

Storytelling is increasingly used in advertising today in order to build customer loyalty.^[16] According to Giles Lury, this marketing trend echoes the deeply-rooted need of all humans to be entertained. Stories are illustrative, easily memorable and allow any firm to create stronger emotional bonds with the customers.

According to Professor Henry Jenkins, four steps should be followed to achieve successful campaigns based on that concept:^[17]

Stories should be drillable.

Each piece of the story should be enriching, but not vital to the understanding of the story (so that a customer can still have a clear idea of the bigger picture even though he has missed a part of it)

Involve the fans in the creation process.

Build a world in which your story can evolve (such as Coca-Cola's "Happiness Factory")

Coca-Cola is an example of the use of storytelling. From Iris Bell's tale in 1944 to the "Happiness Factory" today, they have succeeded in involving their customers in their advertising and creating emotional power. The use of storytelling by marketers shows the beginning of a new narrative era in which brand content, brand story, advertainment, street marketing, guerilla marketing ... will be essential communication concepts.

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Beyer, Jürgen, "Prolegomena to a history of story-telling around the Baltic Sea, c. 1550-1800", Electronic Journal of Folklore, vol. 4 (1997), 43-60
• Bruner, Jerome S. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1986. ISBN 0-674-00365-9
• Bruner, Jerome S. Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2002. ISBN 0-374-20024-6
• Friedman, Stew. How a 2-Minute Story Helps You Lead, Harvard Business Review. August 4, 2009.
• Gargiulo, Terrence L. Stories at Work: Using Stories to Improve Communication and Build Relationships. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. 2006. ISBN 0-275-98731-0
• Gargiulo, Terrence L. The Strategic Use of Stories in Organizational Communication and Learning. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe. 2005. ISBN 0-7656-1413-8
• Hensel, Jason. Storytelling and Your Quest for Business Success. One + Magazine. February 2010.
• Hoffman, Lou. Aligning PR with Storytelling for the "Happily Ever After", Ishmael's Corner. June 14, 2010.
• Hsu, Jeremy. The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn ( Preview ), Scientific American. August 2008.
• Leith, Sam. Grand Theft Auto, Twitter and Beowulf all demonstrate that stories will never die, Telegraph UK. November 2008.
• Leitch, Thomas M. What Stories Are: Narrative Theory and Interpretation. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. 1986. ISBN 0-271-00431-2
• Lodge, David. The Art of Fiction, New York: Viking, 1992.
• McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: ReganBooks. 1997. ISBN 0-06-039168-5
• Mitchoff, Kate Houston. "Ignite the story within: a librarian makes a case for using storytelling to increase literacy". School Library Journal. New York: R.R. Bowker Xerox. 1961. ISSN 0362-8930 OCLC 99656380 (REPRINT: 2005, February. ERIC Document EJ710440.)
• MONTECARLO, SNIJDERS, Eva y HERRERA, Angel María. "El Consejo", Alienta Editorial. 2011. ISBN 978-84-92414-56-7
• Randall, W. "Restorying a Life: Adult Education and Transformative Learning." In Aging and Biography: Explorations in Adult Development. Edited by James E. Birren et al., pp. 224–247. New York: Springer Publishing, 1996. ISBN 0-8261-8980-6
• Reis, Pamela Tamarkin. "Genesis as Rashomon: The creation as told by God and man." Bible Review 17 (3). Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society. 2001. ISSN 8755-6316
• Shedlock, Marie L. The Art of the Story-teller. D. Appleton & Company, New York, 1917. ISBN 1-4068-1522-5
• White, Hayden. Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1975.
• Wiessner, C. A. Stories of Change: Narrative in Emancipatory Adult Education. Thesis Ed. D. dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University. 2001. OCLC 80185345

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Storytellers

Wikiversity has learning materials about Storytelling

• Storytelling at the Open Directory Project

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2010)

Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Richard Lee Skaggs
Born	(1954-07-18) July 18, 1954 (age 57) Cordell, Kentucky
Genres	Country, bluegrass Gospel Music, Gospel
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, session musician, bandleader, producer, arranger
Instruments	singer, mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle
Years active	1960s-present
Labels	Sugar Hill, Epic, Rounder, DCC, Atlantic, Camden, Rebel, Hollywood, Legacy, Skaggs Family
Associated acts	Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, J. D. Crowe and New South, Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band, The Whites, Kentucky Thunder, Bruce Hornsby
Website	http://www.skaggsfamilyrecords.com/

Richard Lee "Ricky" Skaggs (born July 18, 1954) is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, mandocaster and banjo.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Ricky Skaggs was born in Cordell, Kentucky. He started playing music at age 5 after he was given a mandolin by his father, Hobert. At age 6, he played mandolin and sang on stage with Bill Monroe. At age 7, he appeared on television's Martha White country music variety show, playing with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. He also wanted to audition for the Grand Ole Opry at that time, but was told he was too young.

In his mid-teens, Skaggs met a fellow teen prodigy, guitarist Keith Whitley, and the two started playing together with Whitley's banjoist brother Dwight on radio shows. By 1970, they had earned a spot opening for Ralph Stanley and Skaggs and Keith Whitley were thereafter invited to join Stanley's band, the Clinch Mountain Boys

Skaggs later joined The Country Gentlemen in Washington, DC, J. D. Crowe's New South. For a few years, Skaggs was a member of Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. He wrote the arrangements for Harris's 1980 bluegrass-roots album, Roses in the Snow. In addition to arranging for Harris, Skaggs sang harmony and played mandolin and fiddle in the Hot Band.

Neotraditionalism and experimentation[link]

Into the 1990s and 2000s, Skaggs has embraced his bluegrass roots, as well as experimenting with new sounds. With his band, Kentucky Thunder, he is a perennial winner of Grammy Awards and International Bluegrass Music Association for best bluegrass album.

"I always want to try to promote the old music, as well as trying to grow, and be a pioneer too," Skaggs once said.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, he shared the stage with Vermont-based jam band, Phish.^{[citation needed]} On March 20, 2007, Skaggs released an album with rock musician Bruce Hornsby.

In 2008, Skaggs released an album he recorded with The Whites on his Skaggs Family Records label.

In 2008, Skaggs recorded a bluegrass version of "Old Enough" by the Raconteurs with Ashley Monroe and the Raconteurs. He played mandolin on the track as well as sharing vocals with Jack White, Brendan Benson, and Ashley Monroe.

