Pieces of time

by Gary Fishgall

When James Stewart died in July 1997 at the age of eighty-nine, the star of Vertigo and some eighty other classics left the world an immense celluloid legacy. From his beginnings in small-town Pennsylvania and undergraduate plays at Princeton, Stewart made a remarkable leap to Broadway and then to MGM in its heyday. He was an immediate success, starring in such legendary films as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and The Philadelphia Story (1940), for which he won his first Oscar. This intimate account uncovers Stewart's incredible courage in his work as well as in his life. He was the first top-flight star to enlist in the armed forces and returned to Hollywood a decorated hero more than four years later, having flown twenty bombing missions over war-ravaged Europe. Above all, Pieces of Time is a film buff's delight. Written with the support of Stewart's family and based on interviews with the actor's friends and colleagues, this definitive biography offers revealing backstage stori