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Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-born American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind several major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the "American Dream personified".
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entertainment · Italian-born American film director (1897–1991) · film director · screenwriter · film producer · banjoist · military officer · director · writer · military personnel · producer · film screenwriter · also Frank Capra, Frank Robert Capra, Francesco Rosario Capra, Francesco Capra, Frank Russell Capra, Capra
Born 18 May 1897 · Died 3 September 1991 · Q51492
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It's A Wonderful Life trailer (1946)
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2024· 2 entries
The Guardian: Sure, Frank Capra made great movies – but he relied on Robert Riskin’s brilliant scripts | Letter
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2023· 1 entry
Yahoo: ‘Frank Capra: Mr. America’ Review: Documentary Gives Penetrating Insight Into Filmmaker Who Made Classics But Also Named Names – Venice Film Festival
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2021· 1 entry
The Cheat Sheet: Why Frank Capra Shut Down ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Set to Let the Cast Recover
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2020· 1 entry
The Guardian: Why do artists like the Pogues and Frank Capra have a special Christmas pedestal? | Rick Burin
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2018· 1 entry
National Catholic Register: Why the Devil Hates ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and Tried to Stop Frank Capra From Making It
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2007· 1 entry
His son, Frank Capra Jr., was the president of EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, until his death on December 19, 2007.
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2006· 1 entry
The AFI put the film at the top of its AFI's 100 Years
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1998· 1 entry
The American Film Institute (AFI) named it one of the best films ever made, putting it at 11th on AFI's 100 Years
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1995· 1 entry
His grandsons, brothers Frank Capra III and Jonathan Capra, have both worked as assistant directors; Frank III worked on the 1995 film The American President, which referred to Frank Capra in the film's dialogue.
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1991· 3 entries
Died 1991-09-03.
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Died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in La Quinta, California, at the age of 94
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“I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.”
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1986· 2 entries
Won National Medal of Arts (1986).
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Capra received the National Medal of Arts
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1985· 1 entry
Aged 88, Capra suffered the first of a series of strokes
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1982· 2 entries
Awarded AFI Life Achievement Award (1982).
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The American Film Institute honored Capra by giving him their AFI Life Achievement Award
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1981· 1 entry
During which he said, "This is one of the proudest moments of my life," was recounted in The New Yorker
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1975· 1 entry
Capra was awarded the Golden Anchor Award by the U
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1974· 2 entries
Awarded Inkpot Award (1974).
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Capra was awarded the Inkpot Award
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1972· 1 entry
Capra received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
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1971· 1 entry
Capra expressed his feelings about the shifting film industry:
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1970· 1 entry
Won Golden Plate Award (1970).
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1969· 1 entry
Directed by John Sturges with an $8 million budget
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1966· 1 entry
Capra was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater Caltech
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1957· 1 entry
Capra was awarded the George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film
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1950· 1 entry
His cinematic output slowed, and he retired from filmmaking in the mid-1960s
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1943· 1 entry
And the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945
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1941· 1 entry
Capra quit his successful directing career in Hollywood and received a commission as a major in the United States Army
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1940· 1 entry
Is an excellent treatment of that decisive campaign, particularly the fall of France
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1939· 1 entry
Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for You Can't Take It With You (1939).
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1938· 2 entries
Until this record was matched by John Ford in 1941, and then later surpassed by Ford in 1952
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Capra won his third Director Oscar in five years for You Can't Take It with You, which also won Best Picture
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1937· 1 entry
Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1937).
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1936· 1 entry
Capra hosted the 8th Academy Awards ceremony
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1935· 1 entry
Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for It Happened One Night (1935).
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1932· 1 entry
With whom he had a daughter and three sons, one of whom, Johnny, died at age 3 following a tonsillectomy
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1928· 1 entry
To help his studio produce new, full-length feature films, to compete with the major studios
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1927· 2 entries
“s other confidant was writer-director Arthur Ripley, a fellow Sennett alumnus, and Langdon followed Ripley”
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Considered the first talkie, Capra recalled his reaction:
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1923· 1 entry
On Thanksgiving Day, after returning to San Francisco, from Burlingame, Santa Cruz Mountains, and La Honda, after filming Getting Her Man, Frank Capra married Helen Howell attended by Tom Gibson, Ora Carew, and other act
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1920· 1 entry
Taking the name Frank Russell Capra
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1919· 1 entry
Whose goal was to make films without interference by studio bosses
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1918· 1 entry
“changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person”
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1903· 1 entry
When he was five, Capra's family immigrated to the United States, traveling in a steerage compartment of the steamship Germania—the least expensive way to make the passage
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1897· 3 entries
In Bisacquino, a village near Palermo, Sicily, Italy
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Born 1897-05-18.
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“s vision and directing: I owed Cohn a lot—I owed him my whole career. So I had respect for him, and a certain amount of love. Despite his crudeness and everything else, he gave me my chance. He took a gamble on me. Capra directed his first”
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