James "Jimmy" Stewart was one of America's most beloved actors over the course of decades. He was also a fierce American patriot who was not afraid to make sacrifices for the country he loved so much.

The Early Years of Jimmy Stewart

Like so many actors of his generation, James Maitland Stewart, was born in 1908 to parents of modest means. His father ran J.M. Stewart and Company Hardware Store, which he hoped his son would take over one day after graduating from Princeton, which was a family tradition. His mother was a homemaker. Stewart's father was a deeply religious Presbyterian. Throughout his life, Stewart would be a regular church goer.

Music was a big part of family life in the Stewart home. His mother played piano and his father once accepted an old accordion from a customer who was unable to pay their bill. A local barber instructed young Jimmy in the instrument, and it followed him around for the rest of his life, a frequent off-stage companion on film sets.

As a young boy, Stewart enjoyed mechanical sketching and airplane models. He dreamed of being an aviator. His performance in school was lackluster, because he tended to be more of a creative type and was prone to daydreaming during class.

At his father's insistence, he attended Mercersburg Academy in preparation for his future at Princeton. Stewart competed in track, served as the art editor of the school yearbook, sang in glee club, and was a member of the John Marshall Literary Society. He tried his hand at football, but his lanky frame relegated him to the third team.

James Stewart Caught the Acting Bug

During the summer, he went back to his hometown to work as a brick loader and a magician's assistant. He never did become an aviator, but his father's dreams of Princeton were realized. Stewart majored in architecture while keeping active in dramatics and the arts on the side. Ultimately, he turned down a scholarship for graduate architecture studies to join the University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company on Cape Cod.

Though he had previously appeared in The Wolvesas Buquet while he was at Mercersburg Academy, it was here that Stewart got his real start on stage – he was not an instant success. Hardworking, Stewart tended to get roles that didn't last very long and his daydreaming meant that he was unsuited for crew jobs such as stage manager. He was considering going back to school for more architectural study but decided against it when he landed the role of a soldier subjected to yellow fever experiments in Yellow Jack.

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