May 20 Birthday Wishes

Jimmy Stewart [1908 - 1997]

Anthony Zerbe [1936 - ]

Howdy Manco!!

From His first western, Destry Rides Again, to his last, The Shootist with the Duke, Jimmy Stewart proved to be one of the top 5 western actors ever. He won his only Academy Award for The Philadelphia Story with Katherine Hepburn and starred in 2 of the best Hitchcock films made, Rear Window and my favorite, Vertigo. While accomplishing all of this, he also made several classic westerns, like Winchester 73, The Far Country, The Man From Laramie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, The Naked Spur. Jimmy Stewart was the consumate actor, who could pull off any role in any genre film, yet he was a shy, slow talking, modest man from the mid west, not the typically dashing, handsome stereotype like Tyrone Power, Stewart Grainger, Gregory Peck etc. There's been a few good ones come down the pike since, but I've seen no one to fill his shoes.

Anthony Zerbe has been around since the mid 60's and has appeared in several films of note, such as Will Penny, Cool Hand Luke and Papillon. During the 60's and 70's he appeared as a guest star on many of the t.v. series popular at that time, like The Big Valley, Bonanza etc. He had a starring role on the 90's t.v. series, The Young Riders and co-starred on the series, Harry O., but it is his role of "Breed" in the John Wayne film, Rooster Cogburn, that I will always remember him for.

Ed

Jimmy Stewart was a hero of WWII. He had a commercial pilot's license, and had over 400 hrs. flying time before Pearl Harbor. When he was drafted, he was rejected because he was 5 lbs. under weight! He put on the weight, then enlisted. He trained B-17 pilots, and later piloted B-24's over Europe. He won 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Croix de Guerre, and Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters. He was in the Air Force Reserves, becoming a Brigadier General in 1959, and was an observer on B-52 missions over Vietnam. He retired in 1968, and was later given an honorary promotion to Major General by President Reagan.

Anthony Zerbe almost always played a bad guy, so seeing him as Teaspoon on The Young Riders was a refreshing change of pace. He also has one of the most graphic deaths in the James Bond series in License To Kill.

Jimmy Stewart, what an actor! Was in so many terrific movies. I think he could really do any kind of movie. Home town of where Mike (my husband) grew up since he was about 10 years old. Indiana, Pa.
Happy Birthday up there in Cowboy Heaven, James Stewart. Thank you for all the great movies you have left us to watch over and over again.

Also born on May 20: Constance Towers, female lead of John Ford's The Horse Soldiers and Sergeant Rutledge, and Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood's Seth Bullock.

What else could I add about Jimmy Stewart that hasn't been said already? one of the 20th Century's great screen icons, Western and otherwise.