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The Bailey Family

George Bailey

Played By: Bobby Anderson (child), Jimmy Stewart (adult)

The protagonist of the film. A man with big dreams, but who is perpetually held back by his obligations to his community.

Adaptational Name Change: His surname was Pratt in The Greatest Gift.
Barrier Maiden: As he learns, he's the main reason why the town doesn't become a Crapsack World.
Being Good Sucks: George gave up his dreams and ambitions in order to help the people of Bedford Falls. Subverted by the end of the movie when all the town's people help him with his bankruptcy in return for all the good things he has done for them.
Berserk Button: George will not tolerate any insult towards his father or attacks on his character, tearing Potter a new one for dismissing Peter as a "starry eyed dreamer".
Beware the Nice Ones: George is usually a reasonable and supportive man, hence his many followers and companions. But when he truly gets upset or mad, he can be surprisingly very scary. Just ask his uncle Billy, or his wife or kids.
Big Brother Instinct: He willingly jumped into a frozen lake to save his younger brother, at the cost of his hearing in one ear.
Big Good: For the whole town. Everyone knows they can come to him for help.
Butt-Monkey: The only thing George wanted to do is travel the world. Everything from saving his brother from drowning to keeping the Building & Loan afloat kept him from leaving Bedford Falls. Even a World War keeps him home, fighting the "Battle of Bedford Falls" (scrap drives, rubber drives, paper drives, etc.).
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Not even being suicidal will stop him from helping someone out.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: In his younger days, he didn't seem to realize that the other girls in Bedford Falls were into him. He smartens up about it once he and Mary get serious with each other.
Deadpan Snarker: He's got a very dry, ironic sense of wit. It is Jimmy Stewart after all.
Driven to Suicide: The plot of the film revolves around George feeling like he needs to end his life; his lifelong dreams and ambitions having long been abandoned certainly played a part, but the main reason is that Uncle Billy accidentally misplaced the $8,000 needed to keep the Building & Loan afloat. George despairs that his efforts to keep Bedford Falls safe from Potter's corruption were all for nothing, and on top of that, he's worried that he'll go to prison for the missing money. What really drives him over the edge is when Potter tells George to his face that he's worth more dead than alive because of his lucrative life insurance policy.
The Dutiful Son: He had dreams of going to college and seeing the world but he gave it up to keep the business going, knowing it would have gone under otherwise.
Establishing Character Moment: The very first scene of the film features the people of Bedford Falls giving their prayers to George and hoping to help him out when he's desperately trying to end his life. This quickly shows the audience how beloved George is among his town and partially his selflessness.
- All of his childhood scenes can be considered one giant ECM. When his younger brother, Harry falls into a frozen pond and nearly drowns himself, George willingly leaps into the frozen pond to rescue him immediately (by forming a human chain, but still), even though he goes deaf in one ear. Then as he's working in the drug store, he tells Mary about his hopes to explore the world; refuses to deliver a poisonous drug mix, knowing he'd probably get in trouble; gives Potter the first of many Shut Up, Hannibal! speeches to him while defending his father; and doesn't to sell Gower out to any about the poisoning incident even though doing so would have been perfectly reasonable. All close to personality traits the adult George would later possess and early proof of his loyalty, honestly, optimism and overall good traits.
The Fettered: For however much George wants to get out of Bedford Falls, his responsibilities to his town keep him chained there.
Good Is Not Dumb: He may be an idealist whose optimism doesn't always line up with reality, but he's certainly not a fool. He's quick to adapt to any sudden inconvenience and come up with reasonable solutions for unforeseen problems, and it only takes him half a minute to realize that Potter is trying to trick him. He also created the Bailey Park project as a way to provide the people of Bedford Falls with quality, affordable housing without the risk that comes with giving out mortgages for higher priced homes.
Good Parents: He has four children with Mary and loves them all dearly. While his anger and frustration briefly strains his relationship with three of them, he is still able to overcome these feelings to comfort and soothe his youngest child when she's ill. His ecstatic joy at seeing all his kids alive and well at the end of the movie says it all.
Happily Failed Suicide: He's absolutely ecstatic when he finds out that he is alive again.
Happily Married: He's nothing but loving and devoted to his wife, Mary.
Heroic BSoD: Of the "bordering on Despair Event Horizon" variety. Losing the money for the company combined with a lifetime of failed ambitions leaves George utterly broken and contemplating suicide. He only snaps out of it after realizing his impact on the world after seeing what it would've been like if he never existed.
Honest Corporate Executive: He prides himself on being someone the people of Bedford Falls can come to without having to go to Potter.
Honor Before Reason: While he's a bit more pragmatic than his father, George will always do the right thing, no matter what it costs him.
I Coulda Been a Contender!: For all the good he does for his town, he can't help but regret not getting out and making something bigger of himself.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: George can't be bought at any price, as Potter finds out when he attempts to hire him. Even at his lowest moment, George is still willing to take the fall for Uncle Billy's mistake, even if it means going to jail.
Jerkass Ball: Most of the time, George is an exceedingly Nice Guy, but when he's in a bad mood, he can be a real jerk. When Uncle Billy's error seems likely to lead to bankruptcy and jail time, George is in a very bad mood, and ends up shouting at Zuzu's teacher until the poor woman breaks down crying.
Laser-Guided Karma: George insults and berates Mrs. Welch over the telephone. Later, at Martini's bar, Mr. Welch knocks George to the floor for insulting Mrs. Welch:
Mr. Welch: Next time you talk to my wife like that, you'll get worse! She cried for an hour! It's not enough she teaches stupid children to read and write, you had to bawl her out!
Loved by All: Everyone in Bedford Falls loves him and with good reason. The sole exception is Mr. Potter, who freely admits that he doesn't like anybody.
Manchild: Downplayed, as George has clearly proven to be grown-up, smart, and mature, although he still occasionally has a childlike scene of wonder and optimism.
A Minor Kidroduction: The first few minutes of the film have George shown as a 12-year old child establishing just how selfless his is, right now cutting to his adult self.
Nice Guy: George is one of the nicest men you could ever meet and it's why a lot of the citizens of Bedford Falls love him so much.
Papa Wolf: While his yelling at Mrs Welch over the phone about his daughter's illness was somewhat irrational, George proves himself in this moment to be very protective of his children.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: While George would certainly like to be a rich man and not have to deal with any financial struggles, he won't build himself a fortune by taking advantage of others. When Potter's assistant is briefing him on the Bailey Park housing development, he mentions that George could realistically be making twice the construction costs were it not for him deciding to forego larger profits in favor of making the houses affordable.
Secret-Keeper: He's the only one aside from Mr. Gower who knows that the man nearly accidentally poisoned a child after learning about his son's death. He promised to keep it a secret and stuck to it. Mary knows having watched it happen but she’s not told anyone either not even George which is why he will always be her knight in shining armor.
Small Town Boredom: George wants nothing more than to get out of Bedford Falls and see the world, but his sense of duty to the community keeps holding him back.
Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He stands at 6'3" and has a very dry sense of humor.
Tragic Dropout: George gives his college money to Harry so that he can stay home and take care of the family business. As a result, he never leaves his hometown.
Tragic Dream: All George ever wanted to do was explore the world and become an architect who designs bridges and buildings. His father's unexpected death and Potter's continued attempts to destroy the Building & Loan force him to forsake these ambitions.
Un-person: In the alternate timeline in which he was never born.

