Frank Borzage
Known for
Where the audience sees actors, Frank Borzage is an American director with credits most viewers read past without noticing. Whatever else appears, drama runs through the filmography. He has been working in the industry for 111 years. 'A Farewell to Arms' is the calling card here. '7th Heaven' rounds out the better-known part of the record.
Frank Borzage
91 Directed
Where the audience sees actors, Frank Borzage is an American director with credits most viewers read past without noticing. Whatever else appears, drama runs through the filmography. He has been working in the industry for 111 years. 'A Farewell to Arms' is the calling card here. '7th Heaven' rounds out the better-known part of the record.
Movies
Director
Desire
1936
Director
A Farewell to Arms
1932
Director
The Spanish Main
1945
Director
The Mortal Storm
1940
Director
Strange Cargo
1940
Director
Stage Door Canteen
1943
Director
The River
1929
Director
Bad Girl
1931
Director
Humoresque
1920
Director
7th Heaven
1927
Director
Moonrise
1948
Director
Three Comrades
1938
Director
History Is Made at Night
1937
Director
Little Man, What Now?
1934
Director
Smilin' Through
1941
Director
Flight Command
1940
Director
Green Light
1937
Director
No Greater Glory
1934
Director
Stranded
1935
Director
Magnificent Doll
1946
Director
The Big Fisherman
1959
Director
Big City
1937
Director
Mannequin
1938
Director
The Shining Hour
1938
Director
I've Always Loved You
1946
Director
Secrets
1933
Director
China Doll
1958
Director
Liliom
1930
Director
His Butler's Sister
1943
Director
Living on Velvet
1935
Director
Till We Meet Again
1944
Director
That's My Man
1947
Director
Seven Sweethearts
1942
Director
Young America
1932
Director
The Vanishing Virginian
1942
Director
Flirtation Walk
1934
Director
Street Angel
1928
Director
Lucky Star
1929
Director
The Circle
1925
Director
After Tomorrow
1932
Director
Man's Castle
1933
Director
The Pilgrim
1916
Director
The Lady
1925
Director
Shipmates Forever
1935
Director
Disputed Passage
1939
Director
Hearts Divided
1936
Director
Back Pay
1922
Director
Song o' My Heart
1930
Director
Secrets
1924
Director
They Had to See Paris
1929
Latest Trailers
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Jeanne Eagels
Full Filmography
The Big Fisherman
Director
1959
Film
China Doll
Director
1958
Film
The Day I Met Caruso
Director
1956
Film
A Ticket for Thaddeus
Director
1956
Film
Moonrise
Director
1948
Film
That's My Man
Director
1947
Film
Magnificent Doll
Director
1946
Film
I've Always Loved You
Director
1946
Film
The Spanish Main
Director
1945
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Frank Borzage still alive?
Frank Borzage passed away on June 19, 1962 at age 68.
What are the most famous roles of Frank Borzage?
Frank Borzage is best known for directing A Farewell to Arms, 7th Heaven, The Mortal Storm.
How many movies has Frank Borzage directed?
Over a 47-year career (since 1915), Frank Borzage has directed or written 91 films and worked on 0 TV shows.
What was Frank Borzage's first movie?
The career of Frank Borzage began with The Pride and the Man ().
What is Frank Borzage's most recent movie or series?
Frank Borzage's most recent release is The Big Fisherman, which premiered on August 4, 1959.
Frank Borzage
1894-04-23 · Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Frank Borzage (April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Bad Girl (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Man's Castle (1933), History Is Made at Night (1937), The Mortal Storm (1940) and Moonrise (1948).
In 1912 Borzage found employment as an actor in Hollywood; he continued to work as an actor until 1917. His directorial debut came in 1915 with the film The Pitch o' Chance.
He was a successful director throughout the 1920s, but reached his peak in the late silent and early sound era. Absorbing visual influences from the German director F.W. Murnau, who was also resident at Fox at this time, Borzage developed his own style of lushly visual romanticism in a hugely successful series of films starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, including 7th Heaven (1927), for which he won the first Academy Award for Best Director, Street Angel (1928) and Lucky Star (1929). He won a second Oscar for 1931's Bad Girl.
He directed 14 films between 1917 and 1919 alone. His greatest success in the silent era was with Humoresque, a box office winner starring Vera Gordon.
Borzage's trademark was intense identification with the feelings of young lovers in the face of adversity, with love in his films triumphing over such trials as World War I (7th Heaven and A Farewell to Arms), disability (Lucky Star), the Depression (Man's Castle), a thinly disguised version of the Titanic disaster in History Is Made at Night, and the rise of Nazism, a theme which Borzage had virtually to himself among Hollywood filmmakers from Little Man, What Now? (1933) to Three Comrades (1938) and The Mortal Storm (1940).
His work took a spiritual turn in such films as Green Light (1937), Strange Cargo (1940) and The Big Fisherman (1959). Of his later work only the film noir Moonrise (1948) has enjoyed much critical acclaim. After 1948, Borzage's output was sporadic.
In 1955 and 1957, he was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Frank Borzage died of cancer in 1962, aged 68.