The Other James Stewart

By the time he became a movie star in England, it was decided that he would have to change his name because America already had quite a famous James Stewart.  The British James Stewart didn't like it one bit although he understood.  So he was renamed Stewart Granger but for his entire life he would be known by one and all as Jimmy. 

The future Hollywood swashbuckler and star of numerous adventure and romantic films began life in London in 1913.  He was an only child, rather spoiled, born to an army major and his wife and perhaps predestined to become an actor since his grandfather was one.  He spoke often of wanting to be a doctor but he ended up attending dramatic school where he was told he had the good looks and perfect profile to go far.

He began appearing in films as an extra and at the same time appeared in some plays.  During one of them in 1933 he met young Michael Wilding and they became best friends until Wilding's death in 1979.  They had much in common... humor, randy behavior and a cynicism for those in their profession.  Interestingly, they would both end up in Hollywood at about the same time and marry two of the most beautiful women in the world.  

In Granger's 1981 autobiography, Sparks Fly Upward, one is frequently astonished at how candid he can be and although he had a great deal to say about his friendship with Wilding, he neglected to speak of their life-long sexual relationship.  Neither man was ever interested in coming out as gay or even identifying as such and both apparently loved women, but there were always stories about them which neither ever took the time to deny.   

In 1938 he married English actress Elspeth March, all but unknown to American audiences, a union that would last for 10 years and produce two children.  They would remain friends all their lives.

He joined the army in 1940 but was disabled after two years.  With a dearth of English actors to fill those movie roles, he began getting some serious attention.  His first great success was The Man in Grey 1943) where he supported James Mason who would also become a good friend.  Granger and his leading lady, Phyllis Calvert, hated one another and those love scenes were difficult.

He had a supporting role with Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).  He would become good friends with Leigh and her husband Laurence Olivier.  (It was as Granger's house guest years later that Olivier would make the decision to divorce Leigh.)  In a tiny role as a harpist was 15-year Jean Simmons.

Of all Granger's films, he has said the only one he liked was Saraband (1948).  It was not his first role as a swashbuckler and it would certainly not be his last but it turned out to be one of his best.  A juicy, historical drama of forbidden love, Granger plays an interloper in the marriage of a prince.

Around the time his marriage was unraveling, Granger saw Black Narcissus (1948), admiring leading lady, Deborah Kerr, but falling for Jean Simmons.  They became inseparable.  Despite their 16-year age difference, the relationship worked in large part because he acted like a kid and she wanted desperately to be an adult.  

They were both also longing to make a film together which is how Adam and Evelyn (1948) came to be.  It concerns a man who adopts his late friend's daughter and then falls in love with her as she matures.  It has its moments but overall didn't work and is clearly the least interesting of the four films they made together.

One of Granger's former agents called him and asked if he would re-sign with him if he could get the actor the lead in MGM's King Solomon's Mines (1950).  MGM added that the deal would have to include the standard seven-year contract.  Off to East Africa, Granger was concerned because his leading lady would be Deborah Kerr, with whom he had once had an affair.  She was now married to a man Granger introduced her to.  It turned out to be a colorful, rousing adventure that would set the template for Granger's stay at MGM.  It also turned out to be a rousing adventure with Kerr and they enjoyed a six-month location affair.  It would also be the first of three films they made together, the last of which would also star Simmons.  Oh those showbiz types...

Granger and Simmons

As Granger was preparing to move to America and see the studio where he would be enslaved, something unexpected happened to Simmons.  The Rank Organisation, to whom she was under contract, sold that contract (without her knowledge, much less approval) to Howard Hughes, head of RKO.  It certainly made her move to the U.S. easier but both she and Granger were furious that she was treated like a piece of meat.

Granger and Simmons were married in Tucson, Arizona, in 1950 (Wilding was best man) and Hughes arranged it all, much to their annoyance.  But all went downhill from there when Hughes badgered Simmons to leave Granger for him.  He insinuated himself in their lives to the point where they actually discussed having him taken out.  Eventually Simmons sued Hughes to get out of the contract... and won.  

