HE WAS, WELL, A PIECE OF AMERICANA; FOR HEART, FEW ACTORS EQUALED JIMMY STEWART; APPRECIATION : MORE THAN FETCHING.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

There was the charming, drawling stutter. But there was also the fearsome, obsessive gaze.

There are lots of reasons why Jimmy Stewart was America's most beloved movie actor. There are just as many reasons why he was one of the best.

Few actors matured on screen quite as interestingly as did Stewart, who died Wednesday of cardiac arrest at the age of 89. And it's hard to think of any who went the psychological distance he did during the three decades of his best work. From shy, boy-next-door types to the earnest conscience of Capraesque optimism to the disturbed, damaged antiheroes of Hitchcock thrillers and Anthony Mann westerns, Stewart unerringly embodied the stages of modern man's emotional growth.

By the time he moseyed into his last, great films, John Ford's ``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' and Don Siegel's ``The Shootist,'' Stewart had accumulated an authority matched only by his co-star in both, John Wayne (who, it can be argued, borrowed everything he knew about sensitivity and complexity from Stewart). Playing an old man of the West, Stewart's every move, his every subtle reaction, bore a hard-earned honesty that no one could miss. He'd already played, you see, the full lifetime of feelings those roles require.

Born to a prosperous Pennsylvania family in 1908, Stewart had his share of real-life experiences to complement his movie ones. He was, at various times in his life, an amateur magician, an architecture student, sought-after bachelor, war hero and Air Force colonel, devoted family man, shrewd businessman, humorous poet, conservative political activist and longtime pal of Hollywood's archetypal liberal, Henry Fonda.

Too tall, too skinny and, perhaps, too singularly countrified, Stewart was quite a casting challenge to his MGM bosses. Significantly, one of his first film jobs was playing a crazy killer in ``After the Thin Man,'' thanks to a casting director who was either extremely insightful or utterly clueless.

It took a few years for Stewart's earliest gifts - simple but earnest romanticism and a knack for laconic comedy - to emerge on screen. Margaret Sullavan, Fonda's wife at the time, nurtured her husband by insisting on Stewart as a co-star in such weepies as ``Next Time We Love'' and ``The Shopworn Angel.'' A whole passel of smarty-pants directors - Frank Capra, George Stevens, George Marshall, Woody Van Dyke - quickly capitalized on the comedic abilities in such diverse films as ``You Can't Take It With You,'' ``Vivacious Lady,'' ``Destry Rides Again'' and ``It's a Wonderful World.''

Capra was, arguably, the first to realize that Stewart could be more than just fetching or funny - and play more than one characteristic in the same movie. ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939) was the first of numerous, revelatory watersheds in Stewart's career. His bravura filibuster breakdown on the Senate floor remains one of the richest performances in American film, incorporating all of the outrage, self-righteousness, exhaustion, defeatism and faint, empowering hope that democracy is about.

Seven years later, actor and director would top even that virtuoso outing. In the meantime, though, Stewart had other things to prove. In 1940 alone, he and Sullavan played two of Hollywood's earliest anti-Nazi heroes (``The Mortal Storm''); teamed with her again for what was perhaps the great Ernst Lubitsch's most perfect romantic comedy, ``The Shop Around the Corner''; and won his Oscar for the change-of-pace role as ``The Philadelphia Story's'' cynical tabloid reporter.

After our entry into World War II, Stewart took his bomber pilot's wings, and his career was on hold for half a decade, but it proved to be yet another of Stewart's many smart career moves.

He returned from the war with his reputation intact and his studio contract in shreds. At the time, though, reteaming with Capra at the producer-director's new Liberty Films outfit did not appear to be a wise choice. The one movie they finished was not well-received on its initial release, and was so neglected in ensuing years that the rights to it fell into the public domain.

Eventually, though, this picture, more than any other, was the one that made Jimmy Stewart immortal. ``It's a Wonderful Life'' was the culmination of everything Stewart had represented to that point - forthright, honest, smart, self-sacrificing, charmingly low-key - and the launching pad for all the dark impulses he would so startlingly embody through the approaching decade.

Now America's favorite Christmas movie, it took the distance of several generations for us to realize that George Bailey's was the fundamental national myth of death and rebirth. Stewart expertly calibrated George's slow descent from hometown optimism into suicidal depression and back again, informed by every flicker of missed opportunity and unappreciated reward that flashes through a decent man's mind. It was Stewart's perfect performance that made this ``Life'' so wonderful.

