Frank Capra
| Frank Capra | |
 | |
| Birth name: | Frank Rosario Capra |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: | May 18, 1897 |
| Birth location: |  Bisacquino, Sicily, Italy
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| Date of death: | September 3 1991 (aged 94) |
| Death location: |  La Quinta, California, USA (heart attack in his sleep)
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| Academy Awards: | Best Director Won: 1934 It Happened One Night 1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1938 You Can't Take It with You Nominated: 1933 Lady for a Day 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1946 It's a Wonderful Life Best Picture Won: 1934 It Happened One Night 1938 You Can't Take It with You Nominated: 1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1937 Lost Horizon 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1946 It's a Wonderful Life |
| Spouse: | Helen Howell (1923-1927) (divorced) Lou Capra (1932-1984) (her death) 3 children |
- This article is about the film director. For Frank Capra's son, the film studio executive, see Frank Capra, Jr. For Frank Capra, Jr.'s son, the associate director, see Frank Capra III.
Frank Capra (May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Academy Award winning Italian-American film director and a major creative force behind a number of highly popular films of the 1930s and 1940s, including It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, among others.
Early life
Born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino, Sicily, Capra moved to the United States in 1903 with his father Salvatore, his mother Rosaria Nicolosi and his siblings Giuseppa, Giuseppe, and Antonia. In California they met up with Benedetto Capra, (the oldest sibling) and settled in Los Angeles, California, where, in 1918, Frank Capra graduated from Throop Institute (later renamed the California Institute of Technology) with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering. On October 18, 1918, he joined the United States Army. While at the Presidio, he got Spanish influenza and was discharged on December 13. In 1920, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, registering his name as Frank Russell Capra.
Film career
Like other prominent directors of the 1930s and '40s, Capra began his career in silent films, notably by directing and writing silent film comedies starring Harry Langdon and the Our Gang kids. In 1930 Capra went to work for Mack Sennett and then moved to Columbia Pictures where he formed a close association with screenwriter Robert Riskin (husband of Fay Wray) and cameraman Joseph Walker. In 1940, however, Sidney Buchman replaced Riskin as writer.
For the 1934 film It Happened One Night, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy were originally offered the roles, but each felt that the script was poor, and Loy described it is one of the worst she had ever read, later noting that the final version bore little resemblance to the script she and Montgomery were offered.[1]After Loy, Miriam Hopkins and Margaret Sullavan also each rejected the part.[2] Constance Bennett wanted to, but only if she could produce it herself. Then Bette Davis wanted the role,[3] but she was under contract with Warner Brothers and Jack Warner refused to loan her to Columbia Studios.[4] Capra was unable to get any of the actresses he wanted for the part of Ellie Andrews, partly because no self-respecting star would make a film with only two costumes.[5] Harry Cohn suggested Claudette Colbert to play the lead role. Both Capra and Clark Gable enjoyed making the movie. After the 1934 film It Happened One Night, Capra directed a steady stream of films for Columbia intended to be inspirational and humanitarian.
The best known are Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, the original Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life. His ten-year break from screwball comedy ended with the comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. Among the actors who owed much of their early success to Capra were Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant and Donna Reed. Capra credited Jean Arthur as "my favorite actress."
Capra's films in the 1930s enjoyed success at the Academy Awards. It Happened One Night was the first film to win all five top Oscars, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. In 1936, Capra won his second Best Director Oscar for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and in 1938 he won his third Best Director Oscar in just five years for You Can't Take It with You which also won Best Picture. In addition to his three directing wins, Capra received directing nominations for three other films (Lady for a Day, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life). He was also host of the 8th Academy Awards ceremony on 5 March 1936.
Although these films, written by individuals on the political left, tend to exude the spirit of the New Deal, Capra himself was a conservative Republican who hated President Franklin D. Roosevelt (never voting for him), admired Franco and Mussolini, and later during the McCarthy era served as a secret FBI informer.[6]
World War II
Between 1942 and 1948, when he produced State of the Union, Capra also directed or co-directed eight war documentaries including Prelude to War (1942), The Nazis Strike (1942), The Battle of Britain (1943), Divide and Conquer (1943), Know Your Enemy Japan (1945), Tunisian Victory (1945) and Two Down and One to Go (1945). His Academy Award-winning documentary series, Why We Fight, is widely considered a masterpiece of propaganda. Capra was faced with the task of convincing an isolationist nation to enter the war, desegregate the troops, and ally with the Russians, among other things. Capra would regard these films as his most important work, see them as his way to counter German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's films, in particular Triumph of the Will. Prelude to War won the 1942 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Postwar
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is perhaps Capra's most widely known and long-lasting film to date. Although it was initially considered a box office disappointment, it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Sound Recording and Best Editing. The film gained a second life on television, where for a number of years it was shown multiple times during the Christmas season. A lapse in its copyright protection caused the film to appear to fall into the public domain, and TV stations believed they were allowed to show it without paying royalties. With the new exposure, It's a Wonderful Life became a Christmas classic.