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

Grammy Awards[link]

• 1983 Best Country Instrumental Performance: New South (J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs) for Fireball
• 1984 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Ricky Skaggs for Wheel Hoss
• 1986 Best Country Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist): Ricky Skaggs for Raisin' The Dickins
• 1991 Best Country Vocal Collaboration: Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner & Vince Gill for Restless
• 1999 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Bluegrass Rules!
• 1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt & Dwight Yoakam for Same Old Train
• 2000 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Ancient Tones
• 2000 Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Soldier Of The Cross
• 2003 Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for A Simple Life
• 2004 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Brand New Strings
• 2006 Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for Instrumentals
• 2006 Best Musical Album For Children, "Songs From The Neighborhood, The Music Of Mr. Rogers"
• 2008 Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Ricky Skaggs and The Whites for Salt Of The Earth
• 2009 Best Bluegrass Album Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass 1946 & 47

CMA (Country Music Association) Awards[link]

• 1982 Male Vocalist of the Year: Ricky Skaggs
• 1982 Horizon Award: Ricky Skaggs
• 1983 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
• 1984 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
• 1985 Entertainer of the Year: Ricky Skaggs
• 1985 Instrumental Group of the Year: Ricky Skaggs Band
• 1987 Vocal Duo of the Year: Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White

IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Awards[link]

• 1998 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 1998 Album Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder for Bluegrass Rules!
• 1999 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2000 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2000 Instrumental Album Of The Year: David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Sam Bush, Frank Wakefield, Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Ricky Skaggs & Buck White for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza
• 2000 Recorded Event Of The Year: David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Frank Wakefield, Sam Bush, Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Ricky Skaggs & Buck White for Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza
• 2002 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2003 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2004 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2005 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2006 Instrumental Group Of The Year: Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• 2008 Recorded Event of the Year: Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their Brother; Featuring Everett Lilly, Bea Lilly, Charles Lilly, Daniel Lilly, Mark Lilly, Marty Stuart, Rhonda Vincent, Billy Walker, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, David Ball, Charlie Cushman, Larry Stephenson, Joe Spivey, Eddie Stubbs, Jason Carter, Dickey Lee, Freddy Weller, Mike Bub, Rad Lewis, Andy May, Darrin Vincent, Marcia Campbell, Clay Rigdon, Eric Blankenship and Bill Wolfenbarger (artists); Charles Lilly & Bill Wolfenbarger (producers); Swift River Music

BluegrassJournal.com Readers Poll: We Are Family; Jeff & Sheri Easter, The Lewis Family & The Easter Brothers (artists); Jeff & Sheri Easter (producers); Daywind Records

Other Awards and Accomplishments[link]

• R&R Best New Artist
• Billboard magazine's Artist of the Year
• Musician Magazine- Voted One of the Top 100 Guitarists of the Century
• Artist of the Decade- Listeners' Poll Award BBC Radio 2
• CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music rank #37 in 2003.
• Judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards

References[link]

• Independent Music Awards - Past Judges
• 1997 Interview with Ricky Skaggs
• Himes, Geoffrey. (1998). "Ricky Skaggs". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 486–7.
• Ricky Skaggs, age 7, plays with Flatt & Scruggs on the Martha White Show
• Ricky Skaggs articles, interviews and CD reviews at Country Standard Time
• Ricky Skaggs Biography

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Skaggs Family Records
• Ricky Skaggs at the Internet Movie Database
• Ricky Skaggs at Allmusic

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2009)

Ashley Monroe (born September 10, 1986 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She has released two solo singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The singles "Satisfied" and "I Don't Want To" (which featured Brooks & Dunn singer Ronnie Dunn) reached #43 and #37, respectively. Both singles were intended to be released on Monroe's debut album, Satisfied, in 2007, but the album went unreleased. Soon after, Monroe left Columbia Records' roster in late 2007. Satisfied was finally released on May 19, 2009.

Biography[link]

Monroe was born on September 10, 1986 in Knoxville, Tennessee. At age 11, she won a talent contest singing "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and found steady work at a theater there. While growing up, her parents played songs by the Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd, so her country rock roots started early on. Monroe's father died from cancer in 2000, when she was just 13. While still grieving over their loss, Monroe and her mother continued on with their lives and moved to Nashville so she could pursue her career in music.

[edit] Satisfied

After a year in Nashville, she gained a publishing deal as a songwriter, which then led to her signing to a record contract with Columbia Records Nashville division, where she began to record her debut album, Satisfied. In 2006, the title track to the album was released as the first single to country radio. It failed to make the top 40 on the Hot Country Songs chart, however, a second single was released shortly after. "I Don't Want To" was released as the second single, which featured Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn. It initially did well on the charts, charting to #37.

Still after two singles, the album still hadn't been released. The label then decided not to release the album until Monroe charted a top 20 single. But, no follow-up singles were ever released. iTunes briefly had the album available in July 2006 but it was removed from the online store by mid-August.

In late 2007, Monroe and Columbia Records parted ways, and Satisfied went without being released. In addition to her own material, she co-wrote Katrina Elam's 2007 single "Flat on the Floor" (which was also recorded by Carrie Underwood on her 2007 album Carnival Ride), as well as Jason Aldean's 2009 single, "The Truth", and Miranda Lambert's 2011 single, "Heart Like Mine."

In April 2009, it was announced on Monroe's MySpace page that Satisfied would be released to digital retailers (iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.) on May 19, 2009.

In early 2012 Amazon.com and Spotify began streaming and selling a MP3 track called "Promised Land" that was originally recorded for, but left off of, the "Satisfied" album and now is listed as a Bonus Track.

[edit] Ashley Monroe EP

In late 2009 Monroe posted on her MySpace page that she was independently releasing a new self-titled EP. It would only be sold at the live shows. While she was touring with the Ten out of Tenn artists she realized she had nothing to sell to the fans who loved her sets and she wanted to give them something. This EP contains the tracks "Has Anybody Ever Told You", "Angeline", "Drink for Two", "And You" along with Trent Dabbs collaboration "Everything I Wanted".

Collaborations[link]

Trent Dabbs[link]

In early 2008 Ashley Monroe began collaborating with singer-songwriter Trent Dabbs and creating several demo tracks that appeared on their individual MySpace pages over the course of several months before the www.myspace.com/ashleymonroetrentdabbs page was created. The end result is an EP that has been digitally released on both iTunes and Amazon.

The demo tracks that were available to streams for the Monroe/Dabbs collaboration sessions have been two versions of "Shine" one with Ashley on lead vocals and one with Trent that was then placed on his most recent release.

Other tracks have included "I'm Coming Over", "Laying Low [or I'm Staying Low]", "Now That I Know", "When the Day Is Done", "Everything I Wanted" and "Gone".

The official EP track listing however contains only five of these songs: "I'm Coming Over", "Laying Low", "See Right Through" (the only track that never appeared on MySpace), "Now That I Know" and "Gone".

Ashley can also be heard on backing vocals (as well as having writing credits) on Trent Dabbs song "Your Side Now".

The Raconteurs[link]

In late-2008, Monroe collaborated with The Raconteurs and Ricky Skaggs on The Raconteurs single, "Old Enough", which was released in bluegrass form, and as a music video.

Backing Vocals[link]

Monroe contributed backing vocals on Will Hoge's song "Goodnight/Goodbye" off his 2009 album The Wreckage. The song was released as a soft single in late 2009.