Mary Bailey

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/58449bac1700001b00e7db4a_9.jpg

Played By: Jean Gale (child), Donna Reed (adult)

The love of George's life, and his eventual wife.

Annoying Younger Sibling: Was apparently this as a child, as Sam does an impression of her younger self badgering Marty during the graduation dance.
Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Violet Bick's Veronica.
Childhood Friend Romance: Variation. As kids, George seems casually acquainted with her as she's his friend Marty's younger sister and is not thinking about romance, while she's madly in love with him from the start.
Good Parents: She's an incredibly caring and thoughtful mother to her kids.
Happily Married: Unlike George, she is perfectly content with married life in Bedford Falls.
Hot Librarian: In the alternate timeline. Putting glasses on Donna Reed doesn't make her not Donna Reed.
Housewife: She works around the house rather than getting a job, as was standard for the time period.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Almost as much as George himself. She has a chance to hang out with the wealthy Sam Wainwright, but she chose George Bailey due to his hopes and dreams, and his selflessness. She not only allows but encourages George to give up their honeymoon to save the Bailey Building and Loan, and personally showed up to use their honeymoon money. While raising four children, she also worked with George in the Building & Loan Company, ran a branch of the USO during the war, and completely remodeled a dilapidated house. Plus she loves her job even more than her husband, and she gets an Offscreen Moment of Awesome where she rallies the people of Bedford Falls to help George pay his due $8000 after his uncle misplaced the others. No Satellite Love Interest here.
Mama Bear: Downplayed but still there. She quickly noticed how irritable her husband George suddenly got and immediately rushed to her kids' defense, when she wasn't trying to comfort George. Played straight, however, when she finds out about George's dilemma and how his uncle Billy unintentionally put him at risk of going to prison and immediately does what she can to help her husband out.
A Saint Named Mary: She's a non-religious example, although she's shown to share George's sense of compassion and admiration, and wants to provide for the people of Bedford Falls just as much as he does. She even proves to be the Team Mom and she just happens to be named Mary.
Secret-Keeper: She was in the ice cream parlor and witnessed George stopping Gowers from administering the poisoned pills. She knows what George did and hasn’t even told George this. This is why George is always going to be her knight in shining armor.
Single-Target Sexuality: Other men show interest in her, but she has eyes for no one but George and never marries in the universe where he wasn't born.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She prefers George's honest, small-town goodness over Sam Wainwright's wealth and charm.

