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Frank Capra

Highest Rated: 100% Lady for a Day (1933)

Lowest Rated: 50% Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

Birthday: May 18, 1897

Birthplace: Bisacquino, Sicily, Italy

During the Great Depression, director Frank Capra became America's preeminent filmmaker, leavening despair with his irrepressible optimism of the Everyman triumphing over seemingly insurmountable odds. A true rags-to-riches story himself, Capra started his career as a comedy writer for vaudeville star Harry Langdon before turning to directing during the silent era. In 1931, he began his lifelong collaboration with writer Robert Riskin on socially-conscious films like "American Madness" (1932) and "Lady for a Day" (1933), which led to Oscar glory with the classic screwball comedy "It Happened One Night" (1934), the first movie to ever sweep the five major Academy Award categories. Capra then entered a fruitful period with "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936), which he followed with the classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), starring James Stewart, who came to exemplify the director's prototypical idealist. During World War II, Capra made several acclaimed wartime propaganda movies, including "Prelude to War" (1942), which won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Upon returning to Hollywood, he reunited with Stewart on "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), a heartwarming tale that failed at the box office, but later became a perennial holiday classic. The director would make several more films over the next two decades before officially retiring and moving out of Hollywood, but "It's a Wonderful Life" would be his crowning achievement. With a career that celebrated patriotism, idealism and small-town American values, Capra's strength as a filmmaker marked him as a true giant of Hollywood's Golden Age.

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Highest-Rated Movies

100% 80% Lady for a Day
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100% 95% A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies
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100% 55% Broadway Bill
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100% 77% The Miracle Woman
Watchlist 98% 93% It Happened One Night Watchlist 97% 94% Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Watchlist
94% 88% You Can't Take It With You
Watchlist 94% 95% It's a Wonderful Life Watchlist
93% 82% Lost Horizon
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92% 82% Meet John Doe
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Frank Capra

Frank Capra HERE COMES THE GROOM, director Frank Capra and the very wet Alexis Smith between takes on set, 1951 MEET JOHN DOE, from left, Barbara Stanwyck, director Frank Capra, on-set, 1941 MEET JOHN DOE, director Frank Capra, on-set, 1941 TUNISIAN VICTORY, Private Brown of the ATS, Lieutenant William F. Claxton, cutting, documentary by Frank Capra & John Huston, 1944 ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, Cary Grant, Director Frank Capra, 1944 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, James Stewart eating cake with Lionel Barrymore on the set, director Frank Capra in background, 1946 LOST HORIZON, Ronald Colman, director Frank Capra and many others filming a scene, 1937 MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, director Frank Capra, Jean Arthur, James Stewart on set, 1939 LOST HORIZON, Frank Capra, Ronald Colman on-set, 1937 View more photos

Filmography

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Frank Capra: Mr. America 2023 Self A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies 100% 95% 1995 Himself (archive footage) Actor Pocketful of Miracles 50% 72% 1961 Director, Producer A Hole in the Head 75% 48% 1959 Director, Producer The Unchained Goddess 1958 Screenwriter, Producer Bell Science - Hemo the Magnificent 1956 Director Bell Science - Our Mr. Sun 1956 Director Here Comes the Groom 60% 71% 1951 Director, Producer Riding High 45% 1950 Director State of the Union 80% 78% 1948 Director, Producer It's a Wonderful Life 94% 95% 1946 Director, Writer, Producer Know Your Enemy: Japan 71% 1945 Director, Screenwriter, Producer Here Is Germany 1945 Director, Screenwriter, Producer War Comes to America 69% 1945 Director, Producer Know Your Ally: Britain 1944 Producer The Negro Soldier 53% 1944 Producer Attack: The Battle for New Britain 1944 Director The Battle of China 62% 1944 Director Attack in the Pacific 1944 Director Tunisian Victory 83% 1944 Director Arsenic and Old Lace 86% 92% 1944 Director, Producer History of the Negro Soldier 1944 Director Divide and Conquer 88% 1943 Director The Nazis Strike 85% 1943 Director The Battle of Russia 65% 1943 Director, Producer
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