Henry Fonda

Known for ActingBorn 1905-05-16Died 1982-08-12Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty

The Red Pony

Pictura

Clarence Darrow

Spécial cinéma

The Making of Midway

Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults

People's Choice Awards

Going Hollywood: The '30s

Captains and the Kings

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

Hallmark Hall of Fame

12 Angry Men

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'

Citizen Jane Fonda

Once Upon a Time in the West

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

Inside 'the Swarm'

Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

The Bell Telephone Hour

The Wages of Sin

La Classe américaine

All in the Family

The World About Us

Fail Safe

V.I.P. Schaukel

Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'

President Kennedy's Birthday Salute

Henry Fonda for President

The Longest Day

Roots: The Next Generations

The Grapes of Wrath

The Kennedy Center Honors

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Ox-Bow Incident

On Golden Pond

Jezebel: Legend of the South

Sacco and Vanzetti

Rappaccini's Daughter

The Star and the Story

The Smith Family

My Name Is Nobody

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero

Family