Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage (/bɔːrˈzeɪɡi/;[1] April 23, 1894[2] – June 19,
1962) was an American film director and actor, most remembered for
directing 7th Heaven (1927),[3] Street Angel (1928), Man's Castle
(1933),[4] and
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm (1940).
Contents
1 Biography
2 Career
3 Filmography
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
Biography[edit]
Frank Borzage's father, Luigi Borzaga, was born in
Ronzone
Ronzone (then
Austrian Empire, now Italy) in 1859. As a stonemason, he sometimes
worked in Switzerland; he met his future wife, Maria Ruegg (1860,
Ricken (de), Switzerland – 1947, Los Angeles), where she
worked in a silk factory. Borzaga emigrated to Hazleton, Pennsylvania
in the early 1880s where he worked as a coal miner. He brought his
fiancee to the United States and they married in Hazleton in 1883.
Their first child, Henry, was born in 1885. The Borzaga family moved
to Salt Lake City, Utah, where
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage was born in 1894, and the
family remained there until 1919. The couple had fourteen children,
eight of whom survived childhood: Henry (1885–1971), Mary Emma
(1886–1906), Bill (1892–1973), Frank, Daniel (1896–1975, a
performer and member of the
John Ford
John Ford Stock Company), Lew
(1898–1974), Dolly (1901–2002) and Sue (1905–1998). Luigi
Borzaga died in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles in a car accident in 1934; his wife Maria
(Frank's mother) died of cancer in 1947.
In 1912,
Frank Borzage
Frank 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.
On June 7, 1916, Borzage married vaudeville and film actress Lorena
"Rena" Rogers in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles and remained married until 1941. In 1945,
he married Edna Stillwell Skelton, the ex-wife of comedian Red
Skelton; they were divorced in 1949.[5][6] Borzage died of cancer in
1962, aged 68, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Cemetery in Glendale, California.
For his contributions to the film industry, Borzage received a motion
pictures star on the
Hollywood
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. The star is
located at 6300
Hollywood
Hollywood Boulevard.[7]
Career[edit]
Borzage 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, he 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,[8] 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.[9][10]
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
Hollywood filmmakers from Little Man, What Now? (1933)
to Three Comrades (1938) and
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm (1940).
His work took a turn to religiosity in such films as Green Light
(1937), Strange Cargo (1940) and
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman (1959). Of his
later work only the film noir Moonrise (1948) has enjoyed much
critical acclaim.
After 1948, his output was sporadic. He was the original director of
Journey Beneath the Desert (1961), but was too sick to continue, and
Edgar G. Ulmer
Edgar G. Ulmer took over.[11] Borzage was uncredited for the sequences
he did direct.
In 1955 and 1957, Borzage was awarded The George Eastman Award, given
by
George Eastman House
George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of
film.[12]
Filmography[edit]
The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine (1913)
The Battle of Gettysburg (1913)
Samson (1914)
The Wrath of the Gods (1914)
The Geisha (1914)
The Typhoon (1914)
Knight of the Trail (1915)
The Pitch o' Chance (1915)
The Pride and the Man (1916)
Dollars of Dross (1916)
Life's Harmony (1916)
The Silken Spider (1916)
The Code of Honor (1916)
Two Bits (1916)
A Flickering Light (1916)
Unlucky Luke (1916)
Jack (1916)
The Pilgrim (1916)
The Demon of Fear (1916)
The Quicksands of Deceit (1916)
Nugget Jim's Pardner (1916)
That Gal of Burke's (1916)
The Courtin' of Calliope Clew (1916)
Nell Dale's Men Folks (1916)
The Forgotten Prayer (1916)
Matchin' Jim (1916)
Land o' Lizards (1916)
Immediate Lee (1916)
Flying Colors (1917)
Until They Get Me (1917)
A Mormon Maid
_-_Mae_Murray.jpg)
A Mormon Maid (1917)
Wee Lady Betty
Wee Lady Betty (1917)
The Gun Woman
The Gun Woman (1918)
The Curse of Iku
_-_1.jpg/440px-The_Curse_of_Iku_(1918)_-_1.jpg)
The Curse of Iku (1918)
The Shoes That Danced (1918)
Innocent's Progress (1918)
Society for Sale
_-_1.jpg/440px-Society_for_Sale_(1918)_-_1.jpg)
Society for Sale (1918)
An Honest Man (1918)
Who Is to Blame? (1918)
The Ghost Flower
_-_1.jpg)
The Ghost Flower (1918)
The Atom (1918)
Toton the Apache (1919)
Whom the Gods Would Destroy (1919)
Prudence on Broadway
_-_Ad_1.jpg/440px-Prudence_on_Broadway_(1919)_-_Ad_1.jpg)
Prudence on Broadway (1919)
Humoresque (1920)
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921)
