ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE COLOR MOVIE
The movie has become such a cherished icon that few recognize its Jekyll-Hyde split between forces both blanc and noir.
ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE COLOR FULL
Frank Capra recognized this as his most personal film but even he seems not to have come to grips with its full implications, at least not in interviews. The miraculous tale of George Bailey can't quite reconcile its faith in goodness with an equally profound, incompatible feeling of impending personal catastrophe. She was 40 years old and had never watched the holiday classic she was swiftly becoming known for.The perennial Christmas favorite It's a Wonderful Life is much more complex than the average film blanc, that mostly lighthearted subgenre postulating a cheery afterlife and the blessings of a protective, optimistic universe. Tragically, her first husband died in a hunting accident not long after they had parted ways.īy the time Jimmy Stewart's secretary, who'd been tasked with the job of finding Grimes, tracked her down, she was remarried, working full-time, and raising seven children. She married young, had two daughters, then divorced. She got into college, thanks to the help of teachers, and eventually became a medical tech in Kansas City. A court order forced Grimes, an only child, to move to Missouri to live with her strict aunt and uncle, whom Grimes has described as "religious fanatics" who frowned upon singing, dancing, watching movies, and even, to some extent, laughter.
Grimes's mother died of early-onset Alzheimer's disease when she was 12 less than three years later, her father died in a car accident. I was sent to live in a little town in the Midwest," said Grimes, now 76, who also had roles in films starring Cary Grant, John Wayne, and Bing Crosby. Sadly, Grimes' childhood was cut short by unforeseen circumstances. Grimes also opened up to the audience about her personal life. When George comes back from his 'unborn' sequence, he runs up the stairs and he's so happy to see his little girl and his family, and he says, 'Zuzu, my little ginger snap!'" Grimes explained. There was a little blonde clown on the box of these cookies. "There was a product made in the early 1900s by the National Biscuit Company, which today is Nabisco. This year marks the film's 70th anniversary, a milestone that brought the actors together in Seneca Falls, New York, the town that inspired Bedford Falls, for the annual "It's a Wonderful Life" festival.ĭuring the festival, Grimes, who appeared in the film at age 6, shed light on the origins of her character's name. Her life made such a drastic turn, in fact, that nearly 35 years after the film's debut, when her co-star Jimmy Stewart finally tracked her down, Karolyn Grimes hadn't even seen the movie.Ī resurgence in public interest in the film in the early 1980s prompted Stewart to find out whatever happened to the little girl who had played Zuzu, said Grimes at a press conference with fellow "Bailey children" Carol Coombs (Janie) and Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy) on Dec. It's a tale not many fans of the 1946 Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life know, but after filming, the actress who played little Zuzu Bailey experienced a personal tragedy that took her far away from Hollywood, and sidetracked her acting career for decades.