Gloria Hatrick McLean

Gloria Hatrick McLean (March 10, 1918 – February 16, 1994) was an American actress and model.[1]

Gloria Hatrick McLean
McLean (left) marrying James Stewart in 1949
Born(1918-03-10)March 10, 1918
DiedFebruary 16, 1994(1994-02-16) (aged 75)
Alma materFinch School
OccupationModel, actress
Spouse(s)
  • Edward Beale McLean Jr.
    (m. 1943; div. 1948)
  • (m. 1949)
Children4

Early life

Gloria was born on March 10, 1918 to Edgar B. Hatrick of Larchmont, New York. Her family spent the summers at The Broadmoor hotel and resort.[2] She attended the Finch School in New York and spent two years studying drama at a dramatic school.[2]

Personal life

First marriage

In 1943, she married Edward Beale McLean Jr., a son of heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean and Edward Beale McLean, heir to The Washington Post. McLean had previously been married to Ann Carroll Meem, of Washington, D.C., from May 1938 to July 1943.[2] Together Edward and Gloria had two sons:

  • Ronald McLean, who died on June 8, 1969, aged 24, in Vietnam as a commissioned Marine officer[3]
  • Michael McLean

In January 1948, Gloria and Edward divorced and in October of that year, he married Manuela "Mollie" Hudson, the former wife of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr.[4]

Second marriage

Gloria Hatrick McLean with James Stewart and her children, August 1954

On August 9, 1949, she married James Stewart,[2][5] who adopted both children from her first marriage, Ronald, then age five, and Michael, age three. Together, she and Stewart had twin daughters born on May 7, 1951:[6]

According to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times, "Mrs. Stewart was active on the boards of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, Natural History Museum, African Wildlife Foundation and St. John's Medical Center, and was a regular at charity dinners, dances and other events supporting those groups. . . . She shared her husband's interests in skeet shooting, fishing, animals and travel. A fan magazine in 1985 called their partnership 'Dream Factory's Outstanding Marriage.'" From the 1950s onward, Mrs. Stewart was a supporter of conserving big-game animals, rather than hunting them, and in time brought her husband around to the same viewpoint.[8]

The couple remained married until her death from lung cancer on February 16, 1994, at the age of 75.[9] In February 1997, Jimmy Stewart was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat and on June 25, a thrombosis formed in his right leg, leading to a pulmonary embolism one week later. Surrounded by his children on July 2, 1997, Stewart died at the age of 89 at his home in Beverly Hills, California, with his final words to his family being, "I'm going to be with Gloria now."[10]

References

  1. Myrna Oliver (1994-02-18). "Gloria Stewart; Activist and Wife of James Stewart". LATimes. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  2. Staff (August 1, 1943). "E. B. M'LEAN TO MARRY". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  3. "1LT Ronald Walsh McLean." VirtualWall.org. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  4. Nashua, New Hampshire Telegraph, August 9, 1949
  5. Obituary (1997-07-03). "James Stewart, the Hesitant Hero, Dies at 89". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  6. Firshein, Sarah (2011-02-14). "Old Hollywood Romances and the Houses Where They Happened". Curbed National. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  7. "Kelly Stewart." anthro.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Archived March 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Munn, Michael (2013). Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 235. ISBN 978-1628734959.
  9. "Gloria Stewart obituary." The New York Times, February 18, 1994.
  10. "James Stewart - Classic Cinema Gold". Classic Cinema Gold. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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