The Bailey Children

Pete, Janie, Tommy, and Zuzu Bailey

Played By: Larry Simms (Pete), Carol Coomes (Janie), Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy), and Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu)

George and Mary's four children.

Children Are Innocent: None of them can understand why their father is so upset.
Daddy's Girl: Zuzu is very close with her father.
Dead Guy Junior: Pete is named for Peter Bailey, George's late father.
Flat Character: With the exception of Zuzu, none of the kids have a lot of traits.
Un-person: In the alternate time line where George is never born. Justified, as without George, they can never be born either.

Harry Bailey

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_023.jpg

Played By: Georgie Nokes (child), Todd Karns (adult)

George's younger and more successful brother.

The Ace: Harry succeeds at just about everything. He's an All-American college football star, a genius at research, and a war hero to boot. However, the movie does play with it a bit by making it clear that George's frequent sacrifices enable Harry's achievements in the first place (quite literally; without George, Harry wouldn't have lived past the age of ten), thus making the point that even the supposed Ace can't accomplish everything in his life single-handedly out of pure awesomeness without the help of someone else, even in the background. This said, he does his brother proud.
Ace Pilot: Besides literally being an ace, he is honored by the President for shooting down kamikaze plans before they could crash into transports of US troops.
Big Brother Worship: Even as an adult who has succeeded in everything he does, Harry still looks up to George and considers him an even more accomplished man than him.
Cool Uncle: It's assumed that Harry would be this to the Bailey kids, considering he was a war hero and won the medal of honor and was honored by the president (Harry S. Truman at the time) himself.
Nice Guy: Just like his dad and brother, Harry is brave, honest, kind and loving.
The One Who Made It Out: Unlike George, he leaves Bedford Falls and makes a life for himself elsewhere.
War Hero: During World War II, he becomes a naval fighter pilot, becoming an ace, and shooting down two kamikaze that were aiming for a transport full of troops, for which he is awarded the Medal of Honor. As Christmas approaches, he's coming back to Bedford Falls and the town is getting ready to throw him a hero's welcome.
Youngest Child Wins: It appears this way to most, but Harry still considers his older brother the richer man.

Peter Bailey

Played By: Samuel S. Hinds

George and Harry's father, the founder of the Bailey Building and Loan.

Good Parents: Peter is a good feather and George and Harry have nothing but love for him. Notably, he is completely understanding of his sons' desires to leave Bedford Falls and encourages them to pursue their dreams, even though he personally would like them to stay and be part of the family business.
Honest Corporate Executive: He runs the Building and Loan so that struggling people can afford to live in decent homes. His son inherits this business ethos.
Honor Before Reason: His insistence on helping people even if it was bad for business was often the root of the Building and Loan's financial problems under his leadership. As much as George loved his father, even he admits that he wasn't a very good businessman.
Like Father, Like Son: He was very much like George in personality.
Nice Guy: Just like his two sons, Peter was a good and honest man who did everything he could to help the people of the town.
Overly Generous Fool: Peter was a generous man who founded Bailey Building and Loan so he could help the residents of Bedford Falls obtain housing. However, it's noted by George himself that his father "was no businessman" and his insistence on helping people even if it was bad for business was often the root of the Building and Loan's financial problems under his leadership.
Small Role, Big Impact: His death serves as one of the many obstacles holding George back in Bedford and forcing him to run the Building and Loan.

Ma Bailey

Played By: Beulah Bondi

George and Harry's mother, matron of the Bailey Boarding House.

Adaptational Jerkass: In the Pottersville universe, she’s a bitter widow who runs a dilapidated boarding house.
Broken Bird: In the Pottersville storyline, she is understandably quite bitter over losing her only child, her husband, and her brother-in-law landed in an insane asylum after he lost the family business to Mr. Potter, and she has to run a shabby boarding house to support herself, refusing anybody who has not been sent by somebody that she knows.
Good Parents: Like her husband. She continues to provide wise advice for George well into his adulthood.
I Have No Son!: In the Pottersville storyline, she doesn’t recognize George at all despite his protests and is hostile toward him for reminding her of the loss of everything that her husband and brother-in-law built. She outright tells him that she doesn’t take in strays.
Unnamed Parent: Unlike her husband, her name is never mentioned.

William Bailey

Played By: Thomas Mitchell

AKA "Uncle Billy", George's scatterbrained uncle, a fixture of the Building and Loan.

The Alcoholic: Uncle Billy likes his booze just a little more than someone who handles other people's money ought to.
Friend to All Living Things: In addition to his pet crow at the Building and Loan, Billy has a squirrel, a small dog, an owl, and a monkey.
The Load: His actions threaten the Building and Loan a few times, first when he closes its doors during a run out of panic, and then when he misplaces eight thousand dollars. In the alternate universe where George was never born, the Building and Loan went broke shortly after his brother died and he was left to run things.
The Mourning After: Briefly touched on when he tearfully tells George that he's gone through his entire house in search of the missing money, "even in rooms that have been locked since I lost Laura".
Nice Guy: He's a bit eccentric but he's a good man.
Scatterbrained Senior: He ties strings around his fingers to help him remember things. It rarely works.

Tilly and Eustace Bailey

Played By: Mary Treen (Tilly) and Charles Williams (Eustace)

Bailey cousins frequently seen working at the Building and Loan.

Ambiguously Related: It's unclear if they're meant to be siblings or even Uncle Billy's children. Eustace does resemble Billy to an extent, but the film never says anything about it.
Deadpan Snarker: Tilly is quite snarky.
The Ditz: Eustace is not the brightest.
Those Two Guys: Always appear together in scenes in the Building and Loan.

Bedford Falls Residents

Henry F. Potter

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4103_8.jpeg

Played By: Lionel Barrymore

The richest and meanest man in town, and a perpetual heel to the Baileys.

