Capra, Frank

1897 - Born Francesco Rosario Capra on the 18th day of May this year in Bisacquino, Sicily, Italy.

1903 - His family moved to the United States of America.

1918 - Graduated from Throop Institute (later renamed the California Institute of Technology) with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering. He also joined the United States Army. While at the Presidio, he got Spanish influenza and was discharged on the 13th of December.

1920 - Became a naturalized citizen of the United States, registering his name as Frank Russell Capra.

1930 - Began his career in silent films; he also went to work for Mack Sennett and then moved to Columbia Pictures.

1934 - After the comedy "It Happened One Night", he directed a steady stream of films for Columbia intended to be inspirational and humanitarian.

1936 - He hosted the 8th Academy Awards ceremony.

1942 - Between this year and 1948, when he produced State of the Union, Capra also directed or co-directed eight war documentaries including Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike. His Academy Award-winning documentary series, Why We Fight, is widely considered a masterpiece of propaganda.

1946 - His movie "It's a Wonderful Life" is perhaps his most widely known and long-lasting film to date.

1961 - His final theatrical film was "Pocketful of Miracles", with Glenn Ford and Bette Davis. He had planned to do a science fiction film later in the decade but never even got around to pre-production.

1971 - Published his autobiography, The Name above the Title. Uncompromising in its details, it offers a compelling self-portrait.

1991 - He died in La Quinta, California of a heart attack in his sleep on 3rd of September at the age of 94.

• "A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something."
• "Automatic simply means that you can't repair it yourself."
• "I made some mistakes in drama. I thought the drama was when the actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries."