Fans feel they know Jimmy Stewart: vulnerable sincerity delivered with an endearing drawl, the charismatic boy-next-door filled with righteous conviction-the American ideal. But Jimmy Stewart, the image and ideal, often eclipsed James Stewart, the actor and the man.

In the most penetrating and in-depth biography yet written about the beloved screen icon, award winning author Donald Dewey delves beneath the persona into the usually unremarked turmoil of the actor's private life and behind the earnest Capraesque image so often accepted as the Stewart identity. He draws upon extensive research and nearly two hundred interviews with childhood neighbors, fellow workers, old loves, airmen who flew with Stewart during World War II, as well as with close and estranged family members and friends.

This riveting biography follows Stewart from his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and a childhood shaped by a strong-willed father; to the fateful encounter at Princeton University with actress Margaret Sullavan, and the forging of a remarkable life-long friendship with Henry Fonda in New York, and his unexpected stardom at MGM.