Bald of Evil: Mostly bald, and wicked to his very soul.
Big Bad: The primary antagonist of the film. Keeping him from taking over the town is the main reason why George feels he has to remain in Bedford Falls.
Card-Carrying Villain: Potter is fully aware that everyone in town hates him and thinks he's a miserable miser with no heart. In fact, he agrees with that assessment. The difference is that he genuinely doesn't care about public opinion—his only concern is profit and ensuring his own wealth and success, and he'll crush anyone who stands in the way of that goal.
Control Freak: Potter doesn't just want every penny people in Bedford Falls have. He wants to utterly dominate the town and have every aspect of it serve him. This is why he's so obsessed with getting the Building & Loan as, even with all his wealth and influence, he simply can't stand the fact that there is some part of the town that he doesn't have power over and somewhere else the people of the town can go to for help besides him.
Cool Chair: His wheelchair looks like a throne, which only serves to show how self-important he is. In point of fact, the chairs in his office are lower to the ground than Potter's wheelchair, enabling him to look down on others literally as well as figuratively.
Corrupted Character Copy: He heavily resembles Ebenezer Scrooge, being the grouchy, uncaring town rich man who's loathed by the populace and whose death is likely to go unmourned, and who is heavily associated with Christmas. But Dickens demonstrates that Scrooge isn't entirely a hopeless cause; he's had a hard life and when he receives a chance to reform, he grabs hold of it wholeheartedly and even before that, Scrooge isn't without redeeming traits, being a man of his word and never doing anything illegal. It's a Wonderful Life never indicates that Potter had any tragic backstory to explain why he's so cruel to people and he never changes. Furthermore, in a deleted scene, Clarence gives him a biting speech that's essentially a compressed version of Christmas Future's time with Scrooge, he drops dead of a heart attack rather than throwing himself on the messenger's mercy and begging for a second chance as Scrooge does.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He steals eight thousand dollars from the Building and Loan and tries to send George to jail over it.
Dastardly Dapper Derby: He wears a black bowler hat that makes him look downright sinister.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's frequently baffled on why George continues to help the town despite the sacrifices he must make. In fact, almost every scene and every fifth line of his dialogue features a gross miscalculation of one of the Baileys, or even human nature. To elaborate:
- He doesn't understand Peter Bailey's motivation for creating the Building & Loan, or George's motivation for (permanently) postponing his vacation and college education to keep the B&L going even after George calls him out. The idea of providing decent housing for the townspeople might be rewarding simply does not click with Potter. He even calls George's speech "sentimental hogwash."
  - In that same scene, Potter even assumes that the "discontented, lazy rabble" that runs on the B&L is a violent lynch mob rather then the frightened, desperate, but quite well-behaved crowd it actually is.
- Still not sure who or what he's dealing with, he wonders aloud to his real estate flunky how Bailey commands public respect despite the fact that he doesn't make a great deal of money off of his (potentially lucrative) housing projects.
- He attempts to bribe George with a lucrative job — provided that George dissolve the B&L and hand it over to Potter. Potter makes a good sales pitch, but George is only tempted for a grand total of thirty seconds (time it) before the revulsion hits him. It's Potter's sweaty palm that makes George realize Potter is planning to con him.
- When George comes begging to him for money because "I misplaced $8,000." Potter (who hid that very money after watching George's Uncle Billy lose it) replies in shock, "You misplaced $8,000?" (emphasis his) — Potter, who knows it was really Uncle Billy who accidentally handed him the cash, spends a second looking confused as if he can't wrap his head around the fact George is taking personal responsibility for something that isn't his fault.
- Potter's final swing-and-a-miss is easy to overlook, though the climax hinges on it. While gloating over George's downfall, Potter taunts him asking "why doesn't he ask the rabble" for the money, predicting that the "rabble" would run him out of town. Of course, "asking the rabble" is exactly what Mary and Uncle Billy do, and the townspeople rally in support en-masse around George. Potter is a poor student of the human creature...
- Honestly, does anyone who considers a fellow human being "worth more dead than alive" understand Good? Even after many characters tell it to his face, he's a self-centered Jerkass who's destined to die alone. In the wealth that truly counts, he's the poorest man in town.
Evil Cripple: Confined to a wheelchair and pushed around by his silent butler.
Evil Debt Collector: Suggests foreclosing on families struggling to pay their debts.
Evil Eyebrows: Thick, angular eyebrows that accentuate his scowls.
Evil Is Petty: He takes immense pleasure in George's suffering.
Evil Old Folks: One of the best examples in all of fiction. ^note He's already an old man when George is a child, meaning he must be pushing ninety by the end of the film, and he is just as vile as ever.
Faux Affably Evil: He can turn on the superficial charm when necessary, but it does nothing to hide what a sleazy bastard he is.
Forbidden Fruit: It's implied that the Bailey Building and Loan has become one for him simply because he doesn't own it. Potter controls the entire town and has more than enough money to do whatever he wants ten times over; at one point, it's commented that even politicians kowtow to his whims. But the one thing he cannot achieve is wresting control of the Building and Loan, and it's driving him crazy; as George puts it, "[The Building and Loan] is something you can't get your hands on, and it's galling you."
Greed: As Peter Bailey points out, Potter already has more money than he will ever be able to spend and no family to leave his fortune to when he passes; he owns the banks, the transit systems, and the department stores, but he won't be satisfied until he squeezes the people of Bedford Falls dry of their money.
