James Stewart Is The Highest Ranking Actor In Military History

Here’s how James Stewart became the highest ranking actor in military history. Stewart started his acting career in the theater before moving into movies with supporting roles in the likes of Rose Marie. The actor wasn’t considered traditional leading man material, especially after his first lead in 1936’s Speed did little business. It was his collaborations with the great Frank Capra that helped turn that perception around, with the pair working on movies such as You Can’t Take It With You and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

The latter movie is considered one of James Stewart’s finest performances and cast him as a senator fighting corruption. Stewart followed up with movies like The Mortal Storm and starred alongside Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in 1940’s The Philadelphia Story. Stewart soon put his acting career on hold in 1941 to enlist in the army during World War 2, becoming one of the first Hollywoods stars to do so. Performers like Clark Gable and Kirk Douglas also served during the war.

James Stewart had a life-long interest in aviation and clocked up hundreds of hours of flight time prior to enlisting with the Air Corps and for a time served as a flight instructor in New Mexico. The actor’s star power saw him used for propaganda shorts like Winning Your Wings, but he didn’t want to use his celebrity status as an excuse to stay away from combat either. In 1943 he was sent to England to fly B-24’s as a Commanding Officer in the 703rd Bomber Squadron. He racked up over 20 combat missions during this period, and by 1945 had risen to the rank of Colonel.

After the war ended James Stewart stayed in the Army Air Forces Reserve, and officially became the highest ranking actor in military history in 1959 when he was promoted to Brigadier General; Stewart eventually retired from the Air Force in 1968. After the star left the war he considered not returning to his acting career, but would soon reunite with Capra for feelgood classic It’s A Wonderful Life. While it was a commercial failure upon release in 1946, it’s now considered one of the best American movies ever made.

James Stewart had many career highlights in the decades that followed, including collaborating with Alfred Hitchcock on Rear Window and Vertigo, and acclaimed Western drama The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance alongside John Wayne. Years later, he played a supporting role in Wayne’s final movie, 1976’s The Shootist, which also featured a major role for a young Ron Howard. Stewart himself retired from performing after a voice role in 1991’s An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, and passed away in 1997. In addition to his many acting accolades – including winning an Honorary Academy Award in 1985 – he was awarded an Air Force Distinguished Service Medal following his retirement from the service.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3487 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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