Today in History – Hollywood icon James Stewart stars in Harvey

CAIRO – 13 October 2017: October 13 marks the anniversary of the release of 1950’s Harvey, which features beloved Hollywood icon James Stewart in an oddball comedy/drama about a man who sees a talking rabbit.

Based on a Pulitzer-Award winning play of the same name, Harvey was adapted to the Silver Screen by director Henry Koster.

Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, a bachelor living in a small town, who forms a close and strong friendship with a 6-foot tall talking invisible Rabbit named Harvey, who only Dowd and a select few people can see.

Dowd is adamant that Harvey really exists, which drives his sister worried enough to try and send him to a mental institution. The strangeness of this situation winds up helping bring Dowd’s family closer together.Since its release, Harvey became a beloved classic, winning an Oscar award with Stewart being nominated for one more.

While he was better known for starring in Frank Capra’s‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, Stewart considered the role of Dowd to be his all time favorite. He reprised the role twenty years later for Broadway, and also introduced the film’s VHS release in 1990, which became one of the best selling tapes of that year.