Hated by All: No one in Bedford Falls likes him — heck, Potter flat-out says this at one point and doesn't care. His board members and assistants tolerate him at best, although it's clear they don't like working for him. In fact, the entire board of directors voted against him when he passed a motion to dissolve the B&L. Clarence even lampshades that nobody will miss him when he's gone in his deleted "Reason You Suck" Speech ("Can you think of anyone in the world — man, woman, child, or animal — that would care?")
Hate Sink: He is the richest and meanest man in the town of Bedford Falls. Throughout the film, Mr. Potter strives to bring the town under his heel through buying everything out, with only George Bailey keeping him at bay. On Christmas Eve 1945, Potter finds a check misplaced by George's Uncle Billy. Potter pockets the money and when George comes to him for a loan when Billy's mistake is discovered, Potter gloats about the fact that George is ruined and sends out a warrant for his arrest out of spite, nearly causing George to commit suicide. When George wishes he was never born, he is transported to a reality where Potter has taken over the town of Bedford Falls and renamed it Pottersville, a Wretched Hive with rampant crime, alcoholism, and unhappiness. Mr. Potter stands out as one of film history's most infamous misers.
Hollywood Heart Attack: He was originally supposed to drop dead from a heart attack after Clarence gives him a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech, but it was cut from the final film for being too dark.
It's All About Me: He's a Morally Bankrupt Banker who wants to squeeze the residents of Bedford Falls dry, steals $8,000 from the Building and Loan, and tries to frame George over it. Seriously, does this jackass who views others "worth more dead than alive" care about anybody? In the alternate reality, he not only took over Bedford Falls and renamed it Pottersville, he even turned it into a Wretched Hive full of sin and debauchery.
I Own This Town: Through owning the bank, Mr. Potter controls most of the town of Bedford Falls, particularly the businesses. The only business he doesn't completely run is the Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan (George's father's company), and even he has a stake in how things are run there.
Jerkass: He is a heartless, cold, apathetic, and sinister man throughout the entire film.
Karma Houdini: Zig-Zagged. He nearly does drive George to suicide with his Breaking Speech and all and still spewing vile even when George has regained his appreciation for his life and greets him cheerfully, being the last scene we see of him in the movie. That said his plan is foiled when the residents of Bedford Falls come to George's aid and bail him out with more than enough money to bail George out of trouble, with the film implying that police investigation of the missing money will catch up to Henry pretty soon later on. There was meant to be a scene where Henry suffers a heart attack near the end, but the film makers figured that wouldn't fit in with the spirit of the movie. Even then, he's clearly not long for this world and is doomed to live out a miserable and lonely life with no one who cares about him or mourn him when he does go.
Kick the Dog: Towards the end of the movie when George comes to him for help, he bluntly tells George that he is more worthy dead than alive.
Lack of Empathy: Potter has absolutely no regard for other people beyond what he can get from exploiting them and is completely without kindness, compassion or sympathy for anyone. George says it best when he calls him a warped old man who sees working people as nothing but cattle.
Lonely at the Top: In a deleted scene, Clarence explains to Potter that his wealth isn't worth a damn in the grand scheme of things since he had to make countless enemies in order to get that far, has no one to share it with, is going to die regardless of how wealthy he is and that nobody is going to care in the least when he finally snuffs it. The realization hits Potter like a sack of bricks, and he dies of a heart attack shortly thereafter.
Manipulative Bastard: He's almost able to bring George over to his side by appealing to his insecurities.
Misanthrope Supreme: Potter has a dismal view of everyone else he has to share a planet with, caring only about what he can get from them and not understanding the idea of people caring about one another or helping one another with no benefit.
Morally Bankrupt Banker: There is no depth to which Potter will not sink to wrest complete economic control over Bedford Falls, and he doesn't care how many people he has to hurt in order to get what he wants.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Spouts classist rhetoric about lower-income people, and uses the disparaging term "garlic-eaters" to refer to the Italian-American Martini family.
Rich Jerk: Joseph calls Potter "the richest and meanest man in the county." As these other tropes show, that wasn't an exaggeration.
Satanic Archetype: As this video points out.
Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's a cruel, selfish old man who tends to insult people right to their faces.
Potter: George, I'm an old man, and most people hate me; but I don't like them either, so that makes it all even.
The Scrooge: Imagine if Ebenezer Scrooge never had his Heel–Face Turn. That's Mr. Potter.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: An elitist snob, he sneers that the minds of the rabble are "filled" with "impossible ideas" by "starry-eyed dreamers" like the Baileys even after being called out numerous times. He doesn't think the idea of providing decent housing for the townspeople might be rewarding.
Smug Snake: Every word out of Potter's mouth drips with condescension and contempt for everyone around him.
Speak Ill of the Dead: He never misses an opportunity to denigrate Peter Bailey even after the man's tragic death.
Tyrannical Town Tycoon: He owns the only bank in town, which, as we see in the alternate future, is enough to give him complete control of the lives of everyone in it and allowing him to turn it into an Egopolis. Stands out for not needing to use violence to get what he wants.
The Unfettered: There is no low Potter won't sink to and no rule of law, business ethics or just simple human decency he won't flout to get what he wants.
Virtue Is Weakness: He truly thinks that the Bailey family, who have worked themselves to the bone helping others, are idiots.

