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During the 1930s and 1940s, Frank Capra stood as one of Hollywood's most renowned filmmakers. Known for classics like It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Capra was celebrated for his heartfelt screwball comedies. Despite critics labeling the earnest optimism of his works as “Capra-corn,” the director—who hailed from a humble Italian background—took pride in crafting films that celebrated the everyday hero. On the anniversary of his death, here are 12 lesser-known facts about Frank Capra.
1. HE CAME TO AMERICA AS A YOUNG BOY.
Capra was born in Sicily in 1897 and moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of six in 1903, where they lived in a largely Italian community. In his 1971 memoir, The Name Above The Title, Capra recounted the grueling journey in steerage to America as one of his most challenging childhood experiences, while spotting the Statue of Liberty upon arrival in New York filled him with hope and inspiration.
After settling in Los Angeles, Capra’s entire family, including his younger siblings, took on various jobs to support themselves financially. Capra worked tirelessly, selling newspapers, waiting tables, and taking on roles at a laundromat, as a tutor, and even at a power plant. Despite the challenges, he became the sole member of his six siblings to pursue higher education, earning a degree in chemical engineering from Caltech in 1918.
2. HE DECEIVED HIS WAY INTO HIS FIRST FILM ROLE.
Post-graduation, Capra found himself aimless. Unable to secure a position in chemical engineering, he took on a variety of temporary jobs, eventually landing as a struggling and nearly penniless book salesman in San Francisco. After reading about a new film studio named Fireside Productions in the newspaper, he decided to venture into filmmaking. Boldly presenting himself as a Hollywood veteran, he charmed his way into his first directing opportunity.
“What harm could a small lie do when you’re struggling to survive?” Capra reflected in his autobiography, admitting, “I was caught in my own web of deceit. Filled with excitement yet terrified of being exposed, I stood under a spotlight of my own making. Only the thrill of adventure and the audacity of inexperience gave me the courage to believe I could pull it off.”
3. HE DEMANDED COMPLETE ARTISTIC FREEDOM.
From the outset of his directing career, Capra was adamant about retaining complete control over his projects, drawing inspiration from auteurs like D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin. “The idea of ‘one man, one film,’ a principle championed by influential filmmakers since D.W. Griffith, became my unwavering belief,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I turned down any project where I couldn’t oversee every detail from start to finish.”
4. HE OFTEN PUT HIS ACTORS THROUGH GRUELING CONDITIONS.
Leveraging his chemical engineering background, Capra was not just a skilled director but also a technical pioneer, constantly devising new methods to achieve realistic effects in his films. However, these innovations often came at a cost to his cast. For Lost Horizon (1937), he filmed in a freezing industrial cold storage facility to create authentic snow scenes, transforming it into a makeshift soundstage.
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5. HIS FIRST OSCARS EXPERIENCE WAS EMBARRASSING.
In 1934, both Frank Capra and Frank Lloyd were up for Best Director (Capra for Lady For a Day, Lloyd for Cavalcade). During the ceremony, host Will Rogers called out, “C’mon get it, Frank!” Assuming he had won, Capra jumped up and headed to the stage, only to discover the award was meant for Frank Lloyd. “I wished I could have vanished into the floor like a pitiful insect,” Capra later wrote. “Slumping back into my seat, I felt utterly humiliated. My friends at the table were in tears.”
6. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT DIDN’T INITIALLY WIN OVER CRITICS.
Despite eventually sweeping five Oscars (making it the first film to achieve the Big Five: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Writer, and Best Director), It Happened One Night didn’t impress critics right away. The romantic comedy starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert was initially dismissed as trivial (“to suggest the film has any deeper meaning would be a mistake,” The Nation declared). However, audiences across the country quickly fell in love with it. “Then—it happened. Not overnight, but within weeks,” Capra recalled. “People noticed the film was longer than usual and, to their delight, far more entertaining.”
