James Stewart's daughter has revealed the real reason the Hollywood legend quit acting.

The It's A Wonderful Life star walked away from his career in the years prior to his death in 1997 at the age of 89 and his last role was voicing a character in 1991 animated kids' film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West - now Stewart's daughter Kelly Stewart-Harcourt has explained her father struggled with hearing loss and it prompted him to give up his acting work.

Kelly told Entertainment Weekly: "He was slowing down. And what really bothered him was that he couldn't hear. He had really bad hearing."

She went on to explain hearing aids were available back in the 1980s but her dad couldn't wear them while he was working because the old models were so bulky.

Kelly told the publication: " In those days, the hearing aids were like these giant plastic things, and so he couldn't wear them on a set.

"And so he couldn't hear, and he didn't want [any] special attention, so that he could hear, and so I think being hard of hearing really made taking on a part less attractive to him."

Stewart's life is being brought to the big screen in new biopic Jimmy with KJ Apa in the title role playing the actor in the period of his life between winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Philadelphia Story in 1941 and signing up for military service in World War II.

Kelly admitted she was initially reluctant to see someone playing her father in a movie but she was impressed with Apa's portrayal.

She told Entertainment Weekly: "I was thrilled because the problem with somebody playing Dad ... was that you don't want to sit there and listen to a Jimmy Stewart impersonation for two hours.

"And Dad has such a distinctive way of speaking. It's hard not to do an impersonation, but KJ channels him and brings him to life without doing a Jimmy Stewart impersonation. So I don't see how they could have found anybody better."

The movie's director Aaron Burns has revealed he was inspired to make Jimmy after finding out It's a Wonderful Life was the first film the actor made after serving in the Second World War.

Burns told Christianitytoday.com: "A few years ago I read an article that Jimmy wrote for Guideposts magazine. He was reflecting on It's a Wonderful Life - it was the first movie he filmed after serving in World War II, and it was the beginning of his spiritual healing. I was blown away.

"I knew him as the centre of It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington but had honestly assumed he was just pretending to be a good guy.

"I never knew he'd served in the war. I remember watching Errol Flynn in Robin Hood - he was a hero - and later found out he was a total schmuck in real life. That wasn't Jimmy."