Frank Capra
Known for
Frank Capra was an Italian-American director born in Bisacquino, Sicily, celebrated for warm, populist comedies and dramas championing ordinary decency against institutional corruption. It Happened One Night, a romantic road comedy, swept the top five Academy Awards, while Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town established his recurring theme of a naive, principled everyman confronting cynical political or social power. It's a Wonderful Life, a box-office disappointment on release that later became one of the most beloved Christmas films ever made, distilled his sentimental faith in ordinary community and individual worth into its most enduring form. Capra won three Academy Awards for Best Director across the 1930s, and his consistent optimism about American democratic institutions, later termed Capra-corn by critics, made him one of the most commercially dominant and culturally influential directors of the studio era.
Frank Capra
54 Directed
Frank Capra was an Italian-American director born in Bisacquino, Sicily, celebrated for warm, populist comedies and dramas championing ordinary decency against institutional corruption. It Happened One Night, a romantic road comedy, swept the top five Academy Awards, while Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town established his recurring theme of a naive, principled everyman confronting cynical political or social power. It's a Wonderful Life, a box-office disappointment on release that later became one of the most beloved Christmas films ever made, distilled his sentimental faith in ordinary community and individual worth into its most enduring form. Capra won three Academy Awards for Best Director across the 1930s, and his consistent optimism about American democratic institutions, later termed Capra-corn by critics, made him one of the most commercially dominant and culturally influential directors of the studio era.
Movies
Director
It's a Wonderful Life
1946
Director
It Happened One Night
1934
Director
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939
Director
Arsenic and Old Lace
1944
Director
You Can't Take It with You
1938
Director
Meet John Doe
1941
Director
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
Director
Pocketful of Miracles
1961
Director
Lost Horizon
1937
Director
State of the Union
1948
Director
The Miracle Woman
1931
Director
Broadway Bill
1934
Director
Lady for a Day
1933
Director
Submarine
1928
Director
Forbidden
1932
Director
Fulta Fisher's Boarding House
1922
Director
Dirigible
1931
Director
Ladies of Leisure
1930
Director
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
1932
Director
A Hole in the Head
1959
Director
American Madness
1932
Director
Platinum Blonde
1931
Director
Riding High
1950
Director
Here Comes the Groom
1951
Director
So This Is Love
1928
Director
Hemo the Magnificent
1957
Director
The Way of the Strong
1928
Director
The Power of the Press
1928
Director
The Strong Man
1926
Director
Rain or Shine
1930
Director
Long Pants
1927
Director
The Younger Generation
1929
Director
That Certain Thing
1928
Director
Flight
1929
Director
The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays
1957
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Full Filmography
Pocketful of Miracles
Director
1961
Film
A Hole in the Head
Director
1959
Film
The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays
Director
1957
Film
Hemo the Magnificent
Director
1957
Film
Westward the Women
Story
1951
Film
Here Comes the Groom
Director
1951
Film
Riding High
Director
1950
Film
State of the Union
Director
1948
Film
It's a Wonderful Life
Director
1946
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Frank Capra still alive?
Frank Capra passed away on September 3, 1991 at age 94.
What are the most famous roles of Frank Capra?
Frank Capra is best known for directing It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
How many movies has Frank Capra directed?
Over a 70-year career (since 1921), Frank Capra has directed or written 54 films and worked on 0 TV shows.
What was Frank Capra's first movie?
The career of Frank Capra began with The Italian Warship Libia (1921).
What is Frank Capra's most recent movie or series?
Frank Capra's most recent release is Why We Fight: World War II: The Battle of China / War Comes to America, which premiered on January 1, 2000.
Frank Capra
1897-05-18 · Bisacquino, Sicilia, Italia
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was a Sicilian-born American film director and a creative force behind a number of films of the 1930s and 1940s, including It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). His films often deal with rags-to-riches stories wich has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the "American Dream personified".