The Duke of Chimney Butte (1921)
Back Pay
Back Pay (1922)
Billy Jim (1922)
The Good Provider
_-_Dinner.jpg/440px-The_Good_Provider_(1922)_-_Dinner.jpg)
The Good Provider (1922)
The Valley of Silent Men
_-_3.jpg/250px-The_Valley_of_Silent_Men_(1922)_-_3.jpg)
The Valley of Silent Men (1922)
The Pride of Palomar
_(tlc)_01.jpg/440px-1922_The_pride_of_Palomar_(ing)_(tlc)_01.jpg)
The Pride of Palomar (1922)
The Nth Commandment
The Nth Commandment (1923)
Children of the Dust (1923)
The Age of Desire
The Age of Desire (1923)
Secrets (1924)
The Lady (1925)
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1925)
The Circle (1925)
Lazybones (1925)
Wages for Wives (1925)
The First Year (1926)
The Dixie Merchant (1926)
Early to Wed (1926)
Marriage License? (1926)
7th Heaven (1927)
Street Angel (1928)
Lucky Star (1929)
They Had to See Paris
They Had to See Paris (1929)
The River (1929)
Song o' My Heart
Song o' My Heart (1930)
Liliom (1930)
Doctors' Wives (1931)
Young as You Feel (1931)
Bad Girl (1931)
After Tomorrow
After Tomorrow (1932)
Young America (1932)
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Secrets (1933)
Man's Castle
Man's Castle (1933)
No Greater Glory
No Greater Glory (1934)
Little Man, What Now? (1934)
Flirtation Walk
Flirtation Walk (1934)
Living on Velvet
Living on Velvet (1935)
Stranded (1935)
Shipmates Forever (1935)
Desire (1936)
Hearts Divided
Hearts Divided (1936)
Green Light (1937)
History Is Made at Night (1937)
Big City (1937)
Mannequin (1937)
Three Comrades (1938)
The Shining Hour
The Shining Hour (1938)
Disputed Passage
Disputed Passage (1939)
I Take This Woman (1940)
Strange Cargo (1940)
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm (1940)
Flight Command
Flight Command (1940)
Billy the Kid (1941)
Smilin' Through (1941)
The Vanishing Virginian
The Vanishing Virginian (1942)
Seven Sweethearts
Seven Sweethearts (1942)
Stage Door Canteen (1943)
His Butler's Sister
His Butler's Sister (1943)
Till We Meet Again (1944)
The Spanish Main
The Spanish Main (1945)
I've Always Loved You (1946)
Magnificent Doll (1946)
That's My Man (1947)
Moonrise (1948)
China Doll (1958)
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman (1959)
Journey Beneath the Desert (1961)
References[edit]
^ Borzage told The
Literary Digest
Literary Digest his name was pronounced "in three
syllables, and g in get, bor-zay'gee." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the
Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
^ To gain a professional advantage, Borzage subtracted a year from his
date of birth while still a teenager; many sources, including IMDb,
thus give 1893 as his birthdate; Dumont, p. 32.
^ "7th Heaven: The Films of
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage UCLA Film & Television
Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
^ "Bottoms Up (1934);
Man's Castle
Man's Castle (1933) UCLA Film & Television
Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
^ "Skelton's Ex-Wife Married to Director". The Pittsburgh Press. 26
November 1945. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
^ "Home of Skelton's Ex-Wife is Robbed of $10,000 Loot". St. Joseph
News-Press. 4 February 1950. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
^ "
Hollywood
Hollywood Walk of Fame - Frank Borzage". walkoffame.com. Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
^ Donald W. McCaffrey (1 January 1999). "FILMS AND FILMMAKERS". In
Christopher P. Jacobs. Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema.
Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 45–46. ISBN 9780313303456.
Retrieved 14 May 2014.
^ "Vera Gordon Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved
2017-04-24.
^ "
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage -
Hollywood
Hollywood Star Walk -
Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times".
projects.latimes.com. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
^ Herzogenrath, Bernd (2009). The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer. Scarecrow
Press. p. 282. ISBN 0810867001.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved
2012-04-15.
Further reading[edit]
Dumont, Hervé. Frank Borzage: the Life and Times of a Hollywood
Romantic. McFarland, 2006.
Lamster, Frederick. "Souls Made Great Through Love and Adversity": the
Film Work of Frank Borzage. Scarecrow, 1981.
External links[edit]
Biography portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frank Borzage.
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage on IMDb
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage at AllMovie
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms (1932) – This Borzage-directed adaptation of
Ernest Hemingway's novel has fallen into the public domain and is
available online through the Internet Archive.
