Stars and Fans Pay Respects to Stewart

Venice resident Bob Morton remembers Jimmy Stewart as humble and down to earth, someone who opened his own front door when Morton came to drive him to charity events.

Morton didn’t know the venerable actor well--he occasionally spoke to Stewart when he worked at an annual fund-raiser that bore Stewart’s name.

But on Monday, Morton summed up the sentiments of many who loved the actor: “Jimmy Stewart was a gentleman. There are few people like him in the world, especially in the acting profession.”

Decked out in a Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon T-shirt, Morton was one of about 300 tourists, stargazers and Stewart admirers who gathered solemnly outside the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church on Monday to watch the parade of mourners and celebrities who came to grieve for the beloved actor.

Reverence and respect marked the private afternoon service for Stewart at the Mediterranean-style church on Rodeo Drive. Stewart, 89, died Wednesday at his Beverly Hills home.

Stewart was interred at Forest Lawn in Glendale during a private service Monday morning.

Several hundred people attended the half-hour memorial service in the church where Stewart worshiped and sometimes sang in the choir.

Half a dozen stiff-backed members of a U.S. Air Force honor guard saluted at the door during the arrival of Stewart’s family and friends. Guests included Nancy Reagan, Bob Hope, June Allyson and Carol Burnett.

Family members thanked Stewart’s friends for their support of him, especially after his wife, Gloria, passed away in 1994.

“Like him, we might take a cue from his favorite film--’No man is poor who has friends,’ ” said Stewart’s daughter, Kelly Harcourt, during the service, referring to a line from his film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

At the end of the service, mourners filed out to the patio after the organ played “Auld Lang Syne,” the theme that ended Frank Capra’s classic film.

“It was very nice,” said Edie Wasserman as she and her husband, Lew Wasserman, former MCA chief and Stewart’s agent, left the church. “When they played taps, we all fell apart.”

Many of the looky-loos outside said they stumbled upon the service by accident, drawn by the battery of media cameras lining Rodeo Drive in front of the church. Tourists craned their necks at dark-glassed limousines and flashed their cameras over their heads as guests walked up the church steps.

Despite the spectacle, the crowd remained subdued, and many people hushed groups of teenagers laughing and yelling as they cruised past in vans.

For many, Monday’s service was a chance to reflect on the era Stewart and his films represented.

“I came for Jimmy,” said Claire Levy, a Beverly Hills resident. “His death meant the passing of a certain quality--he was a gentleman, a romantic. We don’t have a lot of that anymore.”

“This is so touristy,” sighed her friend Margo Kent. “There’s not the glamour you would expect at his funeral.”

Most of the tourists said they were thrilled to have the chance to pay their respects to Stewart amid the spectacle of celebrity-watching.

“We were driving to Santa Monica, saw the crowd and pulled over,” said Barbara Rosenberg, 45, a jeweler from Philadelphia. “We’ve never really seen any movie stars.”

But, she added, the event was more than an a chance to star-gaze. “This is a big deal,” she said. “He’s had a really full life and a lasting impact. This is so sad.”

A few watching the quiet church during the service wiped away tears and sighed sadly. “This is the only person I’d do this for,” admitted Marijean Galloway, 39. “Of all the actors ever in Hollywood, he’s going to live in our hearts the longest. He represented the most of American idealism and great humanity and integrity.

“It’s a great loss for the world that his spirit is no longer in it. But hopefully, like in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ he’s an angel out there somewhere, caring about us.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.