A Wonderful Performance

Among the indispensable elements that contribute to the classic status of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), there is its Christmastime setting, the shimmering dialogue and Jimmy Stewart's startlingly anguished performance as George Bailey-a decent man whose failures leave him blind to his own worth.

- Kathleen Spaltro

Henry Travers, too, performs unforgettably as Clarence, the guardian angel whose earthly work includes foiling George's contemplated suicide.

No less essential to this holiday perennial, though, is Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter, the implacably stone-hearted magnate who is our hero's chief nemesis. Despite having been frequently eclipsed in fame by his actor siblings, John and Ethel, Lionel is, according to his biographer Kathleen Spaltro, the most enduringly popular of the trio-largely on the strength of this single supporting performance in Capra's masterpiece. "While twenty-first-century viewers may not know much about his stage work, his silent films, or his Oscar-winning (Best Actor, 1931) performance in A Free Soul," Ms. Spaltro writes, "fans of classic radio remember his yearly turn as Ebenezer Scrooge, and everyone has seen his Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life." Indeed, the only Barrymore who is unquestionably better known today is Lionel's great-niece Drew.