From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Frank Borzage April 23 1894 June 19 1962 was an Academy Awardwinning American film director and actor known for directing 7th Heaven 1927 Street Angel 1928 Bad Girl 1931 A Farewell to Arms 1932 Mans 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 FW 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 1931s 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 Borzages 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 Mans 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 Borzages 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
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