Quotes by Jimmy Stewart
1. On being asked how he wanted to be remembered:
“As someone who believed in hard work, love of country, love of family, and love of community.”
2. “Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
3. “If I had my career over again? Maybe I’d say to myself, speed it up a little.”
4. On being asked what made good acting: “It’s well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show.”
5. On the big studio system of the 30s and 40s: “I came out here as a contract player at MGM, and I went to work every day. It might be a big part in a little picture, or a little part in a big picture. You learned your craft by working at it. You crawled before you walked.” From the New York Times Obituary, July 3, 1997.
6. His advice lecture to his daughters before they went off to college: “Be nice to people.”
Quotes about Jimmy Stewart
1. President Harry S. Truman, after seeing It’s a Wonderful Life: “If Bess and I had a son we’d want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart.” Cited in New York Times Obituary, July 3, 1997.
2. President Clinton, the day Stewart died: “America lost a national treasure today. Jimmy Stewart was a great actor, a gentleman, and a patriot”.
3. Andrew Sarris, film historian: “…Stewart is the most complete actor-personality in the American cinema, particularly gifted in expressing the emotional ambivalence of the action hero.” Cited in Elliot, 2006, Jimmy Stewart, A Biography.
4. Frank Capra: “I think he’s probably the best actor who’s ever hit the screen.” Cited in Elliot, 2006, Jimmy Stewart, A Biography.
5. Frank Capra: “All the women want to mother Jimmy Stewart, that’s his great quality.” Cited in Elliot, 2006, Jimmy Stewart, A Biography.
6. Woody Strode: Stewart was “one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet anywhere in the world.”
7. When speaking about Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds described him as “the sweetest man, other than Jimmy Stewart.”