Frank Capra

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.