James Stewart

About James Stewart

James Stewart (1908–1997) was one of the most enduring and recognizable leading men in the history of American cinema, known for his distinctive voice and everyman appeal. Ranked #825 in historical importance by MIT's Pantheon project, his cultural impact spans decades of classic films across genres, including Westerns, screwball comedies, and dramas. His collaborative relationship with director Alfred Hitchcock, in particular, cemented his status as an icon of 20th-century global culture.

Stewart receives a significant amount of modern online attention, accumulating 2.2 million annualized Wikipedia pageviews in 2025. This level of visibility results in an Attention Gap indicating a +7x overattention relative to his historical importance ranking. To put this in context, he garners substantially more attention than figures deemed historically far more influential, such as Dmitri Mendeleev (#259 importance, only 388K views) or Mehmed the Conqueror (#128 importance, only 97K views).

Despite his legendary status, the data suggests his attention is not only high but is currently trending upward, as indicated by a strong 2025 Momentum of +142% in traffic between Q1 and Q3, alongside a modest year-over-year increase of +1.5%.