Ernie Bishop

Played By: Frank Faylen

A local taxi driver, and friend of the Baileys.

Those Two Guys: He and Bert are rarely seen apart. In Pottersville, their friendship is the only thing to remain intact.

Bert

Played By: Ward Bond

The local cop. Also a good friend to George.

Friend on the Force: He's a cop and a close friend of George.
Police Brutality: The real Bert is a nice fellow, but his Pottersville counterpart certainly isn't afraid to use excessive force.
Those Two Guys: He and Ernie are rarely seen apart. In Pottersville, their friendship is the only thing to remain intact.
Token Good Teammate: Nearly everyone in Pottersville is a Jerkass. Bert is the only one who maintains even a degree of decency: he tries to calm George down and offers to take him to a doctor, thinking that he's mentally ill, and even becomes an Apologetic Attacker as he threatens to conk him on the head. Granted, he's still rude (given that he's willing to shoot into a crowd to try and hit George), but he's still the nicest person in town.

Violet Bick

Played By: Jeanine Ann Roose (child), Gloria Grahame (adult)

A childhood friend of George and Mary.

Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Mary's Betty. Violet never settles down and "like[s] every boy" from her earliest years, while Mary is happily domestic and has her heart set on George.
Head-Turning Beauty: Her walking down the street causes an onlooker to get so Distracted by the Sexy that he is almost hit by a car.
Really Gets Around: It's heavily implied that she's rather promiscuous, as the standards of 1940s Hollywood couldn't make it explicit. In the Pottersville timeline, it's implied that Violet was forced into The Oldest Profession because of her reputation.

Sam Wainwright

Played By: Ronnie Ralph (child), Frank Albertson (adult)

A childhood friend of George, grown up to be a successful businessman.

Amicable Exes: With Mary. Unlike Freddie, he never once shows an ounce of resentment for losing a chance to be with Mary or to George for marrying her. He is among the many who send money and well wishes to the Baileys in the end.
Character Catchphrase: "Hee-haw!"
Honest Corporate Executive: Unlike Mr. Potter, he remains a decent man despite his wealth.
Nice Guy: He remains on good terms with George and Mary, retains his morals after becoming wealthy and later helps George out upon learning of his troubles.
The One Who Made It Out: In contrast to George, Sam leaves Bedford Falls, goes to college, makes it big in business, and gets filthy rich.
Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: The rich suitor to George's poor suitor, for Mary's affections.

Marty Hatch

Played By: Danny Mummert (child), Harold Landon (older)

A childhood friend of George and Mary's older brother.

Best Friends-in-Law: Winds up becoming this to George after he and Mary get hitched.
Shipper on Deck: He's the one who convinced George to dance with Mary at her graduation dance.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The last the audience hears of him is his participation in World War II. He does appear at the end with everybody else.

Ruth Dakin

Played By: Virginia Patton

Harry Bailey's bride and wife.

Flat Character: She only exists as yet another reason for George to have to stay in Bedford Falls.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Is never seen again after her introduction scene.

Freddie Othello

Played By: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer

Mary's first date at Harry's graduation party.

Disproportionate Retribution: He unlocked and hits the button that opens the floor, causing George and Mary to fall into the swimming pool hidden underneath, as petty revenge for George stealing Mary away from him during the school dance.
Flat Character: Considering he only appears in one scene, and mainly serves as Mary's love rival, this trope is a given.
Meaningful Name: His only characterization is his jealousy over Mary choosing George over him, and his name matches the Shakespeare character who is driven to the belief that his beloved wife is cheating.
What Happened to the Mouse?: We never see him again or find out what happened to him after Mary went with George.

Annie

Played By: Lillian Randolph

Ma Bailey's maid and closest friend.

Mammy: A fairly typical example.
Sassy Black Woman: Offers plenty of snark.
Token Minority: The only non-white named character.

Emil Gower

Played By: H.B. Warner

An elderly druggist who employed George Bailey as a child.

The Alcoholic: He's drunk at work and young George's reaction implied this happens often. Thankfully, he's sobered up by the time George has become an adult. In Pottersville, he's still an alcoholic, but the bar refuses to serve him because of his record.
Despair Event Horizon: Losing his son. In the alternate timeline, that combined with accidentally poisoning someone, which George had originally prevented, turns him into an utter wreck.
Heroic BSoD: In the actual timeline, he suffers this when he lost his son to influenza, becoming an alcoholic. He snaps out of it after his My God, What Have I Done? incident with the pill incident and becomes better by the time George is an adult.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At first, he seems like a cranky old drunk but it's revealed that it's due to his son dying. He is horrified with himself after hitting George and he later buys him a big and expensive suitcase with his name on it for his travels.
Like a Son to Me: It's implied after the death of his only son that he comes to view George this way, when the latter prevented him from making a fatal mistake and kept it a secret to avoid shaming him. He remains good friends with George well into his adulthood, buying him a travel case and even coming to give him money when George finds himself in financial trouble. He's also the one to telegraph Sam Wainwright in London and tell him George desperately needs money.
My God, What Have I Done?: He becomes instantly remorseful after striking George and realizing that he almost poisoned a child by accident.
Outliving One's Offspring: His son dies of Influenza which utterly destroys him.
Pet the Dog: He buys George a suitcase for his travels.
Took a Level in Kindness: After the incident with George and the pills, he cleans up his act and becomes much friendlier to everyone.

Giuseppe Martini

Played By: William Edmunds

An Italian immigrant and proprietor of a local bar.