Ashley can also be heard on Cory Morrow's 2007 album Ten Years on the track "More Than Perfect". Andrea Glass's 2008 release Stood Under Stars features her on two tracks "The Price" and "North Wind". Ashley is also featured on the title track of Wade Bowen's If We Ever Make It Home album and most recently on a track she co-wrote with Miranda Lambert called "Me and Your Cigarettes" that can be found on Revolution (by Miranda Lambert) yes she is also on backing vocals. She is also featured in the video for All I Have (Acoustic) starring Mat Kearney and an unreleased version of Fire & Rain (Acoustic) by Mat as well. Ashley is also doing background vocals on the 2011 release of Josh Kelley's "Georgia Clay" album for the track "A Real Good Try". There was also a 2011 video posted on YouTube of Ashley and Michelle Branch singing backing vocals for Chris Isaaks version of "Ring Of Fire" for his upcoming release "Beyond The Sun". Additionally she co-wrote two tracks and provides backing vocals for Vince Gill on "Who Wouldn't Fall In Love With You" and "If I Die".

Ashley is also featured on the 2012 Train album California 37 singing with Patrick Monahan on the track Bruises.

Wanda Jackson[link]

Monroe contributes backing vocals as a member of Jack White's Third Man House Band, which performed with Wanda Jackson on her newest album, The Party Ain't Over, which was released on January 25, 2011. She is featured on the songs "Rum & Coca-Cola", "Dust on the Bible" and "Teach Me Tonight" alongside Karen Elson, dubbing themselves "The Cherry Sisters" in the liner notes. She is also given credits on the Live At Third Man Records album by Wanda Jackson having been on tour with her as part of the "Cherry Sisters".

Pistol Annies[link]

Longtime friends, Monroe, Miranda Lambert and newcomer Angaleena Presley debuted their trio girl band Pistol Annies, with their song "Hell on Heels," on April 22, 2011 on CBS' airing of ACM Girls Night Out. The trio surprised the audience in place of Miranda singing with now husband Blake Shelton. The girls, who all met through working in the industry, have dubbed nicknames for themselves via their band name. Lambert serves as "Lonestar Annie," Monroe "Hippie Annie," and Angaleena as "Holler Annie," as she is from the hills of Kentucky. Per Lambert, whether or not the Annies would release an album will "be up to the fans." The single "Hell on Heels" was released for purchase via the Pistol Annies' website on June 12, 2011. The Pistol Annies' album Hell on Heels was released on August 23, 2011. The trio will also be featured on The Chieftain's upcoming release Voice of Ages on the track "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies".

In an interview with Angaleena Presley via the Keepinitcountry blog we know that the Annies have written, recorded and submitted a track (title unknown) for consideration on the upcoming "The Hunger Games" soundtrack and companion disc of music inspired by the book/film. This track has since been released on the Hunger Games Companion soundtrack "Songs from District 12 & Beyond" and is titled "Run Daddy Run".

The Annies have also announced that they have been writing and will go into the studio in the fall of 2012 to record a sophomore album to be released in the winter of 2012 or more likely early 2013.

Train[link]

Monroe is featured on the fourth song of Train's 2012 album California 37, titled "Bruises".

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Ashley Monroe at Allmusic

James Stewart
Studio publicity photo for Call Northside 777 (1948)
Born	James Maitland Stewart (1908-05-20)May 20, 1908 Indiana, Pennsylvania
Died	July 2, 1997(1997-07-02) (aged 89) Beverly Hills, California
Cause of death	Heart Attack
Resting place	Forest Lawn, Glendale, California
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Nationality	American
Other names	Jimmy Stewart
Education	Mercersburg Academy
Alma mater	Princeton University (1932)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1932–1991
Employer	MGM
Home town	Indiana, Pennsylvania
Spouse	Gloria Hatrick McLean (1949–1994; her death)
Children	4 children (including two adopted stepchildren)
Awards	Lifetime Achievement Award
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force Reserve
Years of service	1941–1968
Rank	Brigadier General
Unit	445th Bombardment Group 453rd Bombardment Group Eighth Air Force Strategic Air Command
Commands held	703rd Bombardment Squadron Dobbins Air Force Base
Battles/wars	World War II Vietnam War
Awards	Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross (2) Air Medal (4) Army Commendation Medal Armed Forces Reserve Medal Presidential Medal of Freedom French Croix de Guerre with Palm

James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and 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 receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Early life and career[link]

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Ruth (née Jackson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store.^[1] Stewart's parents were of Scottish descent and Presbyterians.^[2][3] His maternal ancestors served in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the American Civil War.^[4] The eldest of three children (he had two younger sisters, Virginia and Mary), he was expected to continue his father's business, which had been in the family for three generations. His mother was an excellent pianist but his father discouraged Stewart's request for lessons. But when his father accepted a gift of an accordion from a guest, young Stewart quickly learned to play the instrument, which became a fixture off-stage during his acting career. As the family grew, music continued to be an important part of family life.^[5]

Stewart attended Mercersburg Academy prep school, graduating in 1928. He was active in a variety of activities. He played on the football and track teams, was art editor of the KARUX yearbook, and a member of the choir club, glee club, and John Marshall Literary Society. During his first summer break, Stewart returned to his hometown to work as a brick loader for a local construction company and on highway and road construction jobs where he painted lines on the roads. Over the following two summers, he took a job as an assistant with a professional magician.^[6] He made his first appearance onstage at Mercersburg, as Buquet in the play The Wolves.^[7]

A shy child, Stewart spent much of his after-school time in the basement working on model airplanes, mechanical drawing and chemistry—all with a dream of going into aviation. But he abandoned visions of being a pilot when his father insisted that instead of the United States Naval Academy he attend Princeton University. Stewart enrolled at Princeton in 1928 as a member of the class of 1932. He excelled at studying architecture, so impressing his professors with his thesis on an airport design that he was awarded a scholarship for graduate studies;^[6] but he gradually became attracted to the school's drama and music clubs, including the Princeton Triangle Club.^[8] His acting and accordion talents at Princeton led him to be invited to the University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company in West Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. The company had been organized in 1928 and would run until 1932, with Joshua Logan, Bretaigne Windust, and Charles Leatherbee as directors. Stewart performed in bit parts in the Players' productions in Cape Cod during the summer of 1932, after he graduated. The troupe had previously included Henry Fonda, who married Margaret Sullavan on Christmas Day 1931, while the players were in Baltimore, Maryland for an 18-week winter season.^[9] Sullavan, who had rejoined the Players in Baltimore in November 1931 at the close of the post-Broadway tour of A Modern Virgin, left the Players for good at the end of The Trial of Mary Dugan in Baltimore in March 1932. By the time Stewart joined the University Players on Cape Cod after his graduation from Princeton in 1932, Fonda and Sullavan's brief marriage had ended.^[10] Stewart and Fonda became great friends over the summer of 1932 when they shared an apartment with Joshua Logan and Myron McCormick.^[11] When Stewart came to New York at the end of the summer stock season, which had included the Broadway try-out of Goodbye Again, he shared an apartment with Fonda, who had by then finalized his divorce from Sullavan. Along with fellow University Players Alfred Dalrymple and Myron McCormick, Stewart debuted on Broadway as a chauffeur in the comedy Goodbye Again, in which he had two lines. The New Yorker noted, "Mr. James Stewart's chauffeur... comes on for three minutes and walks off to a round of spontaneous applause."^[12]

