Trivia

When he was nominated for his first Best Director Oscar in 1933 (for Lady for a Day (1933)), presenter Will Rogers merely opened the envelope and said "Come and get it, Frank!" Already halfway to the stage, Capra realized that Rogers wasn't referring to him, but to Frank Lloyd, who was getting the Oscar for Cavalcade (1933).

Claimed that Frank Sinatra had the potential to be the best actor there ever was. He once told Frank to quit his musical career and concentrate solely on acting and that if he did he would go down as the greatest actor who ever lived.

Is the second most-represented filmmaker (behind Steven Spielberg) on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with four of his films on the list. They are: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) at #83, Meet John Doe (1941) at #49, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) at #5, and the most uplifting movie of all time, It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Although most of his films were written by individuals on the political left who tended to exude the spirit of the New Deal, Capra himself was a lifelong conservative Republican who never voted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, admired Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini and later, during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era served as a secret FBI informer for his friend J. Edgar Hoover.

His father, Turiddu, died in a horrible factory accident in 1915. When the aging man was working some gears, he got caught in the gears and was nearly ripped in half.

Claimed that both Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Sinatra "left their best scenes in rehearsal," saying that all subsequent takes got stale quickly. Capra would often shoot scenes with them without any rehearsing at all. This used to drive the other actors nuts. Edward G. Robinson once stormed off the set of A Hole in the Head (1959) and asked to be let out of his contract because he was used to rehearsing all his roles.

His last name means "goat" in his native Italian.

Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn was notorious for coming on the set and trying to override directors' decisions--usually for monetary reasons--so when Capra won his first Oscar, he re-negotiated his contract with Columbia and insisted on a proviso that forbade Cohn from appearing on the set of any film Capra was making for Columbia. He got it.

Directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: May Robson, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, H.B. Warner, Spring Byington, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Harry Carey and Peter Falk. Gable and Colbert won Academy Awards for their roles in It Happened One Night (1934).

Critics dubbed his movies as "Capra-corn" for their simple and sappy storylines.

Said Jean Arthur would get real tense and often become violently sick before shooting began. However, he said she always managed to compose herself when the cameras started to roll and acted as though nothing was wrong.

Among many unrealized projects in his long career, one to which he was especially devoted was a film about the life of Saint Paul , to star Frank Sinatra.

A staunch opponent of abortion and donated funds to support the Human Life Amendment.

Studied electrical engineering at CalTech, and only began working in films as a temporary summer job.

Hosted the Academy Awards in 1936 and 1939.

Had a son, Johnny, who died in 1938, at age 3, from complications arising from a tonsillectomy.

He got his first film assignment by answering an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper.

Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1958.

Capra's classmates at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles included singer Lawrence Tibbett and future war hero Jimmy Dolittle.

Directed seven Academy Award Best Picture nominees: 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) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It with You both won Best Picture.

Inspired the adjective "Capraesque".

Awarded American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 1982.

Honored on a US postage stamp in May 2012 (with John Ford, Billy Wilder and John Huston).

Father of Frank Capra Jr. (March 20, 1934-December 19, 2007), John Capra (April 24,1935-August 23, 1938), Lulu Capra (b. September 16, 1937), and Tom Capra (b. February 12, 1941). Family lived in Fallbrook, CA.

President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1935-39.

Was once a gag man for the Keystone Film Company (best known for its Keystone Kops shorts).

Was voted the 9th Greatest Director of all time by "Entertainment Weekly".

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1986 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.

Upon his death his remains were interred at Coachella Valley Public Cemetery in Coachella, CA. His location plot is Lot 289, Unit 8, Block 77.

President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) from 1960-61.

Heavily influenced friend Thomas R. Bond II, a producer/director who gained most of his knowledge in directing and producing from Capra.

Emigrated to America with his parents in 1903. They settled in Los Angeles, where his older brother was already living.

MGM production chief Irving Thalberg wanted to borrow Capra from Columbia Pictures and offered Columbia chief Harry Cohn $50,000, the use of an MGM star of his choice for a film and Capra's choice of properties. The director selected "Soviet," the story of an American engineer building a dam in Russia. It was to star Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Thalberg's illness caused MGM boss Louis B. Mayer to cancel the production but MGM made good on the payment and the loan-out.

Colleen Moore recalled that Capra directed the cameo appearance by Harry Langdon in the First National picture Ella Cinders (1926).

He became friends with Clint Eastwood later in his life after retiring from directing. Eastwood said his only regret befriending Capra was that he felt even at his old age Capra was still very capable of making good movies and he always wondered why he retired early as he did.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 96-103. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Was originally supposed to write and direct Circus World (1964) but quit the project when star John Wayne rejected Capra's script and instead insisted it be written by his old friend, James Edward Grant.

Profiled in "Conversations with Directors: An Anthology of Interviews from Literature/Film Quarterly", E.M. Walker, D.T. Johnson, eds. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 96-98. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.

About Ladies of Leisure (1930) with a very young Barbara Stanwyck, Capra later wrote that he would have married her if both of them had been free at the time.

President of the Screen Directors Guild from 1939-41.

Interviewed in "Talking to the Piano Player: Silent Film Stars, Writers and Directors Remember" by Stuart Oderman (BearManor Media).

He has directed six films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Strong Man (1926), The Power of the Press (1928), It Happened One Night (1934), Lost Horizon (1937), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). His government WW2 documentary series "Why We Fight" is also in the registry: Why We Fight (1942), The Nazis Strike (1943), Divide and Conquer (1943), The Battle of Britain (1943), The Battle of Russia (1943), The Battle of China (1944) and War Comes to America (1945).

His films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in four consecutive years: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Of the four films in question, You Can't Take It with You (1938) was the only one to win the award. The only director to receive more consecutive Best Picture nominations is William Wyler at seven.

Capra was such a fan of the TV show The Addams Family (1964) he offered to come out of retirement to direct some episodes. But he couldn't reach a financial agreement with the producers.

The cast of his play, "It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago" at the American Blues Theater in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2017 Joseph Jeffersoon Equity Award for Ensemble.

His play, "It's A Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!" at the American Blues Theater in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2017 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Midsize Play Production.

Spent WWII in the Army Pictorial Service making documentaries such as a Prelude to War/The Nazis Strike/Divide and Conquer/The Battle of Britain/The Battle of Russia.

Amongst all the top directors Billy Wilder had the most Oscar nominations with 8 Fred Zinneman 7, Frank Capra 6 David Lean 6, Clarence Brown 5, John Ford 5, King Vidor 5 George Stevens 5 Alfred Hitchcock 5 George Cukor 5.

He won an Oscar in 1942 for Best Documentary.