17. Stewart enjoyed portraying American heroes on film, real and fictional
In 1957, James Stewart was cast in the film, The Spirit of St. Louis. It was an opportunity for Stewart to portray his personal childhood hero, Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris was what inspired Stewart’s lifelong love of flying and airplanes. Stewart was 47 years of age when he took the role; Lindbergh was 25 at the time of his epic flight. Special techniques were used to make Stewart appear younger, including a blond hairpiece, but the age difference was obvious in the film when references to the pilot’s age were made. As was by then his habit, Stewart waived a salary in favor of collecting a percentage of the profits.
In the end, there weren’t any. The film was enormously expensive for the time, even at its original budget. By the time production was complete it had cost more than twice its original budget. It set a record for its opening at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, but attendance fell upon general release. Critics greeted the film with mostly yawns. As one critic pointed out, attempting to build suspense during the long flight sequence was self-defeating. The whole world knew that Lindbergh had made it. The closing sequences at Paris showing his reception and his ticker-tape parade in New York were footage from the real events of 1927, only thirty years earlier.