World War II Heroes Who Left Hollywood to Fight for America: A New Look at the Jimmy Stewart Story

World War II Heroes Who Left Hollywood to Fight for America: A New Look at the Jimmy Stewart Story

The actor who brought to life the beloved character George Bailey in the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” will soon be the subject of a feature film that will explain his own journey.

Late actor Jimmy Stewart is the inspiration for filmmaker Aaron Burns’ new project “A Truly Wonderful Life,” a film set to offer a lens into Stewart’s personal story of heroism, faith and Hollywood navigation. Burns recently told CBN News about the exciting project.

“We’ve just announced that we’re working with the Stewart family – Jimmy Stewart’s daughter and his family – to bring her life to the big screen,” he said. “He was known as … every American man.”

Burns said he, like many other Americans, had long known Stewart as an actor, but his perspective broadened a few years ago when he came across an article detailing the entertainer’s back story — the decision to fight in World War II that took Stewart by storm. out of Hollywood and onto the battlefield.

“The storyteller in me was really drawn to this,” Burns said.

The filmmakers then fleshed out some of Stewart’s origin story, explaining that Stewart grew up in a small town and had a devoted father who was a deacon in a Presbyterian church.

“[His father] just prayed for his son, raised him, invested [in] him,” she said. “And, all of a sudden, Jimmy finally made it as an actor, headed to Hollywood, and rose through the ranks to become a big star.”

Stewart, of course, went on to win five Oscars, but the actor felt a bit “empty,” Burns said. He wasn’t sure if he was a “fake movie star” or a “real hero.” At that time in the early 1940s, world instability was on the rise, with “war clouds on the horizon.”

That’s when Stewart made an amazing decision.

“[Stewart] said, ‘I want to be more than just a Tinseltown hero. I want to serve my country, serve my fellow Americans.'”

Burns said Stewart had been a private pilot, but he decided to join the Army Air Corps, where he became a squadron commander – a job that involved leading thousands of men on bombing runs during the war.

“[It’s] just an incredible story that you’d never imagine for Jimmy Stewart,” he said.

One of Burns’ most touching stories involves a letter Stewart’s father gave him before he left the war — a note he slipped into his uniform pocket containing a copy of Psalm 91.

“It’s about comforting God and God being with you,” Burns said. “And his father said, ‘I have faith and I will pray for you all the time you are gone that God will be with you. You’ll come home safe,’ and [Stewart] kept it with him in his uniform every mission he went on.”

The actor made it home, though he developed PTSD after seeing hundreds of his men shot down and killed. By the time Stewart left the battlefield, he was far from Hollywood’s leading man before fighting on the front lines.

“He asked … himself, ‘Can I go back to Hollywood?'” Burns said. ‘And … his contract is up, nobody wants him. So, he had one offer to make a movie and that was ‘Jimmy’s War,’ where he could be a bomber pilot and bomb Nazis on camera. He was like, ‘Sorry, I can’t do that.'”

But Stewart got a call from an old friend named Frank Capra, a Hollywood director who also served in World War II. Capra told Stewart he had the “perfect role” for her.

“Capra… said, ‘I have the right part for you. Jimmy, I’m struggling too. I am at war; nobody wants me, but maybe together we can do this project,’” Burns recounted. “It’s a great story.”

Stewart ended up taking on George Bailey — and the rest is history.

“‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ was a transformative film for Jimmy, even as it was a transformative and inspirational film for all Americans,” Burns said, noting he was excited to tell the story behind the story.

He continued, “I want my kids to be able to know the hero that Jimmy Stewart is and see what he went through, the sacrifices he made for us, and see how powerful a father’s prayer and love for their child — the impact that can make, so that’s the story we’re helping to tell.”