Birthday: 1894-04-23
Deathday: 1962-06-19
Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frank Borzage (April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Bad Girl (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Man's Castle (1933), History Is Made at Night (1937), The Mortal Storm (1940) and Moonrise (1948).
In 1912 Borzage found employment as an actor in Hollywood; he continued to work as an actor until 1917. His directorial debut came in 1915 with the film The Pitch o' Chance.
He was a successful director throughout the 1920s, but reached his peak in the late silent and early sound era. Absorbing visual influences from the German director F.W. Murnau, who was also resident at Fox at this time, Borzage developed his own style of lushly visual romanticism in a hugely successful series of films starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, including 7th Heaven (1927), for which he won the first Academy Award for Best Director, Street Angel (1928) and Lucky Star (1929). He won a second Oscar for 1931's Bad Girl.
He directed 14 films between 1917 and 1919 alone. His greatest success in the silent era was with Humoresque, a box office winner starring Vera Gordon.
Borzage's trademark was intense identification with the feelings of young lovers in the face of adversity, with love in his films triumphing over such trials as World War I (7th Heaven and A Farewell to Arms), disability (Lucky Star), the Depression (Man's Castle), a thinly disguised version of the Titanic disaster in History Is Made at Night, and the rise of Nazism, a theme which Borzage had virtually to himself among Hollywood filmmakers from Little Man, What Now? (1933) to Three Comrades (1938) and The Mortal Storm (1940).
His work took a spiritual turn in such films as Green Light (1937), Strange Cargo (1940) and The Big Fisherman (1959). Of his later work only the film noir Moonrise (1948) has enjoyed much critical acclaim. After 1948, Borzage's output was sporadic.
In 1955 and 1957, he was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Frank Borzage died of cancer in 1962, aged 68.
| Year | Title | Character | |
|---|---|---|---|
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1918-09-15 | The Atom | |
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1918-03-01 | The Curse of Iku | Allan Carroll / Allan Carroll III |
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1917-11-26 | Fear Not | Franklin Shirley |
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1917-08-17 | Wee Lady Betty | Roger O'Reilly |
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1917-04-21 | A Mormon Maid | Tom Rigdon |
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1917-04-05 | A School for Husbands | Hugh Aslam |
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1916-11-13 | Immediate Lee | Immediate Lee |
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1916-09-18 | Land O' Lizards | The Stranger |
| 1916-09-08 | Matchin' Jim | Matchin' Jim | |
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1916-09-04 | Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages | Extra (uncredited) |
| 1916-08-31 | The Forgotten Prayer | Dan Page | |
| 1916-08-25 | Nell Dale's Men Folks | Zeb Dale | |
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1916-08-11 | The Courtin' of Calliope Clew | Calliope Clew |
| 1916-07-28 | That Gal of Burke's | Charles Percival | |
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1916-07-14 | Nugget Jim's Pardner | Hal |
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1916-06-30 | The Demon of Fear | Thomas Marsh |
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1916-06-09 | The Pilgrim | The Pilgrim |
| 1916-05-26 | Jack | Jack | |
| 1916-04-28 | Unlucky Luke | Luke Drummond | |
| 1916-04-22 | Realization | ||
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1916-04-14 | A Flickering Light | Jim |
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1916-04-07 | Two Bits | James Hardeman |
| 1916-03-21 | The Code of Honor | Lt. Bob Chase | |
| 1915-12-31 | The Cactus Blossom | Dave Foster | |
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1915-12-24 | The Pitch o' Chance | Rocky Scott |
| 1915-12-20 | The Clean-Up | George Prescott | |
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1915-11-10 | Aloha Oe | Dr. John Hawley |
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1915-08-19 | Knight of the Trail | Bill Carey |
| 1915-07-09 | The Hammer | Donald Barstow | |
| 1915-06-18 | The Secret of Lost River | Tom Hornby - Prospector | |
| 1915-06-09 | The Tavern Keeper's Son | Juan Capella | |
| 1915-04-26 | The Cup of Life | Dick Ralston | |
| 1915-04-07 | Molly of the Mountains | John Harlow | |
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1915-03-24 | In the Switch Tower | Joel Wharton |
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1915-03-18 | The Mill by the Zuyder Zee | Dirk Brandt |
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1915-03-12 | The Girl Who Might Have Been | George Fowler |
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1915-01-14 | In the Land of the Otter | Joe Eagle |
| 1914-12-10 | The Panther | David Brandt | |
| 1914-11-27 | A Crook's Sweetheart | The 'Dip' | |
| 1914-11-04 | The Desperado | ||
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1914-10-10 | The Typhoon | Renard Bernisky |
| 1914-09-23 | Parson Larkin's Wife | Parson James Larkin | |
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1914-06-08 | The Wrath of the Gods | Tom Wilson |
| 1914-06-03 | Love's Western Flight | ||
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1914-04-30 | Samson | Bearded Philistine Extra (uncredited) |
| 1914-02-18 | A Flash in the Dark | ||
| 1914-01-28 | The Wheel of Life | ||
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1914-01-01 | In the Sage Brush Country | |
| 1913-12-31 | A Hopi Legend | ||
| 1913-12-19 | A Cracksman Santa Claus | ||
| 1913-12-10 | Retribution | ||
| 1913-11-21 | The Days of '49 | Ben | |
| 1913-10-03 | Loaded Dice | ||
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1913-09-23 | Silent Heroes | |
| 1913-09-06 | In the Toils | ||
| 1913-08-30 | The Gratitude of Wanda | ||
| 1913-08-24 | The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine | ||
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1913-07-23 | Granddad | Mildred's Father |
| 1913-07-04 | The Crimson Stain | ||
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1913-05-28 | The Drummer of the 8th | Jack Durand |
| 1912-11-08 | When Lee Surrenders | ||
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1912-11-01 | On Secret Service |