James Maitland Stewart, born on May 20th, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, US, was an actor and military officer who's among the most honoured and popular stars in film history. With a career spanning 60 years, Stewart was a major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, known for his distinctive drawl and down-to-earth persona, which helped him to portray American middle-class men struggling with crises. Many of the movies in which he starred have become classics.