Beulah Bondi and James Stewart’s 4 Classic Mother-Son Film Pairings

Beulah Bondi played James Stewart’s mother in four classic films in the 1930s and ’40s. Their pairing began with two movies in 1938, the historical drama Of Human Hearts and the comedy Vivacious Lady. They were onscreen together again the following year in the political drama Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and reprised their roles as mother and son in the 1946 comedy-drama and perennial holiday favorite It’s a Wonderful Life.

The four films couldn’t have been more different from one another, and the mother-son dynamic varied considerably from one to the next. But with their natural chemistry, Bondi and Stewart created an enduring bond that made audiences feel like part of the family.

Beulah Bondi (1889–1981) was an American character actress whose movie career spanned more than three decades. She took on a variety of roles but is best known for her portrayals of mothers and strong matriarchal figures. Though rarely the lead, she was one of the most respected character actresses of her time and was a two-time Academy Award nominee.

Bondi was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, and began her career on the stage before moving to film in the early 1930s, when she was in her 40s. In her first screen role, the 1931 drama Street Scene, Bondi reprised the role she played in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play from which the movie was adapted. Other movie roles followed quickly.

In 1936, Bondi received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Rachel Jackson, the wife of President Andrew Jackson, in The Gorgeous Hussy. James Stewart also appeared in the movie—the only time Bondi and he appeared together in roles other than mother and son.

In 1938, Bondi again collaborated with Stewart in their first two mother-son pairings, Of Human Hearts, released in February, and Vivacious Lady, released in May. Bondi received her second Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Of Human Hearts. She played Stewart’s mother again in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1938) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

In addition to her two Academy Award nominations, Bondi won a Primetime Emmy Award for a 1978 appearance on the television show The Waltons. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. She is remembered for the warmth and dignity that she projected onscreen throughout her long career.

James Stewart (1908–1997) was one of the most beloved actors of the “Golden Age of Hollywood.” Known for his distinctive drawl, lanky frame, and on-screen sincerity, Stewart built a career spanning more than five decades. His films encompassed a wide range of film genres, including westerns, suspense thrillers, family films, biographies, and screwball comedies.

Born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Stewart graduated from Princeton University in 1932 with a degree in architecture. He passed up a scholarship for graduate study and instead joined a theater company. After a modest Broadway career, he signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and headed for Hollywood.

Stewart was soon appearing in numerous films, including eight in 1936 alone. At first, he had mostly small roles, including his role as “Rowdy” Dow in The Gorgeous Hussy, his first joint appearance with Beulah Bondi. But he quickly established himself in more major roles. Both of his 1938 pictures with Bondi,  Of Human Hearts and Vivacious Lady, were commercial and critical successes, but he became a star with another 1938 release, Frank Capra’s screwball comedy You Can’t Take It with You.

Stewart’s next film with Capra, and with Bondi, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, earned him the first of his five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He won the award the following year for his performance in the screwball romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story.

He interrupted his Hollywood career to serve as a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, rising to the rank of colonel. His first film after the war was It’s a Wonderful Life, for which he was again nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. He received two more nominations for subsequent films.

Many of Stewart’s films have become classics. Five (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Rear Window (1954), and Vertigo (1958)) are featured on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 best American movies of all time.

Stewart received numerous awards and honors in his career, including a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and an Honorary Academy Award “for his fifty years of memorable performances, for his high ideals both on and off the screen, with respect and affection of his colleagues.” Like Beulah Bondi, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Their stars are only a few feet apart.

The first movie pairing Beulah Bondi and James Stewart as mother and son is Of Human Hearts, a 1938 drama from M-G-M directed by Clarence Brown. The film, which is based on the 1917 novel Benefits Forgot by Honoré Morrow, is set before and during the American Civil War.

The film follows Jason Wilkins (played by Stewart), the intelligent and ambitious son of a poor but principled minister, the Reverend Ethan Wilkins (Walter Huston), and his wife Mary (Bondi). When the film opens, the family is arriving in Pine Hill, Ohio, a tiny town on the Ohio River, where Ethan has accepted a call to become the pastor of the local church.

Jason immediately sees that living in Pine Hill will be very different from the more prosperous life the family had enjoyed in Maryland. One of the first things the family sees is the burned-out husk of the schoolhouse. When Mary Wilkins asks why it hasn’t been rebuilt, the shopkeeper, George Ames (Guy Kibbee), explains, “We figured too much book learning was bad for children.”

Jason resents the family’s poverty and struggles to adapt to the limited circumstances they’re living in. The town’s alcoholic doctor, Dr. Charles Shingle (Charles Coburn), befriends him and gives him magazines to read, but Jason’s father won’t allow them in the house. Without Ethan’s knowledge, Mary sells some silverware to buy Jason a subscription to Harper’s Monthly, but Ethan objects to that, too.