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage and the Classic
Hollywood
Hollywood Style
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage at Find a Grave
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage at Virtual History
v
t
e
Films directed by Frank Borzage
Flying Colors (1917)
Society for Sale
Society for Sale (1918)
Prudence on Broadway
Prudence on Broadway (1919)
Humoresque (1920)
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921)
The Pride of Palomar
The Pride of Palomar (1922)
The Age of Desire
The Age of Desire (1923)
Secrets (1924)
The Lady (1925)
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1925)
The Circle (1925)
7th Heaven (1927)
Street Angel (1928)
Lucky Star (1929)
They Had to See Paris
They Had to See Paris (1929)
The River (1929)
Liliom (1930)
Song o' My Heart
Song o' My Heart (1930)
Doctors' Wives (1931)
Bad Girl (1931)
After Tomorrow
After Tomorrow (1931)
Young as You Feel (1931)
Young America (1932)
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Secrets (1933)
Man's Castle
Man's Castle (1933)
No Greater Glory
No Greater Glory (1934)
Little Man, What Now? (1934)
Flirtation Walk
Flirtation Walk (1934)
Living on Velvet
Living on Velvet (1935)
Stranded (1935)
Shipmates Forever (1935)
Desire (1936)
Hearts Divided
Hearts Divided (1936)
Green Light (1937)
History Is Made at Night (1937)
Big City (1937)
Mannequin (1937)
Three Comrades (1938)
The Shining Hour
The Shining Hour (1938)
Disputed Passage
Disputed Passage (1939)
Strange Cargo (1940)
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm (1940)
Flight Command
Flight Command (1940)
Smilin' Through (1941)
The Vanishing Virginian
The Vanishing Virginian (1942)
Stage Door Canteen (1943)
His Butler's Sister
His Butler's Sister (1943)
Till We Meet Again (1944)
The Spanish Main
The Spanish Main (1945)
I've Always Loved You (1946)
That's My Man (1947)
Moonrise (1948)
China Doll (1958)
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman (1959)
v
t
e
Academy Award for Best Director
1927–1950
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage (1927)
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone (1928)
Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd (1929)
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone (1930)
Norman Taurog
Norman Taurog (1931)
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage (1932)
Frank Lloyd
Frank Lloyd (1933)
Frank Capra
Frank Capra (1934)
John Ford
John Ford (1935)
Frank Capra
Frank Capra (1936)
Leo McCarey (1937)
Frank Capra
Frank Capra (1938)
Victor Fleming
Victor Fleming (1939)
John Ford
John Ford (1940)
John Ford
John Ford (1941)
William Wyler
William Wyler (1942)
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz (1943)
Leo McCarey (1944)
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (1945)
William Wyler
William Wyler (1946)
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (1947)
John Huston
John Huston (1948)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
1951–1975
George Stevens
George Stevens (1951)
John Ford
John Ford (1952)
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (1954)
Delbert Mann
Delbert Mann (1955)
George Stevens
George Stevens (1956)
David Lean
David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler
William Wyler (1959)
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (1960)
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins and
Robert Wise
Robert Wise (1961)
David Lean
David Lean (1962)
Tony Richardson
Tony Richardson (1963)
George Cukor
George Cukor (1964)
Robert Wise
Robert Wise (1965)
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (1967)
Carol Reed
Carol Reed (1968)
John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger (1969)
Franklin J. Schaffner
Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
William Friedkin
William Friedkin (1971)
Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse (1972)
George Roy Hill (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman (1975)
1976–2000
John G. Avildsen
John G. Avildsen (1976)
Woody Allen
Woody Allen (1977)
Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Robert Redford
.jpg/440px-Robert_Redford_(cropped).jpg)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman (1984)
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack (1985)
Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson (1988)
Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner (1990)
Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme (1991)
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson (1995)
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella (1996)
James Cameron
James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes (1999)
Steven Soderbergh
.jpg/440px-Steven_Soderbergh_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Steven Soderbergh (2000)
2001–present
Ron Howard
Ron Howard (2001)
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski (2002)
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson (2003)
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood (2004)
Ang Lee
.jpg/440px-Ang_Lee_-_66ème_Festival_de_Venise_(Mostra).jpg)
Ang Lee (2005)
Martin Scorsese
.jpg/440px-Martin_Scorsese_Berlinale_2010_(cropped).jpg)
Martin Scorsese (2006)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper (2010)
Michel Hazanavicius
Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
Ang Lee
Ang Lee (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón
_cropped.jpg/440px-Alfonso_Cuarón_(2013)_cropped.jpg)
Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2014)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
Damien Chazelle
.jpg/440px-Damien_Chazelle_on_the_set_of_La_La_Land_(cropped).jpg)
Damien Chazelle (2016)
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro (2017)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 114514919
LCCN: n80165117
ISNI: 0000 0001 2148 3433
GND: 132065665
SUDOC: 032529546
BNF: cb13930048r (data)
BNE: XX1272855
SN
