If John Ford was the most influential director in Henry Fonda’s early career and throughout in John Wayne’s life, Frank Capra, Anthony Mann, and Alfred Hitchcock were the most crucial directors in the long and versatile career of Jimmy Stewart.
Frank Capra
Arguably the most important filmmaker in shaping his early screen image (before he went to War), emphasizing his small-town scout persona, Capra directed Stewart in three highly popular pictures:
You Can’t Take It With You (1938), Best Picture Oscar Winner
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Best Picture Oscar Nominee
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Capra’s acknowledged masterpiece, Best Picture Oscar Nominee.
Anthony Mann
But it was Anthony Mann who made Stewart a Bona fide Western star in the 1950s, and it was Man who directed some of his most popular biopics and other non-Western films.
Mann directed Stewart in 9 of his 78 features, including two biopictures:
The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
Strategic Air Command (1955), the story of Lt. Col. Robert Holland.
Directe by Hitchcock
The master of suspense directed Stewart in a series of artistically and comercially succesful movies:
Rope (1948)
Rear Window (1954)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Vertigo (1958)
