He helps him in every way he can, and Jimmy Stewart had the ability to help people in a lot of ways and he really did. What is remarkable about Its a Wonderful Life is how well it holds up over the years its one of those ageless movies, like Casablanca or The Third Man. “He (Stewart) was just a man who cared about his fellow man, and it comes through as George Bailey,' said Grimes. 'He comes through in the same way. She's traveled the country speaking with fans of the film and gathering stories from those connected to Stewart, including longtime friends and those who served with him in World War II. Only after it lapsed into the public domain in 1973 and became a Christmastime TV perennial did it don the mantle of a holiday classic. Grimes has dedicated much of her life in recent decades to preserving the legacy of 'It's a Wonderful Life.' She's an adviser for the museum honoring the film in Seneca Falls, New York, which was launched in 2010 with items from her personal collection. Capra's first production through his newly-formed Liberty Films, It's a Wonderful Life lost money in its original run, when it was percieved as a fairly downbeat view of small-town life. He was just such a great person to work with.” That’s his responsibility or her responsibility with a child in the scene - that’s the way it works,' said Grimes. 'And he was able to do that so easily and we all respected him, but (he) also had a way of making you feel important and making you feel like you’re actually the star of that scene. He just had a way of doing that. Potter, a man who would foreclose on the whole town if he had the. Lionel Barrymore is at his Snidely Whiplash best as avaricious banker Mr. 'I attributed all of that to him because it’s the star that can make the chemistry happen and to work it and to make it work. James Stewart is at his finest as the distraught George Baily, a man about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve until he runs into the helpful, elderly Angel Clarence (Henry Travers). While she and the actors who played her Bailey siblings were only in a handful of scenes in Capra's epic film, the connection between Grimes and Stewart, her on-screen father, is still undeniable all these decades later.

It's a wonderful life