I was born in the home of my parents in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the only son of Alexander (Alex) Maitland Stewart and Elizabeth (Bessie) Ruth Jackson Stewart. My family also included two younger sisters, Virginia and Mary. Following in my father's footsteps, I graduated from Princeton in 1932.
Although I majored in architecture at Princeton, I began acting shortly after graduation. After a few stints with a summer theater in Massachusetts and on Broadway, I headed to Hollywood in 1935 and made 24 motion pictures in five years, including memorable roles in such classics as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and the perennial favorite It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).Following in the military service of my grandfathers -- both Civil War veterans -- I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1941, putting my acting career on hold to fly 25 bomber missions over enemy territory during World War II. I rose to the rank of colonel, carrying such decorations as the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Croix de Guerre. After the war I rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Air Force Reserves, before retiring from the military in 1968.Nominated for five Academy Awards during my lifetime, I won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story (1940). Other honors include the American Institute's Achievement Award in 1980, a special Academy Award in 1984, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.
Following the war, I purchased a home in Hollywood. In 1949, I (tinsel town's most eligible bachelor) met Gloria Hatrick McLean. She was ten years my junior, and we were seated next to each other at a party at Gary Cooper's house. Soon we were dating, playing golf together, and making interesting copy for Hollywood newspapers. A wedding in Brentwood Presbyterian Church followed the next year. I was a member there and served on the fund-raising committee for the new building. My wife died in 1994.
We had twin daughters, Kelly and Judith. There were also two sons from my wife's previous marriage to Edward MacLean Jr., Michael and Ronald, who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1970 while serving in the Marine Corps.
