Jimmy Stewart's Private World: Beloved Hollywood Icon's Daughter Reveals What Life Was Really Like With Star — Including the Best Advice He Ever Shared
An undated photo of Kelly Stewart-Harcourt and dad Jimmy Stewart
April 1 2025, Published 2:45 p.m. ET
Hollywood icon Jimmy Stewart was convinced his acting career was over, RadarOnline.com can report, after the horrors he experienced overseas while serving for the Air Force during World War Two.
Ahead of what would have been the star's 117th birthday, his daughter has shared never-before-heard stories of her "wonderful life" with her dad.
Stewart was married to wife Gloria for 45 years.
Stewart was born in 1908 in Indiana, Pa. and fell in love with acting while in college. He hit Hollywood in the early 1930s and won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in 1940's The Philadelphia Story.
However, not long after that, Stewart – already an accomplished pilot – became the first big-name Hollywood star to enlist in the Army. He went on to fly 20 combat missions over Europe during WWII, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.
When he finally returned home, he was worried his extended absence had caused Hollywood to forget about him. Then, daughter Kelly Stewart-Harcourt said he landed the role of George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life.
The movie would go on to be a holiday classic and is still shown every year during the Christmas season as families gather together.
But Kelly told Globe the magical movie was special to her father for more personal reasons.
She said: "It was the first film he made after the war. He came back having seen terrible things and not knowing if he still had a career. I think he viewed (the movie) as giving him his career back – reaffirming to him that, 'Yes, this is my career. I'm still an actor."
The actor was also a decorated war hero.
Kelly went on to share more special memories of her father, including the moment she realized her dad was famous.
She said: "Dad was involved in a Boy Scout Jamboree in Akron, Ohio. We went and there were thousands of people yelling 'Jimmy' and holding pieces of paper, trying to get close enough for him to sign.
"I was just sitting there amazed because I didn't understand. How come all these people knew dad's name?"
Kelly, now 73, said his dad and her mom, Gloria, whom Jimmy married in 1949, strove to keep the family grounded.
"Dad left his work at the door," she remembered. "He didn't bring it home with him."
Evenings involved simple family pleasures, like watching TV in the library, which she added: "Mom and dad loved game shows. Mom would always shout out the answers."
Stewart found fame in the classic 'It's a Wonderful Life.'
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Jimmy may not have been the kind of dad who helped his children with homework, but Kelly said he treated his kids with love and generosity.
Family trips to Europe and beyond were standard, and there was a focus on education. Kelly said she could never recall her dad lecturing her brothers and sisters, but he always tried to lead by example.
As she said: "Before we went to college, dad called my sister (Judy) 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.
"That's all he said."
