Sam Wasson's 752-Page Frank Capra Biography Is Out

Sam Wasson's new biography of the director Frank Capra goes on sale on 27 October 2026. The book runs to 752 pages and is titled simply Frank Capra, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Capra made some of the most recognised American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He won three Academy Awards for Best Director. His best-known titles include It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life. During the Second World War he also made the Why We Fight series for the U.S. Army.

Wasson has a clear view of the man behind the films. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he called Capra "America's director," and said the rags-to-riches immigrant story at the centre of his work carries "all the darkness that entails." He also argued that Capra's films are "dark and triumphant," a reply to critics who dismiss them as "Capra-corn," a mocking term for sentimental, syrupy storytelling.

Wasson is no stranger to big-name Hollywood subjects. He has previously written books on Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Mazursky, Blake Edwards and Roman Polanski. He has also written a biography of the choreographer and director Bob Fosse. According to the New York Times, the Capra book is his ninth, and three of his earlier books have made the paper's best-seller list.

Capra is not a new subject for biographers. Joseph McBride's critical study The Catastrophe of Success appeared in 1992, a year after the director's death. Wasson's book joins it on the shelf as the second full-length biography of Capra on the market.

For readers who know Capra only through a holiday broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life, the book offers a fuller picture. Wasson's own account of the director puts the sentimental films and the darker material side by side. The book is available from booksellers from 27 October.