Born in England on May 6^th 1913, James Stewart, in later life he found his name would already have been taken by a Hollywood star and he would later change his to Stewart Granger. With acting in his family, his grandfather was Luigi Lablache, on completing his education at Epsom College in Surrey, England, Granger went on to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and studied acting at the Webber-Douglas School of Dramatic Art and began getting work as an extra in British films.Granger’s film debut was as an extra in 1933 and had his first starring role in the period drama, ‘The Man in Grey’ in 1943 which also starred Margaret Lockwood and James Mason. It was this role that saw Granger rising to the top in Britain and prompted him to make the move to Hollywood in the 1950’s.

With his tall, dark, handsome and dignified appearance Granger came to the attention of Hollywood and an MGM who had him under a contract from 1950 until 1960. He was soon snapped up to star in a series of romantic, adventurous roles such as ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’ which also starred Deborah Kerr, James Mason and Robert Douglas. ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ once again had Granger starring opposite Kerr in 1950 and ‘Scaramouch’ brought him together with Janet Leigh and Eleanor Parker.

Although his main genre of movie was swashbuckling Granger could also hold his own when cast in a comedy role as he displayed in his performance in ‘North to Alaska’ with John Wayne.During his life Stewart was married three times. His first marriage was to Elspeth March which lasted ten years from 1938 through 1948 and together the couple produced two children, Jamie and Lindsay.

In 1950 Granger walked up the aisle once again, this time with fellow actress, Jean Simmons. Once again the marriage was doomed after ten years and produce one child. Within four years Granger married again, Caroline Le Cerf was his third and final wife with whom he remained for five years and together they had one daughter, Samantha.

After freelancing in Europe during the 1960s and 1970s Granger began to appear frequently in television movies and one of his last roles was as Prince Philip the husband of Queen Elizabeth II  in ‘The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana’ when Diana’s character was portrayed by Catherine Oxenberg, Olivia De Havilland played the Queen Mother and the Queen was played by Dana Wynter.

ABB