The play was a moderate success, but times were hard. Many Broadway theaters had been converted to movie houses and the Depression was reaching bottom. "From 1932 through 1934", Stewart later recalled, "I'd only worked three months. Every play I got into folded."^[13] By 1934, he had gotten more substantial stage roles, including the modest hit Page Miss Glory and his first dramatic stage role in Sidney Howard's Yellow Jack, which convinced him to continue his acting career. However, Stewart and Fonda, still roommates, were both struggling. In the fall of 1934, Fonda's success in The Farmer Takes a Wife took him to Hollywood. Finally, Stewart attracted the interest of MGM scout Bill Grady who saw Stewart on the opening night of Divided by Three, a glittering première with many luminaries in attendance, including Irving Berlin and Moss Hart and Fonda, who had returned to New York for the show. With Fonda's encouragement, Stewart agreed to take a screen test, after which he signed a contract with MGM in April 1935, as a contract player for up to seven years at $350 a week.^[14]

Stewart made four features with Margaret Sullavan, the second of which was The Shopworn Angel (1938)

Upon Stewart's arrival by train in Los Angeles, Fonda greeted him at the station and took him to Fonda's studio-supplied lodging, next door to Greta Garbo. Stewart's first job at the studio was as a participant in screen tests with newly arrived starlets. At first, he had trouble being cast in Hollywood films owing to his gangling looks and shy, humble screen presence. Aside from an unbilled appearance in a Shemp Howard comedy short called Art Trouble in 1934, his first film was the poorly received Spencer Tracy vehicle, The Murder Man (1935). Rose Marie (1936), an adaptation of a popular operetta, was more successful. After mixed success in films, he received his first substantial part in 1936's After the Thin Man.

On the romantic front, he found himself dating newly divorced Ginger Rogers.^[15] The romance soon cooled, however, and by chance Stewart encountered Margaret Sullavan again. Stewart found his footing in Hollywood thanks largely to Sullavan, who campaigned for Stewart to be her leading man in the 1936 romantic comedy Next Time We Love. She rehearsed extensively with him, having a noticeable effect on his confidence. She encouraged Stewart to feel comfortable with his unique mannerisms and boyish charm and use them naturally as his own style. Stewart was enjoying Hollywood life and had no regrets about giving up the stage, as he worked six days a week in the MGM factory.^[16] In 1936, he acquired big-time agent Leland Hayward, who would eventually marry Sullavan. Hayward started to chart Stewart's career, deciding the best path for him was through loan-outs to other studios.

Pre-war success[link]

In 1938, Stewart had a brief, tumultuous romance with Hollywood queen Norma Shearer, whose husband, Irving Thalberg, head of production at MGM, had died two years earlier. Stewart began a successful partnership with director Frank Capra in 1938, when he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to star in You Can't Take It With You. Capra had been impressed by Stewart's minor role in Navy Blue and Gold (1937). The director had recently completed several popular movies, including It Happened One Night (1934), and was looking for the right actor to suit his needs — other recent actors in Capra's films such as Clark Gable, Ronald Colman, and Gary Cooper did not quite fit. Not only was Stewart just what he was looking for, but Capra also found Stewart understood that prototype intuitively and required very little directing. Later Capra commented, "I think he's probably the best actor who's ever hit the screen."^[18]

Frank Capra's comedy You Can't Take It With You (1938) was one of the films that brought Stewart widespread attention.

You Can't Take It With You, starring Capra's "favorite actress", comedienne Jean Arthur, won the 1938 Best Picture Academy Award. The following year saw Stewart work with Capra and Arthur again in the political comedy-drama Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Stewart replaced intended star Gary Cooper in the film, playing an idealist thrown into the political arena. Upon its October 1939 release, the film garnered critical praise and became a box-office success. Stewart was nominated for the first of five Academy Awards for Best Actor. Stewart's father was still trying to talk him into leaving Hollywood and its sinful ways and to return to his home town to lead a decent life. Stewart took a secret trip to Europe to take a break and returned home in 1939 just as Germany invaded Poland.^[18]

Destry Rides Again, also released in 1939, became Stewart's first western film, a genre with which he would become identified later in his career. In this western parody, Stewart is a pacifist lawman and Marlene Dietrich is the dancing saloon girl who comes to love him, but doesn't get him. In the film, Dietrich sings her famous song "The Boys In the Back Room". Off-screen, Dietrich did get her man, but the romance was short-lived.^[19] Made for Each Other (1939) had Stewart sharing the screen with irrepressible Carole Lombard in a melodrama that garnered good reviews for both stars, but did less well with the public. Newsweek wrote that they were "perfectly cast in the leading roles."^[20] Between movies, Stewart began a radio career and became a distinctive voice on the Lux Radio Theater's The Screen Guild Theater and other shows. So well-known had his slow drawl become that comedians began impersonating him.^[21]

Stewart won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for 1940's The Philadelphia Story. He is seen here with co-star Katharine Hepburn.

In 1940, Stewart and Sullavan reunited for two films. The first, the Ernst Lubitsch romantic comedy, The Shop Around the Corner, starred Stewart and Sullavan as co-workers unknowingly involved in a pen-pal romance but who cannot stand each other in real life (this was later remade into the musical, In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland and Van Johnson, and later as the romantic comedy You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). It was Stewart's fifth film of the year and that rare film shot in sequence; it was completed in only 27 days.^[22] The Mortal Storm, directed by Frank Borzage, was one of the first blatantly anti-Nazi films to be produced in Hollywood and featured the pair as friends and then lovers caught in turmoil upon Hitler's rise to power, literally hunted down by their own friends.

Stewart also starred with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in George Cukor's classic The Philadelphia Story (1940). His performance as an intrusive, fast-talking reporter earned him his only Academy Award in a competitive category (Best Actor, 1941), and he beat out his good friend Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath). Stewart thought his performance "entertaining and slick and smooth" but lacking the "guts" of "Mr. Smith."^[23] Stewart gave the Oscar statuette to his father, who displayed it for many years in a case inside the front door of his hardware store, alongside other family awards and military medals.

During the months before he began military service, Stewart appeared in a series of screwball comedies with varying levels of success. He followed the mediocre No Time for Comedy (1940) and Come Live with Me (1941) with the Judy Garland musical, Ziegfeld Girl, and the George Marshall romantic comedy Pot o' Gold. Stewart was drafted in late 1940, a situation that coincided with the lapse in his MGM contract, marking a turning point in Stewart's career, with 28 movies to his credit at that point.^[24]

Military service[link]

The Stewart and Jackson families had deep military roots as both grandfathers had fought in the Civil War, and his father had served during both the Spanish-American War and World War I. Stewart considered his father to be the biggest influence on his life, so it was not surprising that, when another war came, he too was eager to serve. Members of his family had previously been in the infantry, but Stewart chose to become a military flier.^[25]

An early interest in flying led Stewart to gain his Private Pilot certificate in 1935 and Commercial Pilot certificate in 1938. He often flew cross-country to visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks.^[6] Nearly two years before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Stewart had accumulated over 400 hours of flying time.^[26]

