He first appeared in ''
You Can't Take It with You'' in 1938. Director
Frank Capra would then cast the bird in every subsequent movie he made. Among his roles were Uncle Billy's pet, seen in the Building & Loan in ''
It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and the crow that landed on the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). His human co-stars were complimentary of the bird. "When they call Jimmy, we both answer," remarked
Jimmy Stewart on the set of ''It's a Wonderful Life'', noting that the raven "is the smartest actor on the set" requiring fewer re-takes than his human counterparts. After he had become more popular with the studio,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had Jimmy insured for $10,000.
Lloyd's of London wrote a policy to cover Jimmy's $500 a week fee as well as Curly Twiford's $200 handler fee, in the event Jimmy forgot any of the words he would need on the set. Twiford credited these fees with keeping him solvent during
World War II. At one point, Jimmy had 21 "
stand-ins", 15 of which were female, who would fill in for him when the scene did not require any tricks or movement. Jimmy received a
Red Cross gold medal in acknowledgement of 200 hours spent entertaining veterans after the war, Jimmy's last-credited film was
3 Ring Circus in 1954, after which little is known about him. Curly Twiford said that Jimmy would "probably live to be 150" years old, Curly Twiford died on April 5, 1956, at the age of 60. ==See also==