Frank Capra, the great director whose name became synonymous with movies about common men overcoming the odds, died in his sleep Tuesday at the age of 94. He had been in ill health since a series of strokes in 1985.
"Capra-corn," some critics called his sentimental social comedies, but the moviegoing public loved such now revered classics as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" and "It Happened One Night." He won three best-director Oscars during a five-year span in the 1930s.But Capra's name will forever be most closely linked with "It's a Wonderful Life," which stars James Stewart and has become a television staple each Christmas. Capra and Stewart have often cited the film as their personal favorite.
Ever self-effacing, Capra said in a 1982 Deseret News interview, "I never expected my films to last. I'm as surprised as anyone."
Capra's career began in the silent era, practically by accident. And the philosophy that permeated his films, his belief that people are basically good and that America is truly a land of opportunity, were hard-earned during his early life.
Born in Palermo, Sicily, on May 19, 1897, he came to the United States with his family in 1903. Though poverty-stricken, Capra worked his way through college, graduating as a chemical engineer from the California Institute of Technology in 1918. He then joined the Army, but after his discharge in 1922 could find no employment in his chosen field.
In San Francisco, he became fascinated with movies and talked his way into directing an undistinguished short film, "The Ballad of Fultah Fisher's Boardinghouse." He worked his way through various Hollywood jobs, but didn't direct his first feature until 1926. After becoming a gag man for Mack Sennett, Capra was tapped by Harry Langdon to write and co-direct his first starring feature, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," which led to his directing two more Langdon picture, "The Strong Man" and "Long Pants."
This trio of films shot Langdon to such enormous success that he became the fourth biggest comedy star in movies, after Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. But Langdon's ego swelled and he fired Capra, in favor of directing himself. His career subsequently plummeted.
Meanwhile, Capra went to New York in 1927 to direct Claudette Colbert in her first film, "For the Love of Mike." But it flopped, sending Colbert back to Broadway.
The next year Capra returned to Hollywood, became a contract director for Columbia Pictures and over the next few years churned out more than 19 profitable movies of various genres. Eventually, he hit upon his now well-known formula for success and in 1934 struck gold by teaming Colbert with Clark Gable for the box-office smash "It Happened One Night."
The film went on to win all of the top five major Oscars - best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay). Only one other film has managed this hat trick since, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975.
"It Happened One Night" made Capra a top Hollywood director, turned Columbia into a major studio and led directly to the director's best work - "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (for which he won another Oscar), "Lost Horizon," "You Can't Take It With You" (his third Oscar win), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Meet John Doe."
Shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed, Capra joined the Army again and made the acclaimed documentary "Why We Fight," a series of training films for which he won a special Oscar.
In 1944, Capra's adaptation of the stage farce "Arsenic and Old Lace," with Cary Grant, was released, though it had been made three years earlier. And after the war, Capra formed Liberty Films and made "It's a Wonderful Life."
Unfortunately, "It's a Wonderful Life" did not catch fire at the box office in its initial release. And later postwar films, "State of the Union," "Riding High," "Here Comes the Groom" and "A Hole in the Head" also failed to achieve the box-office or critical success of his earlier work.
Capra often cited his last film, "A Pocketful of Miracles" in 1961, as the low point in his career, feeling he had allowed his independent filmmaking spirit to be compromised. He was so disgusted he vowed never to make another film.
In 1971, Capra published a best-selling autobiography, "The Name Above the Title," which referred to his status as the first studio director to have his name listed before the film's title in the opening credits.
In his later years, Capra enjoyed the resurgence of his work on video and relished speaking with young audiences who had discovered him for the first time. Locally, he spoke at retrospectives of his films at Brigham Young University in 1975 and at the Utah-U.S. Film Festival in 1979.
*****
(chart)
Capra's movie legacy
Among the films Frank Capra directed between 1926 and 1961 are:
"Platinum Blond," 1932
"Lady for a Day," 1933
"It Happened One Night," 1934
"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," 1936
"Lost Horizon," 1937
"You Can't Take It With You," 1938
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939
"Meet John Doe," 1941
"Arsenic and Old Lace," 1944
"It's Wonderful Life," 1946
"State of the Union," 1948
"Pocketful of Miracles," 1961