Considered a highly proficient pilot, he even entered a cross-country race as a co-pilot in 1939.^[27] Stewart, along with musician/composer Hoagy Carmichael, saw the need for trained war pilots, and joined with other Hollywood celebrities to invest in Thunderbird Field, a pilot-training school built and operated by Southwest Airways in Glendale, Arizona. This airfield became part of the United States Army Air Forces training establishment and trained more than 10,000 pilots during World War II, and is now the home of Thunderbird School of Global Management.^[28]

Later in 1940, Stewart was drafted into the United States Army but was rejected for failing to meet height and weight requirements for new recruits—Stewart was five pounds (2.3 kg) under the standard. To get up to 148 pounds, he sought out the help of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's muscle man and trainer Don Loomis, who was noted for his ability to add or subtract pounds in his studio gymnasium. Stewart subsequently attempted to enlist in the Army Air Corps, but still came in under the weight requirement, although he persuaded the AAC enlistment officer to run new tests, this time passing the weigh-in,^{[29][N 1]} with the result that Stewart enlisted in the Army in March 1941. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.^[30]

Stewart enlisted as a private^[6][31] and then began pilot training in the USAAC. Stewart continued his military training and earned a commission as a second lieutenant in January 1942, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US directly into the conflict. He was posted to Moffett Field and then Mather Field as an instructor pilot in single- and twin-engine aircraft.^[31]

Public appearances by Stewart were limited engagements scheduled by the Army Air Forces. "Stewart appeared several times on network radio with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he performed with Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Huston and Lionel Barrymore in an all-network radio program called We Hold These Truths, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights."^[32] In early 1942, Stewart was asked to appear in a propaganda film to help recruit the anticipated 100,000 airmen that the USAAF would need to win the war. The USAAC's First Motion Picture Unit shot scenes of Lieutenant Stewart in his pilot's flight suit and recorded his voice for narration. The short film, Winning Your Wings, appeared nationwide beginning in late May and was very successful, resulting in 150,000 new recruits.^[33]

Stewart was concerned that his expertise and celebrity status would relegate him to instructor duties "behind the lines."^[34] His fears were confirmed when he was stationed for six months at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to train bombardiers. He was transferred to Hobbs Army Airfield to become an instructor pilot for the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress, where he trained B-17 pilots for nine months at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho.^[31] For Stewart, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable and he had no clear plans for the future. But then a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for his immediate and decisive action, because what he dreaded most was the hope-shattering spectre of a dead end."^[35] Stewart appealed to his commander, a pre-war aviator, who understood the situation and reassigned him to a unit going overseas.^{[citation needed]}

Alongside acting, Stewart was an accomplished member of the United States Air Force, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General in 1959. Picture taken c. 1960

In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group at Sioux City AAB, Iowa, first as operations officer of the 703d Bombardment Squadron and then as its commander, at the rank of captain. In December 1943, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England, and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to major. In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions went uncounted at Stewart's orders. His "official" total is listed as 20 and is limited to those with the 445th. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force, and though he was no longer required or expected to fly missions, he continued to do so. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of the few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.^[6][31]

At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the court-martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty for having accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurich the previous March – the first instance of U.S. personnel being tried for an attack on a neutral country. The Court acquitted the defendants.^[36]

Stewart continued to play a role in the United States Air Force Reserve after the war, achieving the rank of Brigadier General on July 23, 1959.^[37] Stewart rarely spoke about his wartime service. He did appear on the TV series The World At War to discuss the October 14, 1943, bombing mission to Schweinfurt, which was the center of the German ball-bearing industry. This mission is known in USAF history as Black Thursday because of the high casualties it sustained; 60 aircraft were lost out of 291 B-17s dispatched unescorted to Schweinfurt. The available escort aircraft lacked the range to accompany them. At his request, he was identified only as "James Stewart, Squadron Commander" in the documentary.^[38]

After the war, Stewart served as Air Force Reserve commander of Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the early 1950s. In 1966, Brigadier General James Stewart flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on a bombing mission during the Vietnam War. At the time of his B-52 flight, he refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation, as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve. After 27 years of service, Stewart retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.^[39] He was promoted to Major General by President Ronald Reagan.^[40]

Post-war success[link]

After the war, Stewart took time off to reassess his career.^[41] He was an early investor in Southwest Airways, founded by Leland Hayward, and considered going into the aviation industry if his re-started film career did not prosper.^[42] Upon Stewart's return to Hollywood in fall 1945, he decided not to renew his MGM contract. He signed with an MCA talent agency. His former agent Leland Hayward got out of the talent business in 1944 after selling his A-list of stars, including Stewart, to MCA.^[43]

As George Bailey, with Guardian angel Clarence, in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Stewart was Oscar-nominated for the performance, and the film is widely considered a Christmas classic

For his first film in five years, Stewart appeared in his third and final Frank Capra production, It's a Wonderful Life.^{[44][N 2]} Capra paid RKO for the rights to the story and formed his own production company, Liberty Films. The female lead went to Donna Reed, after Capra's perennial first choice, Jean Arthur, was unavailable, and after turn-downs from Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Dvorak and Martha Scott.^[45] Stewart appeared as George Bailey, an upstanding small-town man who becomes increasingly frustrated by his ordinary existence and financial troubles. Driven to suicide on Christmas Eve, he is led to reassess his life by Clarence Odbody AS2,^[46] an "angel, second class", played by Henry Travers. Although the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Stewart's third Best Actor nomination, it received mixed reviews and only disappointingly moderate success at the box office.^[47] However, in the decades since the film's release, it grew to define Stewart's film persona and is widely considered as a sentimental Christmas film classic and, according to the American Film Institute, one of the best movies ever made. After viewing It's a Wonderful Life, President Harry S Truman concluded, "If Bess and I had a son we'd want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart."^[48] In the aftermath of the film, Capra's production company went into bankruptcy, while Stewart started to have doubts about his ability to act after his military hiatus.^[49] His father kept insisting he come home and marry a local girl. Meanwhile in Hollywood, his generation of actors were fading and a new wave of actors would soon remake the town, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean.^[50]

After a poorly received Magic Town (1947) and the completion of Rope (1948) and Call Northside 777 (1948), Stewart had two flops with On Our Merry Way (1948), a comedic musical ensemble in which Stewart and Henry Fonda played two musicians named "Slim" and "Lank," and You Gotta Stay Happy (1949), for which the posters depicted Stewart being kissed on one cheek by Joan Fontaine and on the other by a chimpanzee. In the documentary film James Stewart: A Wonderful Life (1987), hosted by Johnny Carson, Stewart said that he went back to Westerns in 1950 in part because a string of films that were flops.

