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 Bishop's Wife is a 1947 American supernatural romantic comedy film directed by Henry Koster, starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven. The plot is about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E. Sherwood from the 1928 novel of the same name by Robert Nathan.
Darlene Wright ,[a] also known by the stage name Darlene Love, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the girl group the Blossoms and as a solo recording artist.
Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress, singer, dancer, and director.
Scott Christopher Grimes is an American actor and singer. Some of his most prominent roles include appearances in the TV series ER as Dr. Archie Morris, Party of Five as Will McCorkle, Band of Brothers as Technical Sergeant Donald Malarkey, and the animated sitcom American Dad!, voicing Steve Smith. He is also well known by cult movie fans for his role as Bradley Brown in the first two Critters films as well as his roles in the 1984 Christmas TV movies The Night They Saved Christmas and It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. From 2017 to 2022, he was a regular on the Fox/Hulu sci-fi comedy drama The Orville as Gordon Malloy.
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.
Robert Scott Blossom was an American poet and character actor of theatre, film, and television. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone (1990) and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged (1974). He is also remembered for his supporting roles in films such as The Great Gatsby (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Christine (1983), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
Richard Walden Yates was an American fiction writer identified with the mid-century "Age of Anxiety." His first novel, Revolutionary Road, was a finalist for the 1962 National Book Award, while his first short story collection, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, brought comparisons to James Joyce. Critical acclaim for his writing, however, was not reflected in commercial success during his lifetime.
Travers John Heagerty, known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor who specialised in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.
Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn was an American actress. She played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on The Andy Griffith Show. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including Sitting Pretty (1948), June Bride (1948), the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956). She also played a major role in an episode of the television series Little House on the Prairie.
Emma Rigby is an English actress and model. After rising to prominence for her role as Hannah Ashworth in Hollyoaks, she later played Gemma Roscoe in the BBC One drama series Prisoners' Wives and as the Red Queen in the American fantasy-drama Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. She also played the lead role of Angie in Movies 24's A Cinderella Christmas, directed by Tosca Musk.
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.
"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.
Clarence Odbody, also spelled Clarence Oddbody, is a guardian angel character in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, where he was portrayed by Henry Travers, and in the 1990 sequel, Clarence, where he was played by Robert Carradine.
Zu Zu Ginger Snaps was a brand of round drop cookies originally manufactured in 1901 by the National Biscuit Company (NBC) –later changed to Nabisco – and produced until the early 1980s. The snaps are "a spicy combination of ginger and sugar-cane molasses" and came in a distinctive yellow box with reddish type.
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.
Zuzu or Zu Zu may refer to:
Carol Coombs is a Canadian-born American former actress. She appeared in 24 films between 1941 and 1958, although mostly in minor roles. She is probably best-known as Janie Bailey, the oldest daughter of James Stewart and Donna Reed, in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. In the 1950s, she also had roles in a number of television productions.
Happiest Season is a 2020 American romantic comedy film directed by Clea DuVall, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mary Holland. Starring an ensemble cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen, the film follows a young woman who struggles to admit to her conservative parents that she is a lesbian while she and her girlfriend visit them during Christmas. A semi-autobiographical take on DuVall's experiences with her family, Happiest Season is the first lesbian Christmas rom-com produced by a major Hollywood studio.
Merry Christmas, George Bailey is a 1997 television broadcast directed by Matthew Diamond and starring Bill Pullman, Penelope Ann Miller, Nathan Lane, Sally Field and Martin Landau. It is an adaptation of the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, which is based on the 1943 short story "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern. Filmed live, it is a recreation of Lux Radio Theater's 1947 production of It's A Wonderful Life.
