It Was a Wonderful Life Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pennsylvania

Jimmy was born at home in the town of Indiana, Pennsylvania. His parents Alexander and Elizabeth also had two daughters, Mary and Virginia. It was a very close-knit family and mother Elizabeth was an accomplished musician and played the piano, a gift she passed on to all her children. Jimmy also played the accordion.

Answer: Maitland

James was named after his grandfather, James Maitland Stewart. His grandfather founded the family business, a hardware store called J.M Stewart & Co. in 1848 and in 1923, James' father was sole proprietor of the establishment. Moorhead was also a family name and traces back to 1772 when his third great-grandfather Fergus Moorhead arrived in Pennsylvania.

He was an Indian prisoner of war and later fought in the Revolutionary War.

Answer: Architecture

Though he considered Engineering, he settled on Architecture. He incorporated his love of flying into a thesis on airport design that won him the scholarship. His musical talent for the accordion got him parts in the Triangle Club productions and later to participation in Princeton's Theater Intime, and the Charter Club.

His love of the theater and acting grew from these experiences as well.

Answer: In the window of his hardware store

The Oscar was placed in the window of the family business where it stayed for nearly 20 years. The inscription on the Oscar misspelled Philadelphia as Philidelphia. In recent years, the Oscar has been displayed at the Jimmy Stewart museum in his hometown of Indiana.

Answer: Underweight

Jimmy was five pounds underweight. While he could have easily avoided serving, he desperately wanted to serve. One biography states that he went home, ate lots of fattening food, and returned to enlist making the weight requirement by one ounce but other sources say he just convinced the doctor to change his weight and let him pass.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan presented the honor to Jimmy in 1985. Reagan was also a personal friend and Stewart often traveled with him to introduce him at political functions. Reagan mistakenly referred to Stewart as a Major General on several occasions, until one night Reagan chided the person who correctly introduced Jimmy as a Brigadier General. Stewart then corrected Reagan who then asked in astonishment why Stewart hadn't corrected him before this occasion. Stewart looked at his good friend and replied dryly that he just liked the way Major General sounded.

Answer: Pie

Over the course of twenty years, Pie was Stewart's old friend and good luck charm and starred with him in 17 movies. Pie seemed to know exactly when the cameras were rolling and would lift his ears to denote he was ready to act. When Pie passed on, Jimmy buried him on his property and placed a headstone on the gravesite.

Answer: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

In "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"(1962), Stewart was a lawyer, Ranse Stoddard, not a cowboy. His character had tried to bring law and order to the west through law books but could not seem to find justice when he was badly beaten by Liberty Valence during a robbery.

He finally resorted to a gun duel and became known as the man who shot Liberty Valance."Two Rode Together" where Stewart portrayed Marshall Guthrie McCabe, a cynical lawman called upon to deal with Comanche Indians holding white hostages, was indeed the last film that featured the famous hat.

The hat had a torn brim, a hole in the crown, and dirty sweat band. It is now part of the collection at the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, PA.

Answer: Yes

Stewart was nominated for the Grammy in 1991 in the spoken word category. Jimmy had recorded a book of his poetry entitled "Jimmy Stewart and His Poems". The winner that year was George Burns for his reading of "Gracie - A Love Story."

Answer: "I'm going to be with Gloria now."

Jimmy had been a confirmed bachelor until he met and married Gloria at age 41. He had dated many beautiful Hollywood actresses including Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Carol Lombard, Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert, and Joan Crawford but Gloria Hatrick Mclean stole his heart. Gloria died in 1994. They had been married nearly 45 years. She had two children from a previous marriage and together they had a set of fraternal twins. One of her children, Ronald, predeceased them when he was killed while serving in Vietnam.

My interest in Mr. Stewart arose from watching the documentary, "A Wonderful Life" hosted by Johnny Carson where several of these facts were mentioned.