American pioneer in the field of sound recording and re-recording who worked on over 250 films during his fifty years (1928–1980) as a re-recording mixer. He made substantial contributions to the evolution of the art and science of film and television sound. He won the Academy Award (Special Effects category: Special Audible Effects) in 1948 for Portrait of Jennie.
In 1930, Stewart joined RKO Pictures (then owned by RCA), participating in the making of some of Hollywood’s earliest sound film classics, including A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and The Lost Patrol (1934).
From 1933 to 1945, Stewart was Chief Re-recording Mixer at RKO, personally mixing hundreds of film soundtracks. The most celebrated aspect of Stewart’s work during this period is his collaboration with director Orson Welles, also with a background in radio. He worked closely with Welles on Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942).
Stewart left RKO Studios in 1945, when he was hired by David O. Selznick. He was eventually appointed Head of Technical Operations for Selznick International Pictures and oversaw every aspect of production and post-production for such films as King Vidor’s controversial Duel in the Sun (1946), Alfred Hitchcock’s The Paradine Case (1947) and William Dieterle’s Portrait of Jennie (1948).
In an era when network television was beginning to challenge the film industry for audiences, Stewart worked for Glen Glenn Sound, where he stayed for the next 25 years. Among the dozens of programs he worked on were I Love Lucy, The Jack Benny Show, The Real McCoys and The Andy Griffith Show.
By the mid-1970s, Stewart had changed employer once more, this time to The Burbank Studios (owned by Warner Bros.), where he spent the last five years of his working life. During this time he worked on such films as Martin Ritt’s The Front (1976) and Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar (1978).
He died on 22 March 1997, aged 89, in Los Angeles.
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