Henry Fonda
Biography
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor who had a career that spanned five decades in Hollywood. Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in several films now considered to be classics, earning one Academy Award for Best Actor on two nominations. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood film debut in 1935. His film career began to gain momentum with roles such as Bette Davis's fiancee in her Academy Award-winning performance in Jezebel (1938), brother Frank in Jesse James (1939), and the future President in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), directed by John Ford. His early career peaked with his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, about an Oklahoma family who moved to California during the Dust Bowl 1930s. This film is widely considered to be among the greatest American films. In 1941 he starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the screwball comedy classic The Lady Eve. Book-ending his service in WWII were his starring roles in two highly regarded westerns: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and My Darling Clementine (1946), the latter directed by John Ford, and he also starred in Ford's western Fort Apache (1948). After a seven-year break from films, during which Fonda focused on stage productions, he returned with the WWII war-boat ensemble Mister Roberts (1955). In 1957 he starred as Juror No.8, the hold-out juror, in 12 Angry Men. Fonda, who was also co-producer, won the BAFTA for Best Foreign Actor. Later in his career, Fonda moved into darker roles, such as the villain in the epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), underrated and a box office disappointment at its time of release, but now regarded as one of the best westerns of all time. He also played in lighter-hearted fare such as Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball, but also often played important military figures, such as a Colonel in Battle of the Bulge (1965), and Admiral Nimitz in Midway (1976). He finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 54th Academy Awards for his final film role in On Golden Pond (1981), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and his daughter Jane Fonda, but was too ill to attend the ceremony. He died from heart disease a few months later.
Known For
Gil Carter
The Ox-Bow Incident
The President
Fail Safe
Tom Joad
The Grapes of Wrath
Charles Pike
The Lady Eve
Wyatt Earp
My Darling Clementine
Self (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
Preston Dillard
Jezebel
Simon Davenport
Rollercoaster
Peter Lapham
Daisy Kenyon
Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
Madigan
Bob Larkin
Firecreek
Morgan Hickman
The Tin Star
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
Midway
Pierre Bezukhov
War and Peace
Manny Balestrero
The Wrong Man
Norman Thayer Jr.
On Golden Pond
Self (archive footage)
Something to Do with Death
Self (archive footage)
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War
Self (archive footage)
The Wages of Sin
Self (archive footage)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
Marion 'Howdy' Lewis
The Rounders
Jethro Stuart
How the West Was Won
Jack Beauregard
Il mio nome è Nessuno
Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
The Longest Day
Woodward W. Lopeman
There Was a Crooked Man...
John S. Bottomly
The Boston Strangler
Frank Broderick
Sex and the Single Girl
George
Tales of Manhattan
Frank Beardsley
Yours, Mine and Ours
Lt Col Kiley
Battle of the Bulge
Henry Stamper
Sometimes a Great Notion
The President
Meteor
Harley Sullivan
The Cheyenne Social Club
Self (archive footage)
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
Elegant John
The Great Smokey Roadblock
Meredith
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
William Russell
The Best Man
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
Fort Apache
A Fugitive
The Fugitive
Clay Blaisedell
Warlock
Frank James
The Return of Frank James
Frank James
Jesse James
Abraham Lincoln
Young Mr. Lincoln
Peter Ames
The Mad Miss Manton
Alan Davies
Le Serpent
Joe Adams
The Long Night
Lieutenant Roberts
Mister Roberts
Clarence Earl Gideon
Gideon's Trumpet
Clay Spencer
Spencer's Mountain
CINCPAC II
In Harm's Way
Hugues (archive footage)
La Classe américaine
Directed by John Ford
Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
Jigsaw
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1938
Stiletto
Old Prospector
Wanda Nevada
Robert Leffingwell
Advise & Consent
Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
Sacco and Vanzetti
Dr. Walter Krim
The Swarm
Self - Host
Hollywood: The Great Stars
Self - Narrator
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Narrator / Host
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
Mr. Whitehead
Tentacoli
Thomas Watson
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
"Brick" Tennant
Let Us Live
Generale Foster
Il grande attacco
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Greatest Man in the World
Eddie Taylor
You Only Live Once
Gilbert Martin
Drums Along the Mohawk
Lank Solsky
On Our Merry Way
Tommy Turner
The Male Animal
President of the Academy
Fedora
Narrator (voice)
The Battle of Midway
Dave Tolliver
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Corporal Colin Spence
Immortal Sergeant
Jim Kimmerlee
Spawn of the North
Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
That Certain Woman
John Wheeler
Rings on Her Fingers
Peter Kirk
You Belong to Me
Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II
The Big Street
Self
The Man Who Loved Bears
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Les Fonda : une dynastie de cinéma
Ben Chamberlain
Stranger on the Run
Fire Chief Risley
City on Fire
Anthony Amberton / John Smith
The Moon's Our Home
Self - Actor (archive footage)
An Opera of Violence
Self
Inside 'the Swarm'
Self (archive footage)
Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'
Lewis Easton
Stage Struck
Chad Hanna
Chad Hanna
Marco
Blockade
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
Mayor Will Blue
Welcome to Hard Times
Kerry Gilfallen
Wings of the Morning
Alexander Moore
Lillian Russell
Slim Kincaid
Slim
Dimitri Koulov
The Dirty Game
Narrator
Born to Buck
Dan Harrow
The Farmer Takes a Wife
Ives Towner
I Met My Love Again
Johnny Street
I Dream Too Much
Narrator (voice)
Benjy
Willie Bauche
The Man Who Understood Women
David Bartlett
Way Down East
John Steinbeck (voice)
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
Mark Forbes
The Alpha Caper
Townsend Middleton
Spendthrift
Carl Tiflin
The Red Pony
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
(archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Rappaccini's Daughter
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Sky Is Gray
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Golden Honeymoon
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Paul's Case
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Blue Hotel
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Displaced Person
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Soldier's Home
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Barn Burning
Self (archive footage)
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'
Narrator: Grant Wood episode (voice)
Pictura
Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
The Magnificent Dope
Mark Sawyer
Ash Wednesday
Self - Narrator
The Really Big Family
John Murdock
Wild Geese Calling
Self (archive footage)
John Ford & Monument Valley
Narrator (voice)
The Real Miss America
Narrator
It's Everybody's War
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
Self - Narrator
The American West of John Ford
Self
Let Poland Be Poland
Narrator (voice)
Pat Paulsen for President
Self (archive footage)
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
Col. J.C. Kincaid
The Oldest Living Graduate
Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
The Fabulous Fifties
Kardinal Schuster
Mussolini - Ultimo atto
Narrator (voice)
To Save a Soldier
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self (archive footage)
Henry Fonda for President
Joshua
Summer Solstice
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Self
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda
Capt. John G Nolan
Too Late the Hero
Self
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
(archive footage)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Grandpa George
Home to Stay
Self - Actor (archive footage)
John Ford : l'homme qui inventa l'Amérique
Narrator
A Space to Grow
Juror 8
12 Angry Men
Self (archive footage)
Spanish Western
Frank
C'era una volta il West
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
I'm a Fool
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Alan Squier
The Petrified Forest
Self
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
Self (archive footage)
Fonda on Fonda
Self - Host
Underground Doctors
(archive footage)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Narrator
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
Narrator (voice)
The Music School
Narrator (Voice)
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
Self (archive footage)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
165
Gender
Male
Birthday
1905-05-16
Place of Birth
Grand Island, Nebraska, USA
Also Known As
Hank Fonda