Huge egotist James Stewart intimidated Hitchcock: Steel under mush

Rear Window official 1954 trailer from Paramount

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Back in 1954, James Stewart starred in the favourite of his movies with director Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window, which hit cinemas 68 years ago today, was shot entirely at Paramount Studios and saw the much-loved Hollywood legend star opposite Grace Kelly.

According to Stewart: “Everybody just sat around and waited for [Grace] to come in the morning, so we could just look at her. She was kind to everybody, so considerate, just great, and so beautiful.”

The 46-year-old also praised his 25-year-old’s instinctive acting talent and her “complete understanding of the way motion picture acting is carried out.”

Hitchcock enjoyed working with his leading man, compared to the “fussy and demanding” Cary Grant as he found Stewart to be easy to get on with and a hard-working performer.

However, their relationship was simultaneously strangely intimate and slightly distanced, since they didn’t really socialise outside of the set. Even on the lot, they would barely talk other than through the occasional knowing glance.

According to the Rear Window star, Hitchcock wouldn’t discuss a scene with an actor but instead favoured hiring stars who would instinctively know what to do when he said “action”.

Apparently, the most the director would say to Stewart was something along the lines of “the scene is tired” which would mean his timing hadn’t been quite right.

Despite the positives of their working relationship, Rear Window co-star Wendell Corey claimed that Stewart had a “whopping big ego”.

And surprisingly even he could out-shout, out-argue and out-intimidate Hitchcock if they disagreed on how a scene was going.

Corey said of the star known for his affable nature: “There was steel under all that mush.” However, there was one legendary Hollywood director who Stewart couldn’t stand up to.

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Almost a decade later, Stewart starred opposite John Wayne in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which was directed by the infamous John Ford.

The filmmaker was well known for regularly lambasting his cast to get better performances out of them, including baiting Duke for not fighting in World War II.

Towards the end of the Western’s shoot, Ford asked Stewart what he thought of Woody Strode’s costume for the beginning and the end of the film when their characters were portrayed as 25 years older.

The Rear Window star said: “It looks a bit Uncle Remussy to me.” This was a reference to the controversial fictional narrator of 19th-century African-American folktales, who was later the main character in Disney’s 1946 movie Song of the South – a film that Disney does not make available today due to its racist stereotyping.

In response, Ford said: “What’s wrong with Uncle Remus?” The director then called the crew’s attention and shouted: “One of our players doesn’t like Woody’s costume. Now, I don’t know if Mr Stewart has a prejudice against Negroes, but I just wanted you all to know about it.”

Stewart later said he “wanted to crawl into a mouse hole” after that and Wayne told him: “Well, welcome to the club. I’m glad you made it.”

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