What was Jimmy Stewart really like when the cameras were off — and what did the star of It’s a Wonderful Life carry home from World War II? In this episode of Refining Rhetoric, host Robert Bortins sits down with Kelly Stewart-Harcourt — Jimmy Stewart’s daughter, a Stanford graduate with a PhD in zoology from the University of Cambridge, and executive producer of Jimmy, the new Jimmy Stewart movie starring KJ Apa — to talk about the untold chapter of her father’s life.
Kelly shares what it was like growing up with a dad who never brought his fame home, and the piece of advice he gave his twin daughters before college: always be nice to people. She opens up about the wartime diary her sister found in his bedside table after his death — revealing a man full of doubt who wondered whether he was joining up only because people expected it, who longed to make his father proud, and who wrote that he felt like an actor pretending to be a soldier as cameras followed him to his induction. She explains why Jimmy doesn’t glorify war, how KJ Apa channels her dad without doing an impersonation, and how television, not the box office, made It’s a Wonderful Life a Christmas tradition.
For homeschool families who love history and film, this is a rare look at courage that walks hand in hand with fear. Jimmy opens in theaters November 6 — it’s family friendly, with no swearing — so make a plan to see it opening weekend, bring a veteran, and share this episode with a friend.
Watch Jimmy in theaters November 6 — tickets and VetTix donations for veterans