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For a long time in the first golden age of American cinema, there were many movie stars, all of whom had a defined place. Cary Grant was, with an exception or two, the debonair, suave gentleman. Clark Gable was a raffish prankster with looks that could kill. James Stewart, however, was neither of those things. He was the epitome of the phrase "Aw, shucks." For many decades, Stewart was the boy next door all grown up, even in his darker films. His folksy accent, his goofy charm, and his body of work made James Stewart one of the greatest film stars Hollywood ever knew.

This week's A-List profiles James Stewart because this week marks his birthday. On May 20, 1908, Stewart was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Despite his longevity in the film world, it took Stewart until the late 1930s to hit the big time, with such films as You Can't Take It With You, Destry Rides Again, and The Shop Around The Corner, a film that was remade in the late 1990s with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, called You've Got Mail. Suffice to say, the 1940 version of the film didn't feature America Online...at all.

Though he's known best for that boy-next-door charm, James Stewart took a turn in his career after he served time in World War II. His first major film after World War II was 1946's It's A Wonderful Life, a film that will not only be discussed in this A-List but has lots of depressing stuff to get through before the infamous run down the snowy street as Stewart shouts "Merry Christmas" to his little town of Bedford Falls. After It's A Wonderful Life, Stewart ended up working alongside directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann. His forays into darker suspense thrillers and Westerns didn't end up wiping out the still-dominant picture of Stewart as a younger man, but many of his classics happened once he ended up choosing the darker side of Hollywood.

He's arguably one of the most American movie stars; Grant, of course, wasn't American by blood, and someone like Gable didn't seem like someone who you could actually know. Stewart got branded the boy next door because, honestly, it was easy to imagine. He was positioned as the kind of decent, forthright man who may only exist in myth, but someone like Stewart sold it very well, even if he was playing a guy who thought he was talking to a huge rabbit. This week's A-List will deal with many of Stewart's famous collaborations with specific directors, so don't be surprised to see the names Hitchcock and Capra pop up a few times. So, without further ado, the A-List's look at James Stewart.

Vertigo

When most people think of James Stewart, they may not think of his role as John "Scottie" Ferguson, the severely screwed-up detective who falls in love with a woman who may or may not already be dead, and then...well, I've said too much. If you haven't seen this 1958 thriller, directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock, you must check this one out. Of all the films mentioned on this list, Vertigo is the one to see. It's a complex drama about two (or three?) people whose own neuroses and fears destroy their only shot at relatively normal relationships. Scottie is a detective in San Francisco who has a crippling case of vertigo, so much so that he can't even save a policeman from falling to his death. When an old friend recruits him to keep an eye on his potentially straying wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), Scottie ends up doing much more: he falls hopelessly in love with her. That, of course, turns out to be the least of his problems. More than any of Hitchcock's films, the story focuses on a man's obsession with the perfect woman, and obsession itself. Scottie has moments of clarity, moments where he's a relatable human being, but far too often, he's as cold and distant as the cool blondes that Hitchcock (who could easily stand in for Scottie) and the most self-destructive hero ever created for one of the Master of Suspense's movies. Again, and I am so serious, as soon as you're done with this article...see Vertigo. See it!

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