A dark turn

But Stewart had quite a way further to go. His new, darker persona lent itself well to the emerging, street-real strain of film noir in Henry Hathaway's pseudo-documentary whodunit ``Call Northside 777'' (1948). That same year, Stewart teamed up with Alfred Hitchcock for the first time. ``Rope,'' based on the Leopold-Loeb murder case, was one of Hitchcock's more turgid, formal experiments - each take ran an uninterrupted 10 minutes long. Still, a sharper-edged, more confrontational Stewart brought what little life there was to the project as, of all things, a hard-boiled philosophy professor.

``Rope'' clearly indicated that Stewart was branching out and up for just about anything. Although he'd still play traditional, often real-life heroes (``The Stratton Story,'' ``The Glenn Miller Story,'' ``The Spirit of St. Louis'') and some of his most indelible, light comedy roles (``Harvey's'' tippling hallucinator, Elwood P. Dowd, is the classic) throughout the '50s, Stewart's best, mature work harked back to, well, that crazy ``Thin Man'' killer.

Starting with ``Winchester '73'' in 1950, Stewart made a classic cycle of psychologically charged westerns with director Anthony Mann. While some were more lighthearted than others, ``Winchester,'' ``Bend of the River,'' ``The Naked Spur,'' ``The Far Country'' and the astonishingly sadomasochistic ``The Man From Laramie'' collectively drenched the frontier in Freudian angst.

And then the masterpieces. It's impossible to overstate the daring and accomplishment of ``Rear Window'' (1954) and ``Vertigo'' (1958), respectively the master director's most consistent explorations of cinematic form and his weird, tormented psyche. Other actors, perhaps, could have starred in them, but no matter; Stewart anchored both films superbly.

`Rear Window' challenge

Consider the challenge ``Rear Window'' presented. A marriage-shy, not-altogether-innocent voyeur (he called himself, professionally, a photojournalist), laid up by a broken leg, with nothing to amuse himself but peeping in the windows of the apartment across the way.

As evidence of murder most foul accumulated before his prying eyes, Stewart had to build Jeff Jeffries' paranoiac - and morally complicit - hysteria without the aid of one of his primary tools, his lanky body. Try to get a stew of guilt, fear and suspicion across while just sitting down sometime, and you'll see how Stewart was the perfect resident for Hitchcock's ingenious, claustrophobic set.

His legs go out on him at the beginning of ``Vertigo,'' too, but physical impairment is the least of Scottie Ferguson's problems. With Hitchcock's most blatant blend of his two favorite subjects, unreasonable fear and sexual obsession, ``Vertigo'' presented Stewart with the challenge of going sheer, creepy nutso while still retaining some shreds of audience sympathy.

Few moments in all of cinema make the skin crawl quite so shiveringly as Scottie's pathetic, not-so-passively aggressive attempts to turn Kim Novak's second incarnation back into her first. In these scenes, Stewart exposes male fantasy in all of its needy/ugly compulsiveness; it's a kamikaze plunge into the heart of twisted desire, as naked a performance as there's ever been.

And, at last, Stewart's finest of finest hours. Thankfully, a remastered print of ``Vertigo'' was struck last year, and the video belongs in everybody's collection.

By the '60s, Stewart was easing off into humorous, patriarchal parts and leisurely westerns. He good-naturedly demeaned himself in an ``Airport'' and ``Lassie'' entry in the late '70s.

So, from nice, naive young man to lovable grandpa, for half a century Jimmy Stewart did his best to embody American manhood in all of its good, bad and most compelling aspects.

We can't express our appreciation and affection with any less commitment. ``Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance,'' someone said to Stewart's mistaken hero at the end of the movie. The same can be said, without the irony, for the man who played the man who did not.

AMC airs 12 Stewart films

American Movie Classics will honor the late Jimmy Stewart with a 24-hour festival of his films beginning at 6 a.m. Friday.

The ``Jimmy Stewart Film Festival'' was planned before the actor died. Stewart's death on Wednesday created a sort of unhappy coincidence for the network, a spokeswoman said.

Twelve films will be shown. The schedule is as follows:

6 a.m. - ``You Gotta Stay Happy'' (1948).

7:45 a.m. - ``Broken Arrow,'' (1950).

9:30 a.m. - ``Dear Brigitte,'' (1965).

11:15 a.m. - ``No Highway in the Sky,'' (1951).

1 p.m. - ``Winchester '73,'' (1950).

2:35 p.m. - ``The Glenn Miller Story,'' (1954).

4:30 p.m. - ``The Far Country,'' (1955).

6:15 p.m. - ``Thunder Bay,'' (1953).

8 p.m. - ``The Spirit of St. Louis,'' (1957).

10:30 p.m. - ``Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation,'' (1962).

