BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JULY 2, 1997) JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: The stammering, the "aw shucks" actor who always gave the impression he was just one of the rest of us died this morning at his home in Beverly Hills. Jimmy Stewart was 89 years old. His legacy, his very many films, of which his own favorite, and of course many of ours, was "It's a Wonderful Life."</s>JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: Jimmy Stewart was American hero. He was one of America's favorite actors. He was someone you thought you knew. He was that uncle or the dad or the grandparent that you loved and felt comfortable with. And he made you feel comfortable when you saw him on screen. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JULY 2, 1997) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was one of my favorites. I've got about 15 of his movies at home and love them. He meant everything good about motion pictures.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of good actors out there today, but the old ones, you know, the old movies, the classics, they're irreplaceable.</s>MORET: He was really part of old Hollywood, when Hollywood was golden. And he was part of that era of larger-than-life stars. And he had a vulnerability and a strength at the same time. And I think that's why when he passed away, people look back at his career and they see the legacy of film and they smile.
CNN 20: Jimmy Stewart Dies, July 2, 1997