James “Jimmy” Stewart circa 1945.Photo:Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty
Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty
Jimmy Stewart’s voice lives on.
Thanks to the powers of AI, the lateIt’s a Wonderful Lifeactor, who died 26 years ago, is “voicing” a newChristmasbedtime story available on the the Calm app, titledIt’s a Wonderful Sleep Story.
“Thanks to the wonders of technology, beloved Hollywood legend James Stewart is here to narrate this new yet reassuringly timeless festive tale,“reads an official descriptionfor the 45-minute story.
The story itself opens with a voice sounding similar to Stewart’s saying, “Well, hello. I’m James Stewart, but, well, you can call me Jimmy.”
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“Tonight, I’m going to tell you a story,” the audio continues. “It’s a heartwarming story of love, of loss, of hope and of joy but most of all, it’s a wonderful sleep story.”
According toCNN, Calm produced and wrote the story, but the audio was created in conjunction withRespeecher, a voice-cloning company based out of Ukraine.
The company used “a few dozen minutes” of recordings featuring Stewart’s real voice combined with a voice actor reading the Calm story out loud to create the Stewart-like voice heard in the final version ofIt’s a Wonderful Sleep Story,per the outlet.
Stewart’s daughter Kelly Stewart Harcourt said in a Calm statement provided to CNN, “We are excited for our Dad to be the voice of Calm’s latest Sleep Story.”
“It’s amazing what technology can do and wonderfulto see Dad’s legacylive on this holiday season in new ways, like helping people find restful sleep and sweet dreams,” added Stewart Harcourt, 72.
Larry Simms, Jimmy Hawkins, James “Jimmy” Stewart, Donna Reed and Karolyn Grimes inIt’s a Wonderful Life(1946).Everett
Everett
Stewart’s illustrious career spanned 80 movies from 1935 to 1991, includingMr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939),The Philadelphia Story(1940) and severalAlfred Hitchcockfilms likeRear Window(1954),Rope(1957) andVertigo(1958). Later, he starred in Westerns includingThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance(1962) andCheyenne Autumn(1964).
In the 1946 holiday classicIt’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart plays George Bailey, a man with big dreams of getting out of his “crummy little town” of Bedford Falls, New York, until life throws him a series of curveballs and he considers ending his own life. But with a little help from a guardian angel named Clarence (Henry Travers), George begins to see everything he has to live for, including wife Mary (Donna Reed), their children and the lifelong friends he has gained as a result of his moral compass.
A decorated Army and Air Force veteran, Stewart married Gloria Hatrick McLean in 1949, and the two welcomed twin daughters: Kelly and Judy Stewart Merrill. Stewart also adopted his wife’s two sons from a previous marriage, Michael and Ronald McLean.
Stewart died in 1997 at age 89, just six years after his final film and three years after Hatrick McLean’s death at age 75, following nearly five decades years of marriage.
source: people.com
