Consummate everyman Jimmy Stewart was a real joker, says one of his former co-stars.
"He'd get this little twinkle and I'd think, `What's he going to do now?' " said June Allyson, who appeared with him in three films. "I'd always get blamed for it. And you know Jimmy. And he would just stand there looking like, `I didn't do anything.' "During the filming of 1949's "The Stratton Story" about baseball pitcher Monty Stratton, Stewart placed several rocks at a place where Allyson was supposed to sit. It was just one of Stewart's pranks.
Allyson appeared Sunday at the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, Pa., to receive its annual Harvey Award, named after one of Stewart's movies, and to celebrate Stewart's 88th birthday.
Stewart, best known "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," was not present at the ceremonies in his hometown.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Birthdays: For Monday, May 20
Actor James Stewart 88
Singer-actress Cher 50
Actor Bronson Pinchot 37
Actor Tony Goldwyn 36
Actress Mindy Cohn 30