Editing It's a Wonderful Life (section)

===Casting===
In his autobiography, Capra recalled: "Of all actors' roles I believe the most difficult is the role of a Good Sam who doesn't know that he is a Good Sam. I knew one man who could play it ... James Stewart. ... I spoke to [[Lew Wasserman]], the MCA agent who handled Jimmy, told him I wanted to tell Jimmy the story. Wasserman said Stewart would gladly play the part without hearing the story."<ref>{{cite book| last=Capra| first=Frank| title=The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography| publisher=McMillan| url=https://archive.org/details/nameabovetitleau0000capr/page/376/mode/2up?q=wasserman| year=1971| pages=376–377| isbn=978-0-3068-0771-8}}</ref> Stewart and Capra had previously collaborated on ''[[You Can't Take It With You (film)|You Can't Take It with You]]'' (1938) and ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' (1939).

[[Henry Fonda]], Stewart's best friend, was also considered.<ref name="blockbuster">Greene, Liz. {{cite web|url=http://blockbuster.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=382 |title="One of America's Favorite Christmas Movies Has a Wonderful Life of Its Own: 72 Percent of Viewers are Younger Than the Movie." |access-date=December 17, 2006 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207225334/http://blockbuster.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=382 |archive-date=December 7, 2008}}. ''Blockbuster Inc.'' Retrieved August 2, 2011.</ref><ref name="Cox p. 6">Cox 2003, p. 6.</ref> Both actors had returned from the war with no employment prospects. Fonda, however, was cast in John Ford's ''[[My Darling Clementine]]'' (1946), which was filmed at the same time that Capra shot ''It's a Wonderful Life.'' For 17 supporting roles<ref name="crawleyscastingcalls.com">{{cite web|title=All the Movies in Tony Crawley's Casting Calls| url=http://www.crawleyscastingcalls.com/index.php?option=com_movies&Itemid=60&id=57&lettre=ALL|access-date=July 7, 2020| website=www.crawleyscastingcalls.com}}</ref> in the film, Capra considered more than 170 established actors.

[[Jean Arthur]], Stewart's co-star in ''You Can't Take It With You'' and ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' was first offered the role of Mary, but had recently dropped out of the Broadway show ''[[Born Yesterday (play)|Born Yesterday]]'' from exhaustion shortly before its premiere. Capra next considered [[Olivia de Havilland]], [[Martha Scott]], [[Ann Dvorak]], and [[Ginger Rogers]] before borrowing Donna Reed from MGM. Rogers turned it down because she considered it "too bland."<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.metv.com/lists/6-things-you-might-not-know-about-donna-reed| title=6 things you might not know about Donna Reed| website=[[MeTV]]}}</ref> In chapter 26 of her autobiography ''Ginger: My Story,'' she questioned her decision by asking her readers: "Foolish, you say?"<!-- Capra is adamant that Ginger Rogers was not considered because of contract conflicts. This may one of those "faulty memories" issues. -->

[[File:It's A Wonderful Life.jpg|250px|thumb|George Bailey (James Stewart), Mary Bailey ([[Donna Reed]]), and their youngest daughter Zuzu ([[Karolyn Grimes]])]] A long list of actors was considered for the role of Potter (originally named Herbert Potter): [[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]], [[Charles Bickford]], [[Edgar Buchanan]], [[Louis Calhern]], [[Victor Jory]], [[Raymond Massey]], [[Thomas Mitchell (actor)|Thomas Mitchell]], and [[Vincent Price]].<ref name="Cox p. 6"/> Lionel Barrymore, who eventually was cast, was a famous [[Ebenezer Scrooge]] in radio dramatizations of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' at the time, and was a natural choice for the role. Barrymore had also worked with Capra and Stewart on Capra's 1938 Best Picture Oscar winner, ''[[You Can't Take It With You (film)|You Can't Take It with You]].''

Before Capra decided on Ward Bond as Bert,<ref name="crawleyscastingcalls.com"/> he also considered [[Sam Levene]], [[Barton MacLane]], [[Robert Mitchum]], John Alexander and [[Irving Bacon]] for the role.

Before Capra cast Thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy, he also considered [[Walter Brennan]] and [[W. C. Fields]] for the role.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://archive.org/details/itswonderfullife00basi| title=The "It's a wonderful life" book| year=1986 }}</ref>{{rp|8}}

[[H. B. Warner]], who was cast as Mr. Gower, the pharmacist, had studied medicine before going into acting. He was also in some of Capra's other films, including ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town]],'' ''[[Lost Horizon (1937 film)|Lost Horizon]],'' ''[[You Can't Take It With You (film)|You Can't Take It with You]],'' and ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]].''<ref>Willian 2006, p. 12.</ref> In the silent era, he had played the role of [[Jesus Christ]] in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s ''[[The King of Kings (1927 film)|The King of Kings]]'' (1927). The name Gower came from Capra's employer [[Columbia Pictures]], which had been located on [[Gower Street (Hollywood)|Gower Street]] for many years. Also on Gower Street was a drugstore that was a favorite for the studio's employees.<ref>Willian 2006, p. 16.</ref>

[[Charles Williams (American actor)|Charles Williams]], who was cast as Eustace Bailey, and [[Mary Treen]], who was cast as Matilda "Tilly" Bailey, were both B-list actors, having appeared in 90 films each before ''It's a Wonderful Life.''<ref>Willian 2006, p. 14.</ref>

[[Jimmy the raven]] (Uncle Billy's pet) appeared in ''You Can't Take It with You'' and each subsequent Capra film.<ref name="blockbuster"/><ref name="Cox p. 24">Cox 2003, p. 24.</ref>