30. James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson
      Vertigo (1958)

Stewart rightly won audiences’ hearts embodying earnest, good Americans in idealistic Frank Capra fare (see #8). But the character of John “Scottie” Ferguson didn’t call for any trace of the “aw, shucks” boyishness of Stewart’s earlier roles. After the death of his platinum-tressed lover, Madeleine (Kim Novak), Scottie dresses up a woman named Judy (also played by Novak) in her exact image. With the subtlest tightening of his mouth, wrinkling of his forehead, and unwavering gaze, Stewart transforms himself from a national icon of decency into an obsessed fetishist. When Judy pins back her newly bleached hair into Madeleine’s signature coif, Scottie swallows a tear and stares at her like she just took off her dress. Aw, shucks, Jimmy, you’re scaring us!

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