Tom Hanks Reveals the One Piece of Movie Memorabilia Jimmy Stewart Kept

Tom Hanks Reveals the One Piece of Movie Memorabilia Jimmy Stewart Kept: A Painting of His Horse

Jimmy Stewart kept a painting of his horse Pie in his home, Tom Hanks recalled to Stephen Colbert

Published on December 17, 2020 11:25AM EST

Tom Hanks and Jimmy Stewart? — Photo: Getty (2)

Jimmy Stewart didn't need much to remind him of his iconic film career.

The legendary actor apparently kept no memorabilia from his many movies around the home, according to Oscar winner Tom Hanks. Hanks appeared on The Late Show Wednesday night where he recalled going to the late Stewart's home and seeing almost no mementos from his movies except one: a painting of his horse, Pie.

“There was a time when so many Westerns were made that actors always rode the same horse in every Western they made,” explained Hanks to host Stephen Colbert.

Hanks, 64, said that Stewart rode Pie in all of his Westerns and recalled the actor explaining how his horse was reserved for him.

“‘Oh yeah, the wranglers would keep it out by Griffith Park,'” Hanks remembered Stewart saying, doing an impression of the star. “‘That’s where we all had our horses.'”

Stewart's illustrious career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. He died in 1997 at 89, just six years after his final film. His iconic movies included It's a Wonderful Life and the Westerns The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Cheyenne Autumn.

(2020) news of the world — Bruce Talamon/Universal studios

Hanks appeared on Colbert to promote his own Western, the upcoming News of the World.

Directed by Paul Greengrass and based on a 2016 novel by Paulette Jiles, the film follows Hanks' Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd as he travels through the frontier to help return a young 10-year-old girl Johanna, played by Helena Zengel, to her biological family after she was taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own.

Hanks told Colbert that he got the full Western experience, even getting assigned his own horse, Wimpy.

“They have those eyes on the side of their head, and they just kinda look at you like this,” Hanks said before imitating the horse's deep blink. “Those big, deep brown eyes. And I got the distinct feeling that Wimpy was deciding whether or not to put up with me that day.”

News of the World opens this Christmas.