Jimmy Stewart

As one of the many legions of actors who was privileged to work with Jimmy Stewart (obituary, July 3), my fondest memory of his graciousness was during a Western being filmed for television. Being newly arrived from Broadway and the London theater, I was apparently ill at ease in these heady surroundings and Stewart was just as obviously aware of it.

In that wonderful drawl that had enchanted a nation for more than half a century he approached me on the set one day and, crossing his booted ankles so that his feet rested on their sides, said, “Now, if you get too tired waiting for the director to yell ‘Action!’ and there’s no time to sit down, try this. It seems to work for me.”

It is redundant to say that he was an original, an American who personified everything good and noble about this country of ours but there is a pronounced value in repeating redundancies when it comes to someone like Jimmy Stewart.

FREDD WAYNE

Santa Monica

* I cried today. All that I know about what is good and decent is epitomized by the life and work of Stewart. When they question what values to teach to our children, the answer is Stewart’s.

My father, also a World War II flyer, was shot down and killed. From the 1950s I always pictured in my mind that had my father lived, Stewart is who he would have been like. I was too young to understand the loss as a child. Now I do. It hurts.

HARRY POLGAR

Downey

* As a regular listener to KNX’s nightly drama hour, I don’t feel that my week is complete without hearing Jimmy Stewart as Britt Poncett in “The Six-Shooter.” To this day, his gentle, nuanced work on that series distills what is so remarkable about radio as theater of the mind. And listeners who have never heard his hilarious turn in the parody of “Bend in the River” on the Jack Benny radio show have missed a real treat.

It was always a comfort for me to know that he was still with us. And once a week on the air, he always will be.

AMELIE FRANK