He joined the Army in World War I and taught math to artillery officers. After the war, he worked at different jobs, began making short films in San Francisco in 1922, became an editor and gag writer for Bob Eddy, then moved to Hollywood to work for Hal Roach and Mack Sennett. His first big film success was The Strong Man starring Harry Langdon in 1926.
He signed a contract with thesmall "Poverty Row" studio Columbia Pictures led by Harry Cohn and Sam Briskin, and made That Certain Thing and Columbia's first sound picture The Submarine in 1928: "Everybody in Hollywood was scared to death of sound but I knew all about sound waves from freshman physics."
He married Lucille Reyburn in 1932 and made American Madness with script by Robert Riskin about a banker played by Walter Huston who made loans based on people's character but who is ruined by the Depression until the people rally behind him to save the bank (the same plot as the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life).
Capra joined the Academy and sought to make an "arty" film that would earn him an Academy award, made the Bitter Tea of General Yen starring Barbara Stanwyck with photography by Joseph Walker, was the first film to be shown in the new Radio City Music Hall movie palace, but it failed at the box office.
The 1933 film Lady For A Day was a success and earned 4 Academy nominations.
It Happened One Night in 1934 was based on the "Night Bus" story by Samuel Hopkins Adams and starred Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable with crisp dialogue by Riskin, photography by Walker, and fast-paced editing by Capra, especially in the bus singing scene where he allowed the actors to behave normally and join in the singing of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze." The film gave birth to the new genre of the romantic comedy and on February 27, 1935, earned 5 Academy awards, pulling Columbia out of "Poverty Row."
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town in 1936 with Gary Cooper as tuba player Longfellow Deeds.
Lost Horizon in 1937 cost $2 million to create the mythical Shangri-La.
You Can't Take It With You in 1938 with Jean Arthur as Alice Sycamore.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington in 1939 with Jimmy Stewart as Senator Jefferson Smith.
Capra left Columbia in 1939 and formed his own production company with Riskin, made Meet John Doe in 1941 with Stewart as ex-baseball pitcher John Willoughby who defeats newspaper owner D.B. Norton.
The film Arsenic And Old Lace was started in 1941 but interrupted by the outbreak of war, would not be released until 1944.
In 1942, Prelude to War was released as the first of the seven Why We Fight films that Capra made for the War Department in World War II.
In 1945 he formed Liberty Films with Sam Briskin and William Wyler and George Stevens. The trademark for the new company was the ringing Liberty Bell that was a prominent image in Capra's Why We Fight war films. Under a contract to produce films for RKO, Capra made It's A Wonderful Life in 1946 and State Of The Union in 1948 with Katharine Hepburn as wealthy newspaper owner who promotes Spencer Tracy for the presidency.
Paramount bought Liberty Films in 1948 and Capra made Broadway Bill in 1950 with Bing Crosby, and Here Comes The Groom in 1951 also with Crosby and the hit song "In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening."
Capra stopped making Hollywood films and did a science series for television in the 1950's. He testified in secret hearings before HUAC and named names.
The 1959 A Hole In The Head starred Frank Sinatra and the hit song "High Hopes" and was Capra's first color and CinemaScope production. He made the less successful Pocketful Of Miracles in 1961 starring Glenn Ford and Bette Davis.
Capra devoted several years to writing his autobiography The Name Above The Title published in 1971.
In 1982 he was awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Lucille died in 1984 and Frank Capra suffered a stroke in 1985 and remained in poor health until his death September 3, 1991.
Doherty, Thomas. Projections Of War. Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Gehring, Wes. Populism and the Capra Legacy. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Glatzer, Richard and John Raeburn, eds. Frank Capra: The Man and His Films. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1975.
Hanlon, Mary. Capra, Smith, & Doe M.A. thesis, American Studies, University of Virginia, August 1997.
Hicks, Jimmie. "Frank Capra,"Films in Review, September 1992 (Part 1), January 1993 (Part 2), March 1993 (Part 3).
Hoops, Roy, ed. When the Stars Went To War. New York: Random House, 1994.
Maland, Charles. Frank Capra. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.
McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, 768 pages.