He returned to the stage to star in Mary Coyle Chase's Harvey, which had opened to nearly universal praise in November 1944,^[51] as Elwood P. Dowd, a wealthy eccentric living with his sister and niece, and whose best friend is an invisible rabbit as large as a man. Dowd's eccentricity, especially the friendship with the rabbit, is ruining the niece's hopes of finding a husband. While trying to have Dowd committed to a sanatorium, his sister is committed herself while the play follows Dowd on an ordinary day in his not-so-ordinary life. Stewart took over the role from Frank Fay and gained an increased Broadway following in the unconventional play.^[51] The play, which ran for nearly three years with Stewart as its star, was successfully adapted into a 1950 film, directed by Henry Koster, with Stewart as Dowd and Josephine Hull as his sister, Veta. Bing Crosby was the first choice but he declined.^[52] Stewart received his fourth Best Actor nomination for his performance in the film. After Harvey, the comedic adventure film Malaya (1949) with Spencer Tracy and the conventional but highly successful biographical film The Stratton Story in 1949, Stewart's first pairing with "on-screen wife" June Allyson, his career took another turn.^[53] During the 1950s, he expanded into the western and suspense genres, thanks to collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann.

Other notable performances by Stewart during this time include the critically acclaimed 1950 Delmer Daves western Broken Arrow, which featured Stewart as an ex-soldier and Indian agent making peace with the Apache; a troubled clown in the 1952 Best Picture The Greatest Show on Earth; and Stewart's role as Charles Lindbergh in Billy Wilder's 1957 film The Spirit of St. Louis. He also starred in the western radio show The Six Shooter for its one-season run from 1953 to 1954. During this time Stewart wore the same cowboy hat and rode the same horse, named "Pie", in most of his Westerns.^[54][55]

Collaborations with Hitchcock and Mann[link]

Stewart's collaborations with director Anthony Mann increased Stewart's popularity and sent his career into the realm of the western. Stewart's first appearance in a film directed by Mann came with the 1950 western, Winchester '73. In choosing Mann (after first choice Fritz Lang declined), Stewart cemented a powerful partnership.^[56] The film, which became a massive box office hit upon its release, set the pattern for their future collaborations. In it, Stewart is a tough, revengeful sharpshooter, the winner of a prized rifle which is stolen and then passes through many hands, until the showdown between Stewart and his brother (Stephen McNally).^[56]

Stewart made eight films for director Anthony Mann. Five of them were Westerns, including The Naked Spur (1953), in which Stewart is seen here.

Other Stewart-Mann westerns, such as Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1954) and The Man from Laramie (1955), were perennial favorites among young audiences entranced by the American West. Frequently, the films featured Stewart as a troubled cowboy seeking redemption, while facing corrupt cattlemen, ranchers and outlaws — a man who knows violence first hand and struggles to control it. The Stewart-Mann collaborations laid the foundation for many of the westerns of the 1950s and remain popular today for their grittier, more realistic depiction of the classic movie genre. Audiences saw Stewart's screen persona evolve into a more mature, more ambiguous, and edgier presence.^[57]

Stewart and Mann also collaborated on other films outside the western genre. 1954's The Glenn Miller Story was critically acclaimed, garnering Stewart a BAFTA Award nomination, and (together with The Spirit of St. Louis) cemented the popularity of Stewart's portrayals of 'American heroes'. Thunder Bay, released the same year, transplanted the plot arc of their western collaborations to a more contemporary setting, with Stewart as a Louisiana oil driller facing corruption. Strategic Air Command, released in 1955, allowed Stewart to use his experiences in the United States Air Force on film.

Stewart's starring role in Winchester '73 was also a turning point in Hollywood. Universal Studios, who wanted Stewart to appear in both that film and Harvey, balked at his $200,000 asking price. His agent, Lew Wasserman, brokered an alternate deal, in which Stewart would appear in both films for no pay, in exchange for a percentage of the profits and cast and director approval.^[58] Stewart ended up earning about $600,000 for Winchester '73 alone.^[58] Hollywood's other stars quickly capitalized on this new way of doing business, which further undermined the decaying "studio system".^[59]

The second collaboration to define Stewart's career in the 1950s was with acclaimed mystery and suspense director Alfred Hitchcock. Like Mann, Hitchcock uncovered new depths to Stewart's acting, showing a protagonist confronting his fears and his repressed desires. Stewart's first movie with Hitchcock was the technologically innovative 1948 film Rope, shot in long "real time" takes.^[60]

Rear Window (1954) was one of four films Stewart made with Alfred Hitchcock. Stewart became the highest-grossing star of 1954 as a result.

The two collaborated for the second of four times on the 1954 hit Rear Window, widely considered one of Hitchcock's masterpieces. Stewart portrays photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, loosely based on Life photographer Robert Capa, who projects his fantasies and fears onto the people he observes out his apartment window while on hiatus due to a broken leg. Jeffries gets into more than he can handle, however, when he believes he has witnessed a salesman (Raymond Burr) commit a murder, and when his glamorous girlfriend (Grace Kelly), at first disdainful of his voyeurism and skeptical about any crime, eventually is drawn in and tries to help solve the mystery. Limited by his wheelchair, Stewart is led by Hitchcock to react to what his character sees with mostly facial responses. It was a landmark year for Stewart, becoming the highest grossing actor of 1954 and the most popular Hollywood star in the world, displacing John Wayne.^[61] Hitchcock and Stewart formed a corporation, Patron Inc., to produce the film, which later became the subject of a Supreme Court case Stewart v. Abend (1990).

After starring in Hitchcock's remake of the director's earlier production, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), with Doris Day, Stewart starred, with Kim Novak, in what many consider Hitchcock's most personal film, Vertigo (1958).^[62] The movie starred Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson, a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who develops an obsession with a woman he is shadowing. Scottie's obsession inevitably leads to the destruction of everything he once had and believed in. Though the film is widely considered a classic today, Vertigo met with negative reviews and poor box office receipts upon its release, and marked the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock.^[63] The director reportedly blamed the film's failure on Stewart looking too old to still attract audiences, and cast Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959), a role Stewart had very much wanted. (Grant was actually four years older than Stewart). Today, Vertigo is ranked second only to Citizen Kane in the 2002 Sight & Sound critics poll for the greatest films ever made.^{[citation needed]}

Career in the 1960s and 1970s[link]

In 1960, Stewart was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and received his fifth and final Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for his role in the 1959 Otto Preminger film Anatomy of a Murder. The early courtroom drama starred Stewart as Paul Biegler, the lawyer of a hot-tempered soldier (played by Ben Gazzara) who claims temporary insanity after murdering a tavern owner who raped his wife. The film featured a career-making performance by George C. Scott as the prosecutor. The film was quite explicit for its time, and it was a box office success.^[64] Stewart's nomination was one of seven for the film (Charlton Heston was the winner), and saw his transition into the final decades of his career.

On January 1, 1960, Stewart received news of the death of Margaret Sullavan (her death was later identified as apparent suicide; the county coroner, however, officially ruled the death an accident).^[65] As a friend, mentor, and focus of his early romantic urges, she had a unique influence on Stewart's life. On April 17, 1961, longtime friend Gary Cooper was too ill to attend the 33rd Academy Awards ceremony, so Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and the next day newspapers ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer." One month later, on May 13, 1961, six days after his 60th birthday, Cooper died.

How the West Was Won (1962), shot in three-projector Cinerama, was one of Stewart's key roles in the 1960s.