Meanwhile, MGM wanted him to get his African safari leader role out of his head.  They wanted him for his swashbuckling capabilities which included masterful swordsmanship.  Warner Bros had great successes in the genre with Errol Flynn.  The same could be said with Tyrone Power at 20th and later with Cornel Wilde at the same studio.  MGM wanted to cash in.  And boy oh boy, did they!

When it comes to swordplay, tight pants, white wigs, fiery ladies and masterly horsemanship, it just doesn't get much better than the ultra-colorful Scaramouche (1952).  I'll bet I saw it a half dozen times when it was first released.  It remains to this day one of the high points of my childhood at the movies, a serious piece of tongue 'n cheek, silky elegance from start to finish.  


It had been done as a silent film and MGM was wise to dust it off for the talents of its star.  Based on Rafael Sabitini's famous novel, the setting is France near the end of the 18th century.  A man sets out to avenge the senseless death of his friend by a wicked nobleman and has his work cut out for him.  Along the way, in an effort to hide, he joins an acting troupe as a clown, full mask of makeup, as the title character.

Scaramouche is usually credited as having the best sword fight ever.  I have seen some great ones but I have no argument with the claim.  There they are, Granger and Mel Ferrer, each impeccable in all they attempt, dueling all over a theater.... on stairwells, over bannisters, swinging from theater curtains, over balconies.  It is a thrilling finale.

Granger never forgot that sword fight because he was hurt doing it.  He claimed he did his own stunts.  Whether true or not, it certainly seems true when one considers that as he jumps on the back of a row of theater seats, he injured his groin when he landed astride the next row of chairs.

Much comedy was provided mainly by Granger and Eleanor Parker (never more beautiful) in one of her liveliest roles by far as his acting partner and occasional paramour.  The film was a huge success and established Granger as the new leading man of adventure films.

Gee, that worked so well, says MGM to itself, let's see if we can collect more coins by dusting off another oldie.  That would be
The Prisoner of Zenda, released later in 1952.  Granger plays dual roles as a vacationing Englishman who is asked to impersonate his lookalike cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king who is kidnapped.

Granger got Kerr as his love interest, Mason as his arch villain and Jane Greer as the lady at the center of the story.  I loved it as well.  It has the look that is needed, that at which MGM excelled, with all the pageantry, and another exquisite sword fight at the finale.  If there's a problem with it, at least as I see it, it shouldn't have been released so soon after Scaramouche, a film it couldn't touch.  It would have been so much more appreciated being released a couple of years later. 

Mrs. Granger had been doing quite well herself.  After playing the murderess in the film noir, Angel Face (1953), her last film with Hughes, she also got a contract with MGM.  The Grangers would often hold court in the studio commissary when they were both in town.  In 1953 alone she won great acclaim as Spencer Tracy's daughter in The Actress and starred in the biggest hit of the year, The Robe.  The same year she would add to the roster Young Bess, the story of the young life of Elizabeth I.  It costarred Granger, Kerr and Charles Laughton in his second turn of playing Henry VIII.  It was a solid hit.  It was the Grangers best film together and he said it contained his best acting.

With wife and old flame in Young Bess

Columbia wanted in on the action but it would go biblical with Salome (1953) and then it wouldn't quite stick with the way The Good Book laid it all out.  The studio fudged a little so it could showcase Rita Hayworth the way they wanted.  Granger took the role of Claudius but he looked tired to me.  Laughton and Judith Anderson won all the acting honors.

All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) is an entertaining whaling epic with Granger and Robert Taylor as brothers and Ann Blyth as the woman loved by both of them.  Granger got to play a bad guy.  There wasn't a single Oscar nomination.

One could not dismiss the fact that Granger worked opposite some of Hollywood's most beautiful leading ladies.  Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly were among them in Beau Brummell and Green Fire, respectively, both 1954 misfires.  Interestingly, while Granger was acting with Taylor, her husband, Michael Wilding, was working with Simmons in The Egyptian.

