James Maitland Stewart was born in 1908 and began his film career in 1935, when he signed a contract with MGM studios, according to The Jimmy Stewart Museum. In 1949, he married Gloria Hatrick McLean, who already had two sons named Michael and Ronald. The couple then had twin daughters: Kelly and Judy.
Harcourt told Boomer that Stewart rarely brought work home with him. The closest he came was reading scripts in his designated armchair. "When he was working on a movie, he would sit with the script in his hands and his lips moving, saying his lines to himself. He never said anything out loud. I have that image of him burned into my mind," she said.
Stewart was not always a traditional father, but he was a loving one. "He wasn't a hands-on dad — he didn't help us with our homework, and I doubt he ever changed a diaper. But he taught by example and just had a very quiet way about him," she said.
Unfortunately, the family suffered two major tragedies: First, Ronald died in the Vietnam War. Then Gloria died in 1994, and it hit Stewart hard, Harcourt told Boomer. Three years later, Stewart followed his wife. Still, Harcourt thinks the good outweighed the bad. "At the end, I believe he appreciated his wonderful life and knew he was loved," she told Boomer.
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