Paul Stewart (actor)

Paul Stewart (born Paul Sternberg; March 13, 1908 – February 17, 1986) was an American character actor, director and producer who worked in theatre, radio, films and television.

He frequently portrayed cynical and sinister characters throughout his career.

A friend and associate of Orson Welles for many years, Stewart helped Welles get his first job in radio and was associate producer of the celebrated radio program "The War of the Worlds", in which he also performed.

One of the Mercury Theatre players who made their film debut in Welles's landmark film Citizen Kane, Stewart portrayed Kane's butler and valet, Raymond.

He appeared in 50 films, and performed in or directed some 5,000 radio and television shows.

Paul Stewart was born in Manhattan, New York, on March 13, 1908, as Paul Sternberg.

His parents were Maurice D. Sternberg, a salesman and credit agent for a textile manufacturer, and Nathalie C. (née Nathanson) Sternberg; both were born in Minneapolis.

Stewart attended public school and completed two years at Columbia University, studying law.

He had received first place in the Belasco Theatre Tournament in 1925 and decided on an acting career.

Stewart began his stage career in New York as teenager.

There, in 1928, radio pioneer Fred Smith had created the program Newscasting, which in 1931 evolved into the popular national news series, The March of Time.

For 13 months Stewart worked in all aspects of radio production at WLW – acting, announcing, directing, producing, writing and creating sound effects.

When he returned to New York he was on The March of Time and a member of radio's elite corps of actors.

He made his Broadway debut in 1930, in Subway Express.

He next appeared in the 1931 play, Two Seconds, adapted as a film the next year.

In 1932, after two additional Broadway credits, Stewart moved to Cincinnati and went to work at radio station WLW.

In 1934, Stewart introduced Orson Welles to director Knowles Entrikin, who gave Welles his first job on radio, on The American School of the Air.

"I'd been turning up for auditions and never landing a job until I met Paul Stewart," Welles recalled.

"He's a lovely man; for years he was one of the main pillars of our Mercury broadcasts. He can't be given too much credit."

In March 1935 Stewart saw Welles's stage performance in Archibald Macleish's verse play Panic, and recommended him to director Homer Fickett.

Welles was auditioned and hired to join the repertory company that presented The March of Time.

"It was like a stock company, whose members were the aristocrats of this relatively new profession of radio acting," wrote fellow actor Joseph Julian.

At that time Julian had to content himself with being an indistinguishable voice in crowd scenes, envying this "hallowed circle" that included Stewart, Welles, Kenny Delmar, Arlene Francis, Gary Merrill, Agnes Moorehead, Jeanette Nolan, Everett Sloane, Richard Widmark, Art Carney, Ray Collins, Pedro de Cordoba, Ted de Corsia, Juano Hernandez, Nancy Kelly, John McIntire, Jack Smart and Dwight Weist.

The March of Time was one of radio's most popular shows.

Stewart was a founder of the American Federation of Radio Artists in August 1937, and one of its inaugural officers.

He carried card number 39 in the union and was a frequent delegate at the national convention.

He was also a board member of the Screen Actors Guild, and a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Stewart played various roles throughout Welles's memorable tenure as Lamont Cranston in The Shadow (September 1937–September 1938).

In 1938 Welles expanded the range of the Mercury Theatre from Broadway to network radio with his CBS series, The Mercury Theatre on the Air, and Stewart became his associate producer.

In addition to playing a number of roles in the drama series and its sponsored continuation, The Campbell Playhouse, Stewart made significant contributions to the celebrated broadcast, "The War of the Worlds", as rehearsal director, actor and co-writer.

Welles later said that Stewart deserved the largest share of the credit for the quality of "The War of the Worlds".

On January 14, 1939, in Arlington, Virginia, Stewart married actress and singer Peg LaCentra (1910–1996), a vocalist with Artie Shaw's first orchestra who worked in radio, films and television.

That September Welles called Stewart in New York.

"The telephone rang and I heard the unmistakable voice of Orson Welles, speaking from California," Stewart recalled:"Well, when Orson said he had a part for you, you went. So I left New York to play my first role in a picture at 500 dollars a week, three weeks' guarantee. I was on Citizen Kane for 11 weeks. … My first shot was a close-up in which Orson wanted a special smoke effect from my cigarette. I was rigged with tube that went under my clothes and down my finger to the cigarette, but somehow the contraption wouldn't exude smoke. 'I want long cigarettes – the Russian kind!' Orson ordered. Everyone waited while the prop man fetched some Russian cigarettes. Just before the scene Orson Welles warned me: 'Your head is going to fill the screen at the Radio City Music Hall' – at that time Citizen Kane was booked for the Music Hall. Then he said in his gruff manner, 'Turn 'em.' But just before I started, he added quietly in his warm voice, 'Good luck.' I blew the first take.

It was 30, 40 takes before I completed a shot that Orson liked – and I had only one line.

That was almost 30 years ago, but even today I have people repeat it to me, including young students.

The line was: 'Rosebud … I'll tell you about Rosebud …'"

Stewart's most famous role is his screen debut as Raymond, the cynical butler in Citizen Kane (1941).

Actress Ruth Warrick, who portrayed Kane's first wife, remembered Stewart saying to her at the film's New York premiere, "From this night on, wherever we go or whatever we do in our lives, we will always be identified with Citizen Kane."

On the stage, Stewart appeared in the Mercury Theatre's acclaimed production of Native Son, directed by Welles and produced by John Houseman at the St. James Theatre March 24–June 28, 1941.