12:30 a.m. (Saturday) - ``Night Passage,'' (1975).

4:30 a.m. (Saturday) - ``Bend of the River,'' (1952)

Stewart's movie and TV legacy

Here is a list of movie and television productions in which James Stewart has appeared:

``Murder Man,'' 1935.

``Rose Marie,'' 1936.

``Next Time We Love,'' 1936.

``Wife Versus Secretary'' 1936.

``Small Town Girl,'' 1936.

``Speed,'' 1936.

``The Gorgeous Hussy,'' 1936.

``Born to Dance,'' 1936.

``After the Thin Man,'' 1936.

``Seventh Heaven,'' 1937.

``The Last Gangster,'' 1937.

``Navy Blue and Gold,'' 1937.

``Of Human Hearts,'' 1938.

``Vivacious Lady,'' 1938.

``Shopworn Angel,'' 1938.

``You Can't Take It With You,'' 1938.

``Made for Each Other,'' 1938.

``Ice Follies of 1939,'' 1939.

``It's a Wonderful World,'' 1939.

``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' 1939.

``Destry Rides Again,'' 1939.

``The Shop Around the Corner,'' 1940.

``The Mortal Storm,'' 1940.

``No Time for Comedy,'' 1940.

``The Philadelphia Story,'' 1940.

``Come Live With Me,'' 1940.

``Pot O' Gold,'' 1941.

``Ziegfeld Girl,'' 1941.

``It's a Wonderful Life,'' 1946.

``Magic Town,'' 1946.

``Call Northside 777,'' 1947.

``On Our Merry Way,'' 1948.

``Rope,'' 1948.

``You Gotta Stay Happy,'' 1948.

``The Stratton Story,'' 1949.

``Malaya,'' 1949.

``Winchester 73,'' 1950.

``Broken Arrow,'' 1950.

``The Jackpot,'' 1950.

``Harvey,'' 1950.

``No Highway,'' 1951.

``The Greatest Show on Earth,'' 1951.

``Bend of the River,'' 1951.

``Carbine Williams,'' 1952.

``The Naked Spur,'' 1953.

``Thunder Bay,'' 1953.

``The Glenn Miller Story,'' 1953.

``Rear Window,'' 1954.

``The Far Country,'' 1954.

``Strategic Air Command,'' 1954.

``The Man From Laramie,'' 1955.

``The Man Who Knew Too Much,'' 1956.

``The Spirit of St. Louis,'' 1957.

``Night Passage,'' 1957.

``Vertigo,'' 1958.

``Bell, Book and Candle,'' 1958.

``Anatomy of a Murder,'' 1959.

``The FBI Story,'' 1959.

``The Mountain Road,'' 1960.

``Two Rode Together,'' 1961.

``The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,'' 1962.

``Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation,'' 1962.

``How The West Was Won,'' 1962.

``Take Her She's Mine,'' 1963.

``Cheyenne Autumn,'' 1964.

``Dear Brigitte,'' 1965.

``Shenandoah,'' 1965.

``The Flight of the Phoenix,'' 1965.

``The Rare Breed,'' 1966.

``Firecreek,'' 1967.

``Bandolero,'' 1968.

``The Cheyenne Social Club,'' 1970.

``Fool's Parade,'' 1971.

``The Jimmy Stewart Show'' (TV series), 1971.

``Hawkins on Murder'' (TV series), 1973.

``The Shootist,'' 1976.

``Airport '77,'' 1977.

``The Magic of Lassie,'' 1978.

``Krueger's Christmas'' (TV movie), 1981.

``Right of Way'' (TV movie), 1983.

``North and South Book II'' (TV miniseries), 1986.

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos, 2 Boxes

Photo: (1--Cover) JIMMY STEWART gets his wings: 1908-1997

(2) James Stewart, right, with John Wayne during a scene from the 1976 movie ``The Shootist.''

(3) Stewart played aviator Charles A. Lindbergh in 1957's ``The Spirit of St. Louis.''

Associated Press

(4) From shy, boy-next-door types to the earnest conscience of Capraesque optimism to the disturbed, damaged antiheroes of Hitchcock thrillers and Anthony Mann westerns, Jimmy Stewart unerringly embodied the stages of modern man's emotional growth. For a complete filmography, see page 6.

(5) ``Vertigo,'' with Kim Novak.

(6) ``The Philadelphia Story,'' with Katharine Hepburn.

(7) ``Destry Rides Again, with Marlene Dietrich.''

(8) ``Rear Window,'' with Grace Kelly.

Box: (1) AMC airs 12 of actor's films (See text)

(2) Stewart's movie and TV legacy (See text)