Jason soon becomes enthralled with a medical book that he gets from Dr. Shingle and decides that he wants to become a doctor. After fighting with his father, he tells his mother that he’s taking a steamboat to Baltimore to study medicine. He says he doesn’t want to waste his life in Pine Hill as his father has done and instead wants to make something of himself. As she says goodbye, Mary encourages him but also reminds him not to forget the values that she and Ethan taught him.

Despite her poverty, Mary supports Jason and sends him money throughout his medical studies, even after Ethan dies and she is left practically destitute. But Jason is wrapped up in his own ambitions and increasingly neglects his mother. Ultimately, when Jason is serving as a doctor in the Civil War, Mary assumes he’s been killed and writes to President Abraham Lincoln (John Carradine) to ask where he’s buried. Lincoln summons him and admonishes him for his selfishness.

Jason takes Lincoln’s words to heart and writes to his mother. When he is given leave from the Army, he returns home. As mother and son are reunited, Mary thanks God for her blessings.

The mother–son dynamic between Mary and Jason is the emotional core of Of Human Hearts. As Jason grows into a self-absorbed young man, Bondi conveys the pain of a mother who loves unconditionally yet suffers neglect. Stewart, meanwhile, realistically embodies Jason’s pride and eventual remorse. Their strong performances make their ultimate reconciliation a satisfying and powerful conclusion to the film.

Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes

The second movie pairing Beulah Bondi and James Stewart as mother and son is Vivacious Lady, a romantic comedy directed by George Stevens for RKO Radio Pictures. Vivacious Lady was released in May 1938, three months after Of Human Hearts.

Stewart stars as Peter Morgan, Jr., a shy, mild-mannered associate professor of botany at Old Sharon University. His father (Charles Coburn), the president of the university, has sent Peter to New York to fetch his wayward cousin, Keith (James Ellison). Peter tracks Keith to a nightclub and is entranced by the vivacious lady of the title, singer Francey Brent (Ginger Rogers). Keith is in love with Francey, but Peter and Francey have an instant attraction and go out together for a night on the town. The next day, they impulsively marry, and Peter takes her on the train to Old Sharon to meet his parents.

But when Peter gets back to Old Sharon, he struggles to break the news of his marriage to his domineering father, who has already chosen a fiancée for him. Mr. Morgan assumes that Francey is Keith’s lover and refuses to discuss the matter with Peter, who is tongue-tied by his father’s authority and quick temper.

Mrs. Martha Morgan (Bondi), by contrast, is warm and sympathetic to Francey, but she has long endured her husband’s controlling nature, rarely voicing her own thoughts. Instead, as it later turns out, she’s been feigning heart trouble for years to avoid confrontations with him.

Complications mount as Peter continues to hide his marriage to Francey from his father and his colleagues. But Francey refuses to be hidden away. Tensions build to the point where Francey says she’s had enough. This finally jolts Peter into action. He stands up to his father and declares his love for Francey. Mr. Morgan reacts with fury, until Mrs. Morgan speaks up and tells him she won’t stand by and let him ruin Peter’s life as he’s ruined hers. For once, Mr. Morgan is left speechless.

Just as she did in Of Human Hearts, Bondi plays a mother in Vivacious Lady who supports her son vis-à-vis his difficult relationship with his strong father. Although Bondi’s maternal role is played mostly for comedy in Vivacious Lady, her ability to balance maternal authority with affection complements Stewart’s gentle charm. And her transformation mirrors his, as they both ultimately find their voices to express their independence.

Running time: 90 minutes

One year after Of Human Hearts and Vivacious Lady, Beulah Bondi and James Stewart again played mother and son in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Frank Capra directed this 1939 Columbia Pictures political comedy-drama based on an unpublished story by Lewis R. Foster. The movie sparked controversy among some government officials because of what one called its “generally unflattering portrayal” of the government.

Stewart stars as Jefferson “Jeff” Smith, the idealistic but naive leader of a patriotic boys’ organization, the Boy Rangers, in a Midwestern state. He lives with his widowed mother (Bondi), identified only as “Ma Smith.”

When a Senator unexpectedly dies in office, corrupt political boss Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) wants Governor Hopper (Guy Kibbee) to appoint a yes man to fill the remainder of the term. The governor’s sons, who are members of the Boy Rangers, lobby him to appoint Jeff to the seat. The governor yields to his sons, convincing himself, as well as Taylor, that Jeff will be easily manipulated.

After a patriotic celebratory dinner, where the Boy Rangers present him with a briefcase as his mother sits beaming by his side, Jeff goes to Washington full of admiration for the nation’s democratic institutions. The senior senator from his state, Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), whom Jeff greatly admires, mentors him in the ways of Washington.

With the help of his assistant, Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur), Jeff proposes a bill to establish a boys’ camp in his state. What he doesn’t know is that the proposed site is part of a corrupt land deal tied to a dam project put together by Taylor, which Paine is secretly backing. When Jeff discovers the truth, Paine betrays him and joins Taylor in framing Smith for corruption.

