It's a Wonderful Life It's a Wonderful Life It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet "The Greatest Gift", which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched, and how different life in his
A Wonderful Life (musical) A Wonderful Life (musical) A Wonderful Life is a 1986 musical with a book and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Joe Raposo. Based on the classic Frank Capra film "It's a Wonderful Life" starring James Stewart, the story closely follows the original plot, set in 1945, telling the story of a suicidal man whose guardian angel reveals to him how different the world and everyone whose life he has touched would be had he never been born. The film was, in turn, based on a 1938 short story by Philip Van Doren Stern called "The Greatest Gift". Harnick