EXCLUSIVE: The Jimmy Stewart You Never Knew, By His Daughter — Including His Humble Home and VERY Strict 'Brand' Rule When it Came to Choosing Roles
Jimmy Stewart's daughter opened up about the late actor's home life and chosen film roles.
April 21 2025, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
To the world, Jimmy Stewart was a Hollywood icon. But to his twin girls, he was just dad.
Though a million-dollar movie star, Stewart's daughter says he was the definition of humble – and his off-screen life was as heartfelt and genuine as the characters that made him a legend, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 'It's A Wonderful Life' star would choose movie roles that reflected who he was in real life.
Instead of splurging on a mega-mansion, Stewart and his wife, Gloria Hatrick McLean – a former model and divorcée with two sons – chose to raise their blended family in a charming, ivy-draped Tudor-style home nestled in Beverly Hills' ultra-flat and famously un-fancy neighborhood, The Flats.
Kelly Stewart-Harcourt, who was born with her twin, Judy, in 1951, said her dad's home life was as modest as he was.
Stewart and his wife, Gloria Hatrick McLean. lived a simple, modest life in their Beverly Hills home.
She explained: "It wasn’t big and fancy. It was really cozy inside. I think that’s what mom and dad liked about it."
The actor's good friend Henry Fonda once said: "It’s as comfortable as Jimmy, with a splash of style thrown in by Gloria."
By the time Stewart crossed paths with McLean, he was already a living legend – an Oscar winner for The Philadelphia Story, a decorated WWII hero with 20 combat missions under his belt, and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After tying the knot in 1949, Stewart and McLean bought the home where they would live for the rest of their lives.
They purchased the derelict house next door too‚ and tore it down so McLean could expand her flower and vegetable garden.
Stewart-Harcourt remembered: "Mom would spend a lot of time out in the garden with the dogs, and dad would be in the library reading the newspaper."
Stewart's daughter now cherishes the memories of her family enjoying simple evenings watching TV together.
Stewart's daughter said he never 'brought his work home' and 'left Hollywood at the door.'
She said: "Dad left his work at the door. He didn’t bring it home with him. Mom and dad loved game shows. Mom would always yell out the answers."
As an actor, Stewart chose roles that aligned with his own values, like one of his most famous roles as dad George Bailey in the Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life.
Stewart-Harcourt explained: "He never played a horrible villain or a super selfish man. He was always true to himself and he chose roles that were too.
"Before we went to college, dad called my sister and me into the library. He said, ‘I just want to say to you that the most important thing you should remember in life is, always be nice to people.'"
She similarly said in another interview from 2010: "Dad as a father was great, because he never lectured us on how to be good. He taught us by the way he lived."
Stewart was devastated when his beloved wife passed away just months after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 1994.
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The movie star died from a heart attack in 1997 in his Beverly Hills home.
In his final three years before he passed in 1997 at age 89, his daughter recalled: "He would smile, but he stopped laughing."
Stewart died of a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home.