The Bartender: A stereotypical Italian bar proprietor.
Meaningful Name: His name is Martini. He runs a bar.
Rambunctious Italian: He has an over-the-top accent, and he is particularly shouty when he banishes Mr. Welch from his bar for punching George.
Undying Loyalty: To George, for helping him move out of Potter's Field and into a better house.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He is nowhere to be seen in the Pottersville timeline, although a Deleted Scene reveals a rather unpleasant fate: he and his family all died when their awful slum in Potter's Field caught fire because George wasn't there to help them move out.

Nick

Played By: Sheldon Leonard

An employee of Martini's.

Adaptational Jerkass: In-Universe. He's much nastier in the alternate timeline.
The Bartender: He's the bartender at Martini's.
Brooklyn Rage: In Pottersville, he's surly and rough, and speaks with a Brooklyn accent.
Nice Guy: He's a friendly guy who reaches out to George when he sees how seriously low he is.

Potter's Bodyguard

Played By: Frank Hagney

Mr. Potter's assistant and valet who's always by his side, rarely doing anything.

Living Prop: He says nothing, and does nothing aside from moving Potter's wheelchair about three times. But because he's always by Potter's side, and Potter is one of the main characters, he frequently appears throughout the film.
No Name Given: He's only credited as "Potter's Bodyguard".
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: He's credited as "Potter's Bodyguard", but he never acts as one throughout, being more of a valet who pushes Potter around in his wheelchair. And even then, Potter is usually stationary throughout the picture, so he's barely ever shown doing that.
The Stoic: His demeanor and expression never alters once, with him having the same dull, bored look on his face the entire film. Even when George briefly insults him after giving his boss a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Potter's valet has absolutely no reaction.
The Voiceless: Over the many years covered during this film, he never utters a single word.

Other Characters

Clarence Oddbody

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clarence_0.jpg

Played By: Henry Travers

Angel, Second Class. A long-dead clockmaker sent to Earth as George's guardian angel.

Armor-Piercing Question: "Think hard, Potter, are you the richest man around here, or the poorest?"
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's a bit of an oddball but he certainly gets results.
Cloudcuckoolander: He's regarded as being a bit odd by his fellow angels.
Cool Old Guy: He's suggested to be in his senior years back when he was alive, and yet he's still absolutely generous, benevolent, and an all-around pleasant person.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Initially comes off as an overly jovial and underestimated angel, he manages to both earn his wings and prove to George Bailey how much worth he has as a human being in the most epic way possible.
Determinator: Well, considering he's failed to earn his wings for 200 years and he's still trying, you know he fits this trope.
Guardian Angel: He's one for George.
Informed Flaw: He's introduced as having "the IQ of a rabbit", but based on everything we see of him afterwards he seems to be at least average intelligence. Indeed, he accurately deduces that George has Chronic Hero Syndrome, and thus the only way to stop George from killing himself would be for Clarence to endanger his own life, knowing this would make George try to save him. It's likely the comment comes more from his other angels thinking him eccentric.
Nice Guy: Clarence is an incredibly caring, compassionate, and kind person. He's exactly what you would want in a guardian angel.
Our Angels Are Different: He's a second-class angel. In order to move up to first class and earn his wings, he needs to help George through his crisis.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives a satisfying one to Mr. Potter in a scene that may now be lost to the ages:
Clarence: You're an old man, Henry Potter; bitter, selfish, and lonely. You're going to die soon — then what? Can you think of anyone in the world — man, woman, child, or animal — that would care? Think hard, Potter, are you the richest man around here, or the poorest?
Riddle for the Ages: What exactly has Clarence been doing for those 200 years he had failed to earn his wings. We'll never know. The most likely answer is that he is underestimated by most but not all of his fellow angels.
Stars Are Souls: In the opening scene, he appears as a blinking star in the night sky.

Franklin and Joseph

Played By: Moroni Olsen (Franklin) and Joseph Granby (Joseph)

Two senior angels who give Clarence his task.

Our Angels Are Different: They're higher-level angels who assign jobs to lower-ranked angels.
Stars Are Souls: They appear as blinking galaxies as opposed to Clarence's single star, to denote their higher status.

Mr. Carter

Played By: Charles Halton

A bank examiner from Elmira.

The Dreaded: Eustace and Billy are both mortified by the mention of him.
Not So Above It All: He starts singing along with everyone else at the end.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: While technically an antagonist, he's just doing his job as a bank examiner. Outside of work, he is apparently a good family man. His biggest complaint isn't about the Building & Loan itself, but that he's annoyed he has to do the audit right before Christmas and he just wants to get it over with quickly so he can go home for the holiday.
The Stoic: Humorless and unflappable. Even Harry Bailey's Medal of Honor doesn't impress him.

Characters / It's a Wonderful Life

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