It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas supernatural drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra. It is based on the short story and booklet "The Greatest Gift" self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943, which itself is loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he had not existed.
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) is an American musical comedy-drama film, produced and directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a priest and a nun who, despite their good-natured rivalry, try to save their school from being shut down. The character Father O'Malley had been previously portrayed by Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was produced by Leo McCarey's production company, Rainbow Productions.
George Bailey is a fictional character and the protagonist in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. The character is a building and loan banker who sacrifices his dreams in order to help his community of Bedford Falls to the point where he feels life has passed him by. Eventually, due to difficulties in keeping the building and loan solvent, Bailey falls into despair so deep that he contemplates suicide, until a guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, gives him a valuable perspective on the worth of his life. George finds through Odbody's angelic power and gift what life would be like if he didn't have his wife, Mary, his children and friends, and what their lives and the social structure of Bedford Falls would be like without him.
Travers John Heagerty, known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His best known role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs. Miniver (1942). Travers specialized in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.
Karolyn Grimes is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Zuzu Bailey in the classic 1946 Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life. She also played Debby Brougham in the 1947 film The Bishop's Wife.
Henry F. Potter is a fictional character, a villainous robber baron and the main antagonist in the 1946 Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life. He was portrayed by the veteran actor Lionel Barrymore.
Wind at My Back is a television series which aired in Canada on CBC Television between 1996 and 2001. It was created and produced by Kevin Sullivan, best known for his adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea. The series had five seasons, each with 13 episodes, and a Christmas-themed movie produced to wrap up loose ends, following the unexpected cancellation of the series.
A Wonderful Life is a 1986 musical with a book and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Joe Raposo.
It Happened One Christmas is a 1977 American made-for-television Christmas fantasy-comedy-drama film directed by Donald Wrye, starring Marlo Thomas, Wayne Rogers, Orson Welles, and Cloris Leachman. It originally premiered as The ABC Sunday Night Movie on December 11, 1977.
Philip Van Doren Stern was an American writer, editor, and Civil War historian whose story "The Greatest Gift", published in 1943, inspired the classic Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
"The Greatest Gift" is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern, loosely based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, which became the basis for the film It's a Wonderful Life (1946). It was self-published as a booklet in 1943 and published as a book in 1944.
Roscoe Todd Karns was an American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for playing George Bailey's younger brother, Harry Bailey, in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
Joseph Walker, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer who worked on 145 films during a career that spanned 33 years.
The Gould Hotel is a hotel in Seneca Falls, New York. When it was built in 1920 it was described as “the most complete and perfectly equipped of the smaller hotels of New York State." More than 80 years later, a $6.2 million renovation occurred.
Clarence is a 1990 made-for-television film directed by Eric Till. It is a spin-off of the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life following the character of Clarence Odbody from that film.
Mary Hatch Bailey is a fictional character in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. She is the sweetheart and later wife of protagonist George Bailey. Mary is played by Donna Reed as an adult and Jean Gale as a child. She is loosely based on Mary Pratt, a character in Philip Van Doren Stern's 1943 short story The Greatest Gift.
Bedford Falls is the fictional town in which Philip Van Doren Stern's 1943 short booklet The Greatest Gift, and RKO Pictures 1946 film adaptation It's a Wonderful Life, are set.
It's a Wonderful Life is an opera by Jake Heggie to a libretto by Gene Scheer based on the 1946 film. The opera premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on December 2, 2016.
James F. Hawkins is an American former actor, producer and writer. He is best-known for his TV roles in shows like Annie Oakley, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, Petticoat Junction, and The Donna Reed Show; and as Tommy Bailey, son of George Bailey in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.
