12/25/2025
The Great Jimmy Stewart …
When doctors told him it was time to replace his pacemaker battery, the legendary actor made a decision that stunned his family.
"I'm going to be with Gloria now."
For decades, Hollywood had called James Stewart "The Great American Bachelor." Handsome, charming, and genuinely decent, he'd dated some of the most beautiful women in the world. Ginger Rogers. Marlene Dietrich. Olivia de Havilland.
Yet something always held him back.
By 1947, Jimmy Stewart was 39 years old, a decorated war hero, an acclaimed actor, and still unmarried.
That Christmas, he crashed a party hosted by actor Keenan Wynn. He'd had too much to drink. Across the room stood a stunning green-eyed blonde named Gloria Hatrick McLean. A former model, recently divorced, mother of two young boys.
Jimmy tried to introduce himself.
It went terribly. Gloria was unimpressed.
But Jimmy couldn't stop thinking about her.
For months, he asked mutual friends about her. Finally, in the summer of 1948, Gary Cooper and his wife Rocky invited both of them to dinner.
This time, Jimmy stayed sober. This time, he just talked, told stories, made her laugh.
There was only one problem: Gloria had a German police dog named Bellow who wanted nothing to do with this strange man courting his owner.
"I had to woo the dog first," Jimmy later recalled. "I bought him steaks. Patted him. Praised him. It got pretty humiliating. But we finally became friends. Then I was free to court Gloria."
On his 41st birthday in 1949, Jimmy proposed. On August 9, they married at Brentwood Presbyterian Church. Eighteen guests inside. Five hundred fans outside.
Jimmy didn't just marry Gloria. He became an instant father to her two boys, Ronald and Michael. He adopted them both.
In 1951, Gloria gave birth to twin daughters. The delivery nearly killed her. She spent a month in the hospital.
Jimmy never left her side.
The nurse later told reporters: "I've never seen such an outpouring of love. Her husband was there around the clock. When Mrs. Stewart was ready to be discharged, he was so excited he nearly drove his car into the lobby. We got his wife ready, then he took off. But he had forgotten to put her in the car."
For 45 years, they built a life together in their Beverly Hills home. They raised four children. They gardened together. They attended church every Sunday.
In 1985, Jimmy said: "Gloria and the children continue to bring me enormous pleasure. On the whole, it's been a darn wonderful life."
But tragedy came too. In 1969, their son Ronald, a Marine First Lieutenant, was killed in action in Vietnam. He was 24. He'd had a premonition about that mission but went anyway. He died saving a fellow Marine.
The loss was devastating. But life continued, as it must.
Then, on February 16, 1994, Gloria passed away from lung cancer. She was 75.
The man who'd waited 41 years to find love was suddenly alone.
Jimmy stopped going out. He stopped accepting awards. He spent his days in the garden, talking to Gloria as if she were still there.
In December 1996, doctors told him his pacemaker battery needed replacing. A simple procedure that would extend his life.
Jimmy told his children no. He wanted nature to take its course.
He'd said it before: "If the time comes when my life has no more purpose, I won't hold on to it. I won't fight God if He wants to take me."
Gloria had been his purpose.
On July 2, 1997, surrounded by his children in the home they'd shared for 45 years, James Maitland Stewart passed away at 89.
His final words were seven simple syllables that explained everything about who he really was. Not the movie star. Not the war hero. Not the icon.
Just a man who loved his wife so completely that a life without her wasn't a life he wanted.
"I'm going to be with Gloria now."
Not sad. Not afraid.
Content.
He was finally going home.
