At a Glance
- Carol Burnett calls Jimmy Stewart the sweetest, most humble star she ever met
- Stewart guest-starred on The Carol Burnett Show in the late 1960s
- Why it matters: The story flips the cliché that meeting idols leads to disappointment
Carol Burnett got to meet her childhood movie-star idol and discovered he was even kinder than she had dreamed. In a new interview with Laura Dern, Burnett, 92, said Jimmy Stewart was the rare A-list legend who stayed humble.
The Meeting That Mattered
During a conversation for Interview, Dern told Burnett she radiated “the kind of power” that lifts everyone on set. The compliment reminded Burnett of Stewart.
“One of the nicest people I ever met in my life was my movie star idol, and that was Jimmy Stewart,” she told Dern. “Everybody loved him.”
Burnett stressed that Stewart’s fame never went to his head.
“There was nobody that I ever met who was that big of a star who was so humble,” she said.
A Lasting Impression
Burnett praised both Stewart’s body of work and his character.
“God knows he did some wonderful work and made some fantastic movies, but there was nobody that I ever knew that was sweeter, and that’s just who he was,” she added.
From Broadway to Bombers to Burnett
Stewart’s career arc stretched from Depression-era Broadway to World War II combat and post-war Hollywood gold:
- 1932 – Broadway debut in Carry Nation
- World War II – enlisted in U.S. Army Air Corps, rose to commanding officer
- Academy Award – Best Actor for 1940’s The Philadelphia Story
- Oscar nominations – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Harvey (1950), Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
A Shared Spotlight
Stewart eventually appeared on The Carol Burnett Show during its 1967-1978 run, cementing a full-circle moment for Burnett.
Childhood Fandom
News Of Los Angeles previously reported that Burnett spent most of her childhood with her grandmother, Mabel White. The elder White often took Burnett and half-sister Chrissie to the cinema, where Burnett first watched Stewart light up the screen alongside Joan Crawford and Fred Astaire.
Comedy Royalty
By the mid-1950s Burnett’s own star was rising:
- 1956 – first regular TV role as Celia on Stanley
- 1957 – breakout parody song “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles”
- Emmy win – for work on The Garry Moore Show
That first Emmy became the first of many honors for the comedienne.
Key Takeaways
- Burnett’s encounter with Stewart validates the power of meeting one’s heroes-when the hero is genuinely kind.
- Stewart’s humility, even at the height of his fame, left a deeper mark on Burnett than his filmography.
- The mutual respect between the two icons bridged generations of Hollywood talent.