Facing expulsion from the Senate, Jeff is demoralized and ready to give up, until Saunders convinces him to fight. With her guidance, he launches a one-man filibuster, speaking for hours on end to defend his integrity and expose the graft of Paine and other Senators implicated in the scheme.

Saunders, who has fallen in love with Jeff, enlists Ma Smith to rally Jeff’s constituents to his side. With the local Boy Rangers and sympathetic townspeople, she helps spread the truth about Jeff’s integrity and the corruption behind the dam project. The Taylor machine fights back, even resorting to violence.

Ultimately, Jeff’s passionate plea for truth, decency, and democracy wins the admiration of the public and shames Paine into confessing the corruption and clearing Jeff’s name. As the movie ends, Jeff collapses from exhaustion, as the chastened Senators and the spectators applaud him.

Although Beulah Bondi’s role in the film is relatively brief, her portrayal of Ma Smith plays an important part in understanding Jeff’s character. From the outset, Ma is shown to be a proud mother, devoted to her son. Through her warmth and sincerity, Bondi’s Ma Smith embodies the wholesome values of home and community that Jeff ultimately defends so passionately in his filibuster. She is his moral anchor.

Running time: 129 minutes

Audiences had to wait until December 1946 to see Beulah Bondi and James Stewart onscreen together again as mother and son. Before that, Stewart starred in nine movies after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, including The Philadelphia Story (1940), for which he won an Oscar. But from 1942 to 1945, he was out of Hollywood while serving in the military during World War II.

Bondi, meanwhile, appeared in 17 movies, often playing mothers or matriarchal figures. Her roles included a warm and affectionate mother in Our Town (1940), a loving grandmother in The Southerner (1945), and an uncharacteristically cold and unsympathetic mother in Remember the Night (1940).

After the war, Frank Capra, who also served, reunited Bondi and Stewart to play a mother and son again, in It’s a Wonderful Life, a fantasy comedy-drama that has become a beloved holiday classic. The film, based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s story “The Greatest Gift,” stars Stewart as George Bailey and Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey, with Bondi playing George’s mother, Mrs. Bailey.

The film tells the story of George Bailey, a kind and self-sacrificing man from the small town of Bedford Falls. Since he was a boy reading National Geographic, George has dreamed of traveling the world and building great things. But time and again, he gives up his dreams to help others—first taking over his late father’s small Building and Loan business, then dedicating his life to keeping it out of the hands of greedy banker Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore).

Along the way, with his mother’s gentle urging, George courts and marries Mary Hatch, and together they have four children. George is a happy man, well-known and respected in Bedford Falls, a pillar of the community.

After years of sacrifice and responsibility, a crisis strikes on Christmas Eve when George’s absent-minded Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) misplaces $8,000 from the Building and Loan, just after the bank examiner (Charles Halton) has arrived to audit the books. Facing scandal and ruin, George feels hopeless. He lashes out at his family and everyone around him and wishes he had never been born.

George’s prayer is answered by a gentle guardian angel named Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), who shows George what the world would be like if he had never existed. Bedford Falls is transformed into a dark, heartless place called Pottersville, and those he loved are all worse off without him. No one recognizes him, not even Mary or his mother. Ma Bailey, who in “real life” is happy and warm and devoted to her family, now runs a seedy boardinghouse. She slams the door in George’s face.

Realizing how much good he’s done and how many lives he’s touched, George begs to live again. His wish is granted, and he returns home to find the people of Bedford Falls rallying together to replace the lost money. Surrounded by his family and friends, George joyfully embraces life, realizing that he is a truly rich man.

Even though Bondi’s role as George’s mother in It’s a Wonderful Life is small, her interactions with George illustrate the mutual love that Ma Bailey and her son have for each other. When George sees her transformed into a hardened, bitter woman in the fantasy sequence, it makes an indelible impression on him. It is probably the most poignant scene in the sequence: if even his own mother wants nothing to do with him, it is indeed time to go back to his wonderful life.

Running time: 130 minutes

Few screen pairings in classic Hollywood feel as authentic as Beulah Bondi and James Stewart playing mother and son. Across four films—Of Human Hearts (1938), Vivacious Lady (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)—the two actors display a natural chemistry and rapport that makes their on-screen relationship feel real, deepening Stewart’s characters and giving Bondi some of her most memorable roles.

Bondi and Stewart’s recurring screen pairings created a sense of familiarity and continuity for audiences. Despite their differences in tone and genre, the four movies document an evolution of the Bondi-Stewart screen relationship: from moral conflict (Of Human Hearts), to comedic tension (Vivacious Lady), to supportive background (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), to reassuring stability (It’s a Wonderful Life).

Each of the four movies is worth seeing. They boast excellent casts in addition to Bondi and Stewart, and the stories are all entertaining. The two Capra films, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life, are widely regarded as classics, not to be missed. But do yourself a favor and watch them all.