In 1941, James Stewart became the first major actor in Hollywood to enlist in the military when the United States had entered World War II. He joined the Air Force and stayed out of the spotlight for five years. It wouldn’t be until 1946 that he returned to Hollywood to collaborate with his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” director Frank Capra, who had joined the Army and documented the war for the “Why We Fight” propaganda film series, to make what we now see as a Christmas classic in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Stewart’s George Bailey is pushed to the brink of suicide. Pressure comes at him from every corner — familial, economic, duty, and psychological — making him wish he had never been born. To play that part, James Stewart really had to look deep inside to find the parts of himself to connect to those emotions. The horrors of war, no matter how righteous you think it is, will stay with the combatants, informing the rest of their lives. Bravely, he allowed himself to tap into that trauma and pain for his performance, most notably in the scene where he makes one last plea to god. Stewart told Guideposts back in 1987 of that scene:

“As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all … Frank, who loved spontaneity in his films, was ecstatic. He wanted a close-up of me saying that prayer, but was sensitive enough to know that my breaking down was real and that repeating it in another take was unlikely.”

Though not a hit, the film pointed in the direction Stewart was headed as an actor, ready to explore his darker sides.