For most of his career, James Stewart was a paragon of small town American values.

But after he returned from WW2 he explored a darker, neurotic, even psychopathic side of his personality.

Scottie is a private investigator who falls in love with the girl he’s tailing, fails to save her life, then remoulds another woman into her image. But offscreen, Kim Novak reported Stewart was “wonderfully stable and sound”.

Greatest moment: Scottie sees the necklace and his world collapses – again.

Also see: George Bailey (It’s A Wonderful Life), Howard Kemp (The Naked Spur), LB Jefferies (Rear Window), Paul Biegler (Anatomy Of A Murder).