In the early 1960s, Stewart took leading roles in three John Ford films, his first work with the acclaimed director. The first, Two Rode Together, paired him with Richard Widmark in a Western with thematic echoes of Ford's The Searchers. The next, 1962's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (with John Wayne), is a classic "psychological" western, shot in black and white film noir style featuring powerful use of shadows in the climactic sequence, with Stewart as an Eastern attorney who goes against his non-violent principles when he is forced to confront a psychopathic outlaw (played by Lee Marvin) in a small frontier town. At story's end, Stewart's character — now a rising political figure — faces a difficult ethical choice as he attempts to reconcile his actions with his personal integrity. The film's billing is unusual in that Stewart was given top billing over Wayne in the trailers and on the posters but Wayne had top billing in the film itself. The film garnered mixed reviews but was an instant hit at the box office.

How the West Was Won (which Ford co-directed, though without directing Stewart's scenes) and Cheyenne Autumn were western epics released in 1962 and 1964 respectively. One of only a handful of movies filmed in true Cinerama, shot with three cameras and exhibited with three simultaneous projectors in theatres, How the West Was Won went on to win three Oscars and reap massive box office figures. Cheyenne Autumn, in which a white-suited Stewart played Wyatt Earp in a long semi-comedic sequence in the middle of the movie, failed domestically and was quickly forgotten. The historical drama was Ford's final Western and Stewart's last feature film with Ford. Stewart's entertaining middle sequence is not directly connected with the rest of the film and was often excised in later theatrical exhibition prints and some television broadcasts.

Having played his last romantic lead in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and silver-haired (although not all was his—he wore a partial hairpiece starting with It's a Wonderful Life and in every film thereafter), Stewart transitioned into more family-related films in the 1960s when he signed a multi-movie deal with 20th Century Fox. These included the successful Henry Koster outing Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), and the less memorable films Take Her, She's Mine (1963) and Dear Brigitte (1965), which featured French model Brigitte Bardot as the object of Stewart's son's mash notes. The Civil War period film Shenandoah (1965) and the western family film The Rare Breed fared better at the box office; the Civil War movie, with strong antiwar and humanitarian themes, was a smash hit in the South.^{[citation needed]}

Later in life, Stewart ventured into television. He played the lead in the CBS mystery series Hawkins in 1973, and was Golden Globe nominated for the role.

As an aviator, Stewart was particularly interested in aviation films and had pushed to appear in several in the 1950s; most notably Strategic Air Command and The Spirit of St. Louis. He continued in this vein in the 1960s, most notably in a role as a hard-bitten pilot in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). Subbing for Stewart, famed stunt pilot and air racer Paul Mantz was killed when he crashed the "Tallmantz Phoenix P-1", the specially made, single-engine movie model, in an abortive "touch-and-go". Stewart also narrated the film X-15 in 1961.^[66] In 1964, he and several other military aviators, including Curtis LeMay, Paul Tibbets, and Bruce Sundlun were founding directors of the board of Tibbets' Executive Jet Aviation Corporation.^[67]

After a progression of lesser western films in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Stewart transitioned from cinema to television. In the 1950s he had made guest appearances on the Jack Benny Program. Stewart first starred in the NBC comedy The Jimmy Stewart Show, on which he played a college professor, and was the only time in his career in which he was formally billed in the credits as "Jimmy" instead of "James". He followed it with the CBS mystery Hawkins, in which he played a small town lawyer investigating cases. The series garnered Stewart a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic TV Series, but failed to gain a wide audience, possibly because it rotated with Shaft, another high-quality series but with a starkly conflicting demographic, and was cancelled after one season. During this time, Stewart periodically appeared on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, sharing poems he had written at different times in his life. His poems were later compiled into a short collection, Jimmy Stewart and His Poems (1989).^{[citation needed]}

Stewart returned to films after an absence of five years with a major supporting role in John Wayne's final film, The Shootist (1976) where Stewart played a doctor giving Wayne's gunfighter a terminal cancer diagnosis. At one point, both Wayne and Stewart were flubbing their lines repeatedly and Stewart turned to director Don Siegel and said, "You'd better get two better actors". Stewart also appeared in supporting roles in Airport '77, the 1978 remake of The Big Sleep with Robert Mitchum as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and The Magic of Lassie (1978). The latter film received poor reviews and flopped at the box office.^{[citation needed]}

Last years and later career[link]

Speaking at The Kennedy Center on Inauguration Day, 1981, in Washington D.C.

Following the failure of The Magic of Lassie, Stewart went into semi-retirement from acting. He donated his papers, films, and other records to Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library in 1983.^[68] Stewart had diversified investments including real estate, oil wells, a charter-plane company and membership on major corporate boards, and he became a multimillionaire. In the 1980s/90s, he did voiceover work for commercials for Campbell's Soups.^[48]

Stewart's longtime friend Henry Fonda died in 1982, and former co-star and friend Grace Kelly, was killed in a car crash shortly afterwards. A few months later, Stewart starred with Bette Davis in Right of Way. He filmed several television movies in the 1980s, including Mr. Krueger's Christmas, which allowed him to fulfill a lifelong dream to conduct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.^[69] He made frequent visits to the Reagan White House and traveled on the lecture circuit. The re-release of his Hitchcock films gained Stewart renewed recognition. Rear Window and Vertigo were particularly praised by film critics, which helped bring these pictures to the attention of younger movie-goers. He was presented an Academy Honorary Award by Cary Grant in 1985, "for his 50 years of memorable performances, for his high ideals both on and off the screen, with respect and affection of his colleagues."^{[citation needed]}

In 1988 Stewart made an impassioned plea in Congressional hearings, along with, among many others, Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and film director Martin Scorsese, against Ted Turner's decision to 'colorize' classic black and white films, including It's a Wonderful Life. Stewart stated, "the coloring of black-and-white films is wrong. It's morally and artistically wrong and these profiteers should leave our film industry alone".^[70]

In 1989, Stewart joined Peter F. Paul in founding the American Spirit Foundation to apply entertainment industry resources to developing innovative approaches to public education and to assist the emerging democracy movements in the former Iron Curtain countries. Paul arranged for Stewart, through the offices of President Boris Yeltsin, to send a special print of It's a Wonderful Life, translated by Lomonosov Moscow State University, to Russia as the first American program ever to be broadcast on Russian television. On January 5, 1992, coinciding with the first day of the existence of the democratic Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, and the first free Russian Orthodox Christmas Day, Russian TV Channel 2 broadcast It's a Wonderful Life to 200 million Russians who celebrated an American holiday tradition with the American people for the first time in Russian history.^[71]

In association with politicians and celebrities such as President Ronald Reagan, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, California Governor George Deukmejian, Bob Hope and Charlton Heston, Stewart worked from 1987 to 1993 on projects that enhanced the public appreciation and understanding of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.^[71]

In 1991, James Stewart voiced the character of Sheriff Wylie Burp in the movie An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, which was his last film role. Shortly before his 80th birthday, he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. "As someone who 'believed in hard work and love of country, love of family and love of community.'"^[48]

Death[link]

Jimmy Stewart's grave

In April 1993 he underwent heart surgery and had a pacemaker installed. On January 31, 1997, Stewart tripped over a plant in his bedroom and was rushed to a hospital for stitches to close a bloody gash in his forehead. There it was discovered that he had skin cancer which appeared to be untreatable. He was sent home.^[72]

On July 2, 1997, an embolism lodged in his lungs. The clot caused a heart attack that killed him instantly. He was 89 years old.^[73] His death came one day after the death of two-time co-star Robert Mitchum (The Big Sleep, Cape Fear). James Stewart is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, alongside his wife, Gloria, who had died from lung cancer on February 16, 1994. President Bill Clinton commented on Stewart's death, saying: "America lost a national treasure today. Jimmy Stewart was a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot."^[48]

Personal life[link]

Stewart was almost universally described by his collaborators as a kind, soft-spoken man and a true professional.^[74] Joan Crawford praised the actor as an "endearing perfectionist" with "a droll sense of humor and a shy way of watching you to see if you react to that humor."^[48]

Stewart was married to wife Gloria from 1949 to her death in 1994.