7. POLITICIANS WEREN’T THRILLED WITH MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON.
Wikimedia Commons, Public DomainWhile audiences and critics adored Jimmy Stewart’s portrayal of the idealistic Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, politicians and the Washington press were less enthusiastic. Some lawmakers were outraged by Capra’s depiction of the Senate as both inept and corrupt (Senator Alben W. Barkley labeled the film a “grotesque distortion,” claiming it “portrayed the Senate as the most ridiculous group of fools ever recorded!”). Others feared the film would damage America’s reputation internationally, a concern heightened by the looming threat of World War II. Joseph P. Kennedy, then the U.S. Ambassador to London, even wrote to Capra, urging him to halt the film’s European release, arguing it “would severely harm America’s standing in Europe.”
Capra, however, stood firm. Despite its critical take on Washington’s political elite, he viewed the film as a tribute to democratic values and freedoms—a sentiment shared by many overseas. A 1942 report in The Hollywood Reporter noted that Mr. Smith was selected by numerous French cinemas as the last American film to be shown before the Nazis enforced their ban on American and British media.
8. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE WAS HIS PERSONAL FAVORITE.
Capra considered It’s a Wonderful Life his crowning achievement: a film crafted to uplift and entertain his audience, with little regard for critical opinion. “I believed it was the finest film I ever created,” Capra remarked. “In fact, I thought it was the greatest film anyone had ever made. It wasn’t made for the bored critics or the jaded intellectuals. It was my film, made for my kind of people.”
9. HE HELPED MAKE THE WORD "DOODLE" POPULAR.
In the 1930s, the term “doodle” typically referred to aimless fooling around. However, in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936), Capra redefined the word. While it’s unclear whether Capra coined the new meaning or popularized an obscure regional expression, it was through Mr. Deeds that most Americans came to understand “doodle” as idle sketching done while thinking. In the film, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) explains to the judge that a “doodler” is “someone who draws silly designs on paper when they’re deep in thought.”
The movie is also credited with briefly bringing the word “pixilated” into vogue, not in the context of images or computers, but as a reference to pixies. In Mr. Deeds, the term describes individuals who seem slightly eccentric, as if influenced by mischievous spirits.
10. JEAN ARTHUR WAS HIS MOST BELOVED ACTRESS.
Capra frequently collaborated with a close-knit group of creatives: In the 1930s, he co-wrote eight films with screenwriter Robert Riskin, worked with composer Dimitri Tiomkin for nearly a decade, and often cast—or attempted to cast—Barbara Stanwyck, Jimmy Stewart, and Gary Cooper in his projects. Yet, among all the actors he worked with, Jean Arthur’s unique talent and anxious energy left the deepest impression.
Arthur starred in Capra’s films Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, You Can’t Take It With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. “Jean Arthur is my favorite actress, largely because she was one of a kind. I’ve never seen anyone so consumed by stage fright. I’m certain she was sick before and after every scene,” Capra wrote in his autobiography. “But once you gently pushed that nervous woman in front of the camera and turned on the lights, she transformed into a radiant, poised, and confident performer.”
11. HE JOINED BOTH WORLD WARS BUT NEVER SAW COMBAT.
Despite his enthusiasm to serve in both World Wars, Capra’s skills—first as an engineer and later as a filmmaker—kept him away from the battlefield. During World War I, he taught artillery officers ballistic mathematics in San Francisco, and in World War II, he directed the Why We Fight series, a documentary project designed to educate and motivate American soldiers.
12. HE TOOK PRIDE IN CREATING "GEE WHIZ" MOVIES.
Capra’s films, though brimming with humor, often carried a tone of idealism that some critics criticized as overly sentimental or naive. However, Capra, who believed his comedies should convey meaningful messages, embraced his reputation for crafting uplifting stories. “Some critics dismiss certain works as part of the ‘gee whiz’ school, where creators marvel at the world with wide-eyed wonder, seeing everything as extraordinary,” he wrote in his autobiography. “If my films—and this book—occasionally radiate that ‘gee whiz’ spirit, so be it. To some of us, life and everything in it is truly awe-inspiring. Who can deny the magic of it all?”
