Was james stewart gay
Classic Hollywood: Classic Couples: James & Gloria Stewart
December 15, 2022
By Jeannie MacDonald
Whenever I host classic films, I wade deeply into the weeds of each picture. (What can I say? Card-carrying nerd, reporting for duty.) In 2019, while researching my introduction to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, I stumbled across James Stewart’s last words and they got me all verklemmt…
Jimmy was married for 44 years to his one and only wife Gloria – a lady with movie celebrity looks, but without movie star ambitions, which was okay by her husband. After landing in Hollywood in 1934, Jimmy had spent the next 15 years dating puh-lenty of beauties: Ginger Rogers, Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Olivia de Havilland, Loretta Young, Lana Turner. Rumor has it he even proposed to a several of them, yet retained his title as “The Wonderful American Bachelor” – a label pinned on him by the press – during the apex of his popularity.
That is, until Jimmy met a 29-year-old green-eyed blonde at a dinner party (*cough* fix-up) hosted by actor-turned-amateur-matchmaker Gary Cooper and his wife “Rocky.” Appreciate a scene outta one of his own rom-coms, Jimmy was smi
Th' Respawnsibility of bein' J... Jimmy Stewart. Gosh!
William Smith Jefferson Smith Ben McKenna Jeff McNeal was bornandraised
in LansingMichigan Muncie MiddletownOhio FortDodge
grew to sixfootfour but had a way (which wasn't easy) of keeping his leader down and looking up at you; stuttered, stammered; was wonderful at basketball, better at baseball; a Boy Scout leader; wore his hair slicked down ("Jus’ like a kid goin’ t’ Sund’y School”); hemmed, hawed; had a nasal stuffed-jaw voice that shook when he whispered, that you could tell a block away ("I don’t s’pose you’d . . . m’by . . . shlow down on your way through Fort Dawdge an’ m’by . . . drawp by?”); took his hat off coming into your home.
Reticent (“Never been much of a talker”), bashful (“Always took a team just to kingly him to a dance”), guiltless (“Jus’ a country boy”), easily hurt (“Ya gotta put some pants on that guy”), awkward (kept his fingers together when holding a girl, as though if he opened them, she might slip away), he
became a lawyer, doctor, reporter, shop clerk, flier, sheriff, teacher, was appointed to the Senate, left the hometown but once.
His Dad used to tell him: “The only causes worth fi
Did studio boss really *order* Jimmy Stewart to use prostitutes to demonstrate his manhood?
Late Hollywood star JAMES STEWART was forced to regularly attend a brothel by his Hollywood studio boss to prove he was not gay, according to a new biography.
In his manual JIMMY STEWART, author MARC ELIOT claims MGM executive LOUIS B MAYER believed actors over the age of 25 who were single were closet homosexuals, and set up a house of ill repute next to the studio to weed out same-sex attracted actors so he could cancel their contract.
The beloved IT’S A WONDERFUL Animation actor was raised in a strict Presbyterian familiar and had no longing to have sex with prostitutes, but his manager left him with no choice.
BILL GRADY is quoted in the biography as saying, "I had to lay down the law to him.
“I had to tell him, ‘Jim, if you don’t leave and give a manly account of yourself at least a few times, Mayer and the others will think you’re same-sex attracted. So get your a*s over there and receive those rocks off with at least two of those broads.’” According to Eliot, Stewart reluctantly complied.
James Stewart was 'forced' to attend a brothel by studio over sexuality fears
Bend of the River: Trailer for 1952 western with James Stewart
Throughout the 1930s up to the 1990s, James Stewart was an incredibly successful actor in America. The mythical star appeared in countless movies that have withstood the test of age - including It's A Wonderful Animation, Harvey, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and How The West Was Won - which played on BBC 2 over the weekend.
The strait-laced actor was the picture of perfection for the American audience - a suited-and-booted manly man who got the job done. But when the 25-year-old's personal experience came into doubt, the studio would not let it stand.
Stewart was apparently not very interested in the women he was productive with in Hollywood. And, before extended, rumours began to circulate that the actor was actually gay.
Homosexuality was still wildly looked down upon in the 1930s, so the studio was not going to allow the popularity of their fast-growing head man be destroyed.
Stewart's penance was documented in Marc Eliot's book: Jimmy Stewart: A Biography.
He recalled: "Because Jimmy was so shy, they thought he was gay."
Eliot was then