Meet Jimmy Stewart’s 4 children: from his stepsons impacted by war to twin daughters

Jimmy became a dad immediately upon marrying Gloria in 1949, becoming a stepfather to her two sons from her first marriage.

The former model was married to Edward Beale McLean Jr. until 1948, welcoming son Ronald in 1944 and Michael in 1946. They were five and three years old respectively when their mom married the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington actor.

Jimmy soon adopted them as his own. Not much is known about Ronald and Michael’s childhood and early adult years. However, tragedy struck in 1969, when Ronald was killed in action in Vietnam at the age of 24.

Michael himself lived a long and fulfilling life, although remained out of the public eye. He survived his parents and passed away in 2022 from a battle with cancer, welcoming sons of his own.

In 1951, Jimmy and Gloria welcomed twin daughters, Judy and Kelly. Now 74, the pair shied away from acting, although made brief appearances as themselves in game shows like Password and the 2017 TV movie James Stewart, Robert Mitchum: The Two Faces of America.

Now going by Kelly Harcourt and Judy Merrill, not much is known about their lives now either. However, Kelly has given a few interviews attesting to her father’s legacy. She has been married to Alexander Harcourt since 1977, and has revealed that her twin sister is a mom to sons as well.

Kelly became an anthropologist, and told Nick Thomas for his book Raised by the Stars: “The life of an actor didn’t really look like that much fun to me.”

“We went to dad’s set a couple of times (and) it looked very tedious to me – short takes, just a few minutes long, after which people come rushing up to you, touching up make-up and hair, hovering and fussing and looking. I remember thinking, I could never do this.”

She also told ABC10 that while Jimmy was never a hands-on father, he “led by example,” and tried to keep his immense fame outside the household so as to give his kids a more normal upbringing. 

“Dad as a father was great, because he never lectured us on how to be good…He taught us by the way he lived,” Kelly shared. “And he never brought his work home. He came through the door and so Hollywood stayed out.”