From his earliest days as an actor, Granger was often a little too mouthy.  Ultimately he got the label of being difficult.  He said he always hated making movies and he hated the men who made them.  He was bolstered by his good buddy Wilding who echoed the same notions.  Movie by movie, Granger became a little more cantankerous.  He didn't think he was so difficult, but if difficult is what they want, difficult is what they'll get.  Not a good idea.  

Moonfleet (1955) is the story of a recently-orphaned boy who is sent to live with his mother's ex-lover who now rules a mob of thugs.  It's supposed to be set in England but was filmed entirely in California.  Granger detested director Fritz Lang and they had many a row.  It clearly didn't look as expensive as most of Granger's films and the studio didn't take much interest in promoting it.

He reunited for his last film with his wife in Footsteps in the Fog (1955).  She played a maid in Victorian England who witnesses her employer (Granger) murder his wife and blackmails him.  It was a decent little thriller.  

The following year he made his first western, The Last Hunt (1956), again costarring Robert Taylor, who, this time, was the villain.  They star as two buffalo hunters who duke fight over a lovely Indian maiden (Debra Paget).  The buffalo killing scenes  were hard to watch.  Taylor stole the show.  Director Richard Brooks would have a connection with Granger in four years that was far more personal.

Maneater Ava Gardner became a rare platonic female friend

Bhowani Junction (1956) was a big roadshow production for MGM and the studio pulled out all the stops.  Director George Cukor and stars Granger, Ava Gardner and Bill Travers took a stab at showcasing the chaos caused by the British withdrawal from India in 1947.  Cukor was displeased with Granger's hiring.  He said he wanted an actor, not just a movie star.  Funny but while he was working with Gardner, her husband, Frank Sinatra, was working with Simmons in Guys and Dolls.

His last starring role in a successful film was as John Wayne's gold-mining partner in the comedy western North to Alaska (1960).  That same year he and Simmons got a divorce.  She had fallen in love with Richard Brooks, director of one of her finest performances as Sister Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry... remembering he was Granger's director four years earlier in The Last Hunt.  Other factors, of course, were also at play... movie work that kept them apart for months, money problems and the ranch.  And right in there was the fact that Simmons' career had eclipsed his.  She made better films and was more highly regarded.  That wasn't good for the Granger ego, which, per his own admission, was substantial.

Even though the end of the marriage was not particularly acrimonious, he didn't want to run into her around Hollywood so he moved back to Europe.  He was also unhappy with his career.  For thirty more years Granger would find work in chiefly German,  Italian and Spanish films with a few stops in his homeland.  Regardless of where the films were made, one thing they all had in common was they were not very good.  Again his ego would not let him accept good character roles in good films that might have sustained and enhanced his reputation.  He would rather have had leading roles in schlock.  Too bad.

In reviewing his more illustrious American career, to a certain degree, the same could be said.  I love swashbucklers and most all adventure films but if the leading actor in them is known mainly for that, it's not going to be a stellar career.  What he became known for in the industry is the man who turned down roles in better films, such as From Here to Eternity, A Star Is Born (I expect his good buddy Mason thanked him) and Ben-Hur, among others.  

So uninteresting, I suppose, was his life after 1960 that he didn't cover any of it in his bio.  His was married a third time in 1964, which lasted for five years.  He did a lot of television programs in the last 20 years or so of his life.

There were those who probably thought he'd die of lung cancer given his three-pack-a-day smoking for 40 years.  But he died of prostate cancer in Santa Monica, California, in 1993.  He was 80 years old.

Stewart Granger (Jimmy) filled my young years with joy and wonderment.  I thought he was rakishly handsome and dashing.  He had the good sense to laugh at himself and what a hearty laugh it was.  A great actor?  Of course not but he was a most entertaining one... and I think that's really the point.