biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1897–1991)
|
| biography:
| Film director, born in Palermo, Sicily. His family moved to California when he was six, and he began to earn money by selling newspapers, playing the banjo, and doing odd jobs. After receiving a degree in chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (1918), he joined the army as a private. Discharged as a lieutenant, he held a variety of jobs until he talked his way into directing a short film, Fultah Fisher's Boarding House (1922), in San Francisco. He spent time learning the film business, and then became a joke writer for Our Gang comedies and for the comedian Harry Langdon. He also directed a number of Langdon films and short comedies. His work as a director frequently celebrated the decency and integrity of the common man as he combats corruption in high places, and he earned Oscars for It Happened One Night (1934), Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and You Can't Take It With You (1938). The film that eventually became his most popular, It's A Wonderful Life (1947), did not receive any special attention at its initial release. |
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