Frank Capra (1897-1991), Hollywood's champion of the common man, was born in Palermo, Sicily, and moved with his parents to California at age six. After earning a degree in chemical engineering, he failed to find work in that field and drifted into a series of odd jobs. He earned $75 for directing his first film, a one-reel adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling yarn. He continued in films as a gag writer for silent comedy pioneers Hal Roach and Mack Sennett and later graduated to become a writer and director for comic actor Harry Langdon.
Capra eventually settled at Columbia, a minor studio that would earn status as one of the "majors" largely through Capra's efforts. This versatile filmmaker brought his own style to everything from romantic comedies to soap operas to murder mysteries. His reputation was sealed by It Happened One Night (1934), which instantly emerged as a classic screwball comedy and was the first movie to win Oscars in all the top categories, including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Clark Gable) and Actress (Claudette Colbert). Capra also won Oscars for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and You Can't Take It With You (1938), his second win for Best Picture.
Capra's other outstanding works include a spectacular adaptation of Lost Horizon (1937); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which many consider his masterpiece; and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), a rollicking screen version of Broadway's black comedy. After World War II, during which Capra created several outstanding documentaries for the "Why We Fight" series, he returned to create It's a Wonderful Life (1946). This film, about a man (James Stewart) who discovers his life is not a failure after all, was not a box-office success in its day but has since become a Christmas classic and one of the world's most-loved movies.
Working only intermittently after 1950, Capra finished out his career with the comedies A Hole in the Head (1959), starring Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker; and Pocketful of Miracles (1961), starring Glenn Ford and Bette Davis.
