Jimmy Stewart’s Daughters Today, 74, Open up About Their Dad—and the Brothers They Lost Too Soon
A look at Jimmy Stewart’s children—and what his twin daughters say about life with a Hollywood legend
It was a wonderful life for Oscar-winning actor, Jimmy Stewart, as the loving husband of his wife of 45 years, Gloria, and father of four children: sons Ronald and Michael and twin daughters, Kelly and Judy.
Stewart became one of the most beloved stars of all time, known best for his everyman roles in films like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). The characters he portrayed often had strong morals, which often echoed the life he led off-screen.
“My dad always picked roles that were true to himself,” daughter Kelly Stewart-Hartcourt shared. “He never played a horrible villain. He never played super selfish.”
Stewart was long considered an honorable and loyal man. Even President Harry S. Truman famously said, “If Bess [his wife] and I had a son, we’d want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart,” after watching It’s A Wonderful Life.
So, it was no surprise to see Stewart embark on a 45-year-long marriage with Gloria Hatrick McLean and to take on the role of a devoted father to her sons, whom he adopted after marrying McLean, and his twin daughters.
What follows is a look at Stewart’s children and an opportunity to see how they felt about him as a father.
Meet Jimmy Stewart’s daughters today: twins Judy and Kelly
Just two years after Stewart and McLean tied the knot in 1949, they welcomed twin daughters Judy and Kelly on May 7, 1951. Now 74, his daughters weren’t frequently in the spotlight like Stewart was, though they made brief appearances on shows like Password and The Mike Douglas Show.
In 1977, Kelly married Alexander Harcourt and in 1979, Judy married her husband, Steven Merrill. Both daughters kept the last name of Stewart and hyphenated it with their married names. Judy has two sons, David and John.
Kelly has spoken about her father over the years, sharing a bit of insight into what he was like behind-the-scenes. She also confirmed that Stewart was as much of an everyman as he seemed to be in public as well as on-screen.
“I’ve had people come up to me and tell me they wrote him a letter when they were in high school and got a personal response back,” Kelly Stewart-Hartcourt shared. “He had a secretary helping him, of course, but he signed all the letters. I never saw him say ‘no’ to an autograph seeker, even when there were crowds of people. It was actually a kick to get that glimpse of dad’s fame.”
The heartbreaking story of Jimmy Stewart’s sons
Jimmy Stewart wasn’t just a girl-dad: he also had two sons. Soon after the actor married Gloria in 1949, he adopted her sons from her first marriage to Edward Beale McLean Jr. Michael and Ronald were ages 3 and 5, respectively, when Stewart and McLean met and he quickly fell in love with all three of them.
Stewart embraced being a father to her sons and was ready to adopt them as his own upon their marriage in 1949. Becoming a father and providing a stable home was a dream of Stewart’s, especially after living a long life as a bachelor.
Unfortunately, Ronald died at age 24 in 1969 while serving as a U.S. Marine Corps. 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam, potentially influenced by his father’s longtime career in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
“I don’t think there’s a day goes by that I don’t think of Ron,” Jimmy Stewart shared in 1982. “He wanted to be a Marine. And I encouraged it. I thought it was wonderful. He wanted to serve his country … I don’t think it’s a tragedy. It’s a loss … it’s a terrible, terrible loss, but tragic, no. He died for his country.”
Stewart’s other stepson, Michael, lived a long life out of the public eye. In 2022, he died after battling cancer at the age of 75.
Kelly has spoken highly of her father over the years, sharing, “Dad as a father was great, because he never lectured us on how to be good…He taught us by the way he lived. And he never brought his work home. He came through the door and Hollywood stayed out.”
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