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| Clarence Odbody | |
| Aliases: | Clarence Oddbody |
| Notability: | Supporting character |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Guardian angel |
| Location: | Heaven |
| Born: | 18th century |
| Died: | 18th century |
| First: | It's a Wonderful Life |
| Actor: | Henry Travers |
Clarence Odbody is a fictional angel and a supporting character who appeared in the 1946 family classic, It's a Wonderful Life. He was played by actor Henry Travers.
Biography[]
Clarence Odbody was once a human male who lived during the 18th century. Upon his death, he became an Angel second class, which is a human who becomes an angel but hasn't yet earned their wings. After some two centuries of doing valiant work, Clarence had yet to obtain his wings. His opportunity came on Christmas Eve in 1946 when the upper echelon angels Michael and Joseph sent Clarence down to Earth to save the life of a man named George Bailey, who was on the verge of suicide, so that the $15,000 from his life insurance could save the town building and loan business, after the wealthy, but heartless Henry F. Potter had unbeknownst to him, stole $8,000 from his Uncle Billy, who was depositing the money at the bank, but accidently left it in a newspaper Potter took.
On that same night, Clarence jumped into a river a during a blizzard just as George Bailey was about to leap to his death. Oddly, George did jump into the river, but not to kill himself, but rather to save Clarence. After the two were retrieved and cleaned up, Clarence explained his position to George, who naturally didn't believe him. Clarence told him that he had to save George's life in order to earn his wings, even though George was still convinced that it was actually he who had saved Clarence, and not the other way around.
At the height of George's frustration he declared, "I wish I'd never been born!", which inspired Clarence to engage in an unorthodox plan. Clarence granted George's wish, and Bailey was metaphysically reborn in a world where he had never previously existed. Everyone he had ever known was either gone or was wholly unrecognizable to him. Due to George's absence from the timeline, his home town of Bedford Falls was no longer the idyllic and quaint community that he had grown up in, but instead was taken over by, who renamed it "Pottersville", which was now a sleazy and dangerous place filled with whiskey joints, crime, pawnshops, violence, seedy entertainment establishments, and unhappy people with meaningless, amoral lives.
As George flailed through the distorted memories of a life that was never his, he gained new-found appreciation for the life he once knew. He begged for everything to return to normal, and Clarence granted this wish as well. George raced home to be with his wife Mary and their children. George has also triumphed over Potter, because he finally realizes that all he has done for Bedford Falls has made him an important leader of his community, deeply respected and admired. This is evident when most of the town, several members being friends and/or people he helped, raises a collection to help make up the financial loss, culminating with a massive advance of $25,000 supplied by his wealthy industrialist friend Sam Wainwright that more than makes up the difference. With George's soul now having been saved, Clarence earned his wings.[1]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Clarence Odbody was created by director Frank Capra and writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on concepts developed by Philip Van Doren Stern.
- As a human, Clarence worked as a clock maker prior to his death.
- Clarence can't swim.
- His favorite book is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ It's a Wonderful Life (1946); Directed by Frank Capra.