When Henry Fonda moved to Hollywood in 1934, he was again a roommate with Stewart in an apartment in Brentwood^[75] and the two gained reputations as playboys.^[76] Both men's children later noted that their favorite activity when not working seemed to be quietly sharing time together while building and painting model airplanes, a hobby they had taken up in New York, years earlier.^[77]

After World War II, Stewart settled down, at age 41, marrying former model Gloria Hatrick McLean (March 10, 1918 – February 16, 1994) on August 9, 1949. As Stewart loved to recount in self-mockery, "I, I, I pitched the big question to her last night and to my surprise she, she, she said yes!"^[78] Stewart adopted her two sons, Michael and Ronald, and with Gloria he had twin daughters, Judy and Kelly, on May 7, 1951. The couple remained married until her death from lung cancer on February 16, 1994, aged 75. Ronald McLean was killed in action on June 8, 1969, at the age of 24, while serving as a Marine Corps Lieutenant in Vietnam.^[79][80] Daughter Kelly Stewart is an anthropologist.^[81]

Stewart was active in philanthropic affairs over the years. His signature charity event, "The Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon Race", held each year since 1982, has raised millions of dollars for the Child and Family Development Center at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.^[6] He was a lifelong supporter of Scouting, having been a Second Class Scout when he was a youth, an adult Scout leader, and a recipient of the prestigious Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In later years, he made advertisements for the BSA, which led to his being sometimes "incorrectly" identified as an Eagle Scout.^[82] An award for Boy Scouts, "The James M. Stewart Good Citizenship Award" has been presented since May 17, 2003.^[83]

One of Stewart's lesser-known talents was his homespun poetry. He once read a poem that he had written about his dog, entitled "Beau", while on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. By the end of this reading, Carson's eyes were welling with tears.^[84] This was later parodied on a late 1980s episode of the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live, with Dana Carvey as Stewart reciting the poem on Weekend Update and bringing anchor Dennis Miller to tears. He was also an avid gardener. Stewart purchased the house next door to his own home at 918 North Roxbury Drive, razed the house, and installed his garden in the lot.^{[citation needed]}

Politics[link]

Stewart was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party^[85] and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. He was a hawk on the Vietnam War, and maintained that his adopted son, Ronald, did not die in vain.^{[citation needed]}

Following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Stewart, Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck issued a statement calling for support of President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.^[86]

One of his best friends was fellow actor Henry Fonda, despite the fact that the two had very different political ideologies. A political argument in 1947 resulted in a fist fight between them, but they maintained their friendship by never discussing politics again.^{[87][N 3]} There is a brief reference to their political differences in character in their movie The Cheyenne Social Club.^[88] In the last years of his life, he donated to the campaign of Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election and to Democratic Florida governor Bob Graham in his successful run for the Senate.^[85]

In Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm

Filmography[link]

From the beginning of Stewart's film career in 1935, through his final theatrical project in 1991, he appeared in 92 films, television programs and shorts. Five of his movies were included on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window and Vertigo. His roles in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Harvey, and Anatomy of a Murder earned him Academy Award nominations — with one win for The Philadelphia Story.

Broadway performances[link]

• Carry Nation (October – November 1932)
• Goodbye Again (December 1932 – July 1933)
• Spring in Autumn (October – November 1933)
• All Good Americans (December 1933 – January 1934)
• Yellow Jack (May 1934)
• Divided By Three (October 1934)
• Page Miss Glory (November 1934 – March 1935)
• A Journey By Night (April 1935)
• Harvey (July – August 1947, July – August 1948, replacing vacationing Frank Fay, who created the role on Broadway)
• Harvey (revival, February – May 1970)

Legacy[link]

Stewart's star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Throughout his seven decades in Hollywood, Stewart cultivated a versatile career and recognized screen image in such classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Mortal Storm, The Philadelphia Story, Harvey, It's a Wonderful Life, Shenandoah, Rear Window, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Shop Around the Corner, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Vertigo. He is the most represented leading actor on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) and AFI's 10 Top 10 lists. He is the most represented leading actor on the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list presented by Entertainment Weekly. As of 2007, ten of his films have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry.

Stewart left his mark on a wide range of film genres, including westerns, suspense thrillers, family films, biographies, and screwball comedies. He worked for many renowned directors during his career, most notably Frank Capra, George Cukor, Henry Hathaway, Cecil B. DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Borzage, George Stevens, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder, Don Siegel, and Anthony Mann. He won many of the industry's highest honors and earned Lifetime Achievement awards from every major film organization.^{[citation needed]} He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Honors and tributes[link]

James Stewart was presented various kinds of film industry awards, military and civilian medals, honorary degrees, memorials and tributes over the years for his contribution to performing arts, humanitarianism, and military service.

See also[link]

United States Air Force portal

• List of film collaborations

References[link]

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Stewart

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jimmy Stewart

• James Stewart at the Internet Broadway Database
• James Stewart at the Internet Movie Database
• Jimmy Stewart at the TCM Movie Database
• The American Spirit Foundation
• Feaster, Felicia. James Stewart Profile at Turner Classic Movies
• Kronenberg, Harold. "Flying with Jimmy Stewart"
• Obituary: "James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89," The New York Times (July 3, 1997)
• Obituary: "Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart dead at 89", CNN, (July 2, 1997)
• "Princeton to Honor Famed Alumnus Jimmy Stewart '32 With Tribute and Theater Dedication", Princeton University (1997)
• Centennial Tribute to James Stewart
• The Jimmy Stewart Museum
• Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
• A Kennedy Center Honors: James Stewart
• Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
• Interview at the National Film Theatre in 1972, British Film Institute
• Mr. Stewart Goes to Vietnam, article from Vietnam magazine about Stewart's B-52 mission in 1966
• Images: Stewart Pictures. Telecommunication & Film Department, University of Alabama
• Images: "Col. James M. Stewart stands with his father outside of the family's hardware store", Life Magazine (1945)
• A Wonderful Life: Jimmy Stewart, Actor and B-24 Bomber Pilot
• James Stewart in the 1910 US Census, 1920 US Census, 1930 US Census, and the Social Security Death Index.