Even though the copyright on the film itself lapsed, it was still protected by virtue of it being a derivative work of all the other copyrighted material used to produce the film such as the script, music, etc. whose copyrights were renewed. In 1993, Republic Pictures, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved the movie Rear Window) to enforce its claim of copyright; while the film's copyright had not been renewed, it was a derivative work of various works that were still copyrighted. As a result, the film is no longer shown as much on television (NBC is currently the only network licensed to show the film on U.S. network television).
The American Film Institute named it one of the best films ever made, putting it at the top of the list of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, a list of what AFI considers to be the most inspirational American movies of all time. The film also appeared in another AFI Top 100 list: it placed at 11th on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list of the top American films.
Capra's final theatrical film was 1961's Pocketful of Miracles, with Glenn Ford and Bette Davis. He had planned to do a science fiction film later in the decade but never even got around to pre-production. Capra did end up producing several science-related television specials for the Bell Telephone System, such as "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays."
Capra films usually carry a definite message about the basic goodness of human nature and show the value of unselfishness and hard work. His wholesome, feel-good themes have led his works to be called 'Capra-corn'. However, many others who see the positive aspects of Capra's works prefer the term, "Capraesque." It may be argued that much of the 'feel-good' type of cinema that has somewhat become a genre of its own, for better or for worse, is largely Frank Capra's legacy.[citation needed]
At the Yale Law School Film Society weekend with Capra in 1972, Jean Arthur attended a small afternoon symposium at his invitation. Capra urged her to stay for the screening that night, and assured her the audience would be delighted and overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Arthur declined because, she said, she had to go home and feed her cats.
Capra in the media
In 1971, Capra published his autobiography, The Name Above the Title. Uncompromising in its details, it offers a compelling self-portrait. It is, however, not considered to be entirely reliable as regards dates and facts; one commentator asserts that it "appears to have been a lie practically from beginning to end".[7]
Capra was also the subject of a 1991 biography by Joseph McBride entitled Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. McBride challenges many of the impressions left by Capra's autobiography.
Death and legacy
Frank Capra died in La Quinta, California of a heart attack in his sleep in 1991 at the age of 94. He was interred in the Coachella Valley Cemetery in Coachella, California.
He left part of his 1,100-acre ranch in Fallbrook, California to Caltech.[8]
His son Frank Capra, Jr. — one of the three children born to Capra's second wife, Lou Capra — is president of Screen Gems, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Frank Capra's grandson is Frank Capra III.
Quotes
- "There are no rules in filmmaking, only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness."[citation needed]
Filmography
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ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Kotsabilas-Davis, James and Loy, Myrna. Being and Becoming. New York: Primus, Donald I Fine Inc., 1987, p. 94. ISBN 1-55611-101-0.
- ↑ Wiley, Mason and Bona, Damien. Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987, p. 54. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.
- ↑ It Happened One Night - Frank CapraErik Weems, UPDATED JUNE 22, 2006
- ↑ Chandler, Charlotte. The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006, p. 102. ISBN 0-78628-639-3.
- ↑ moviediva ItHappenedOneNight
- ↑ Gewen.
- ↑ Gewen.
- ↑ The Caltech Y History
- Capra, Frank. Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971. ISBN 0-30680-771-8.
- Gewen, Barry. "It Wasn't Such a Wonderful Life." The New York Times, May 3, 1992. It Wasn't Such a Wonderful Life Access date: May 2, 2007.
External links
- Frank Capra at the Internet Movie Database
- Frank Capra at the TCM Movie Database
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Frank Lloyd for Cavalcade |
Academy Award for Best Director for It Happened One Night 1934 |
Succeeded by: John Ford for The Informer |
| Preceded by: John Ford for The Informer |
Academy Award for Best Director for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936 |
Succeeded by: Leo McCarey for The Awful Truth |
| Preceded by: Leo McCarey for The Awful Truth |
Academy Award for Best Director for You Can't Take It with You 1938 |
Succeeded by: Victor Fleming for Gone with the Wind |
| Preceded by: Billy Wilder for The Lost Weekend |
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture for It's a Wonderful Life 1947 |
Succeeded by: Elia Kazan for Gentleman's Agreement |
| Preceded by: Irvin S. Cobb 7th Academy Awards |
Oscars host 8th Academy Awards |
Succeeded by: George Jessel 9th Academy Awards |
| Films Directed by Frank Capra |
|---|
| The Strong Man • For the Love of Mike • Long Pants • The Power of the Press • Say It with Sables • So This Is Love • Submarine • The Way of the Strong • That Certain Thing • The Matinee Idol • Flight • The Donovan Affair • The Younger Generation • Rain or Shine • Ladies of Leisure • Dirigible • The Miracle Woman • Platinum Blonde • Forbidden • American Madness • The Bitter Tea of General Yen • Lady for a Day • It Happened One Night • Broadway Bill • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town • Lost Horizon • You Can't Take It with You • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington • Meet John Doe • Arsenic and Old Lace • It's a Wonderful Life • State of the Union • Riding High • Here Comes the Groom • A Hole in the Head • Pocketful of Miracles |
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