Henry Fonda
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Henry Fonda

Acting

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.

Films Featuring Henry Fonda

The Ox-Bow Incident

19437.7

Fail Safe

19647.8

The Grapes of Wrath

19407.8

The Lady Eve

19417.3

My Darling Clementine

19467.5

Jezebel: Legend of the South

20067.0

Jezebel

19387.0

Rollercoaster

19776.0

Daisy Kenyon

19476.6

Madigan

19686.2

Firecreek

19686.3

The Tin Star

19577.0

Midway

19766.6

War and Peace

19566.6

The Wrong Man

19567.1

On Golden Pond

19817.3

Something to Do with Death

20036.3

'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War

2020

The Wages of Sin

20037.5

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'

2008

The Rounders

19655.5

How the West Was Won

19627.0

My Name Is Nobody

19737.3

The Longest Day

19627.6

There Was a Crooked Man...

19706.8

The Boston Strangler

19686.6

Sex and the Single Girl

19646.6

Tales of Manhattan

19426.4

Yours, Mine and Ours

19686.9

Battle of the Bulge

19656.9

Sometimes a Great Notion

19716.9

Meteor

19795.2

The Cheyenne Social Club

19706.3

The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's

19804.0

The Great Smokey Roadblock

19785.7

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

19667.1

The Best Man

19647.3

Fort Apache

19487.0

The Fugitive

19476.0

Warlock

19596.8

The Return of Frank James

19406.3

Jesse James

19396.5

Young Mr. Lincoln

19397.2

The Mad Miss Manton

19386.4

The Serpent

19736.1

The Long Night

19475.8

Mister Roberts

19557.0

Gideon's Trumpet

19806.5

Spencer's Mountain

19636.8

In Harm's Way

19656.6

La Classe américaine

19937.6

Directed by John Ford

19717.0

Jigsaw

19495.0

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

19918.0

Breakdowns of 1938

19385.8

Wanda Nevada

19795.8

Advise & Consent

19627.2

Sacco and Vanzetti

20067.0

The Swarm

19785.0

Hollywood: The Great Stars

19634.0

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

19614.4

Hollywood: The Fabulous Era

1962

Tentacles

19774.6

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

19396.3

Let Us Live

19396.8

The Biggest Battle

19784.7

The Greatest Man in the World

19817.0

You Only Live Once

19377.1

Drums Along the Mohawk

19396.5

On Our Merry Way

19485.7

The Male Animal

19424.5

Fedora

19786.7

The Battle of Midway

19425.9

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

19366.5

Immortal Sergeant

19436.2

Spawn of the North

19386.0

That Certain Woman

19375.6

Rings on Her Fingers

19426.8

You Belong to Me

19416.0

The Big Street

19425.8

The Man Who Loved Bears

The Man Who Loved Bears

19794.0

The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty

20238.0

Stranger on the Run

19675.7

City on Fire

19795.1

The Moon's Our Home

19366.9

An Opera of Violence

20036.8

Inside 'the Swarm'

19788.0

Stage Struck

19586.0

Chad Hanna

19407.3

Blockade

19385.8

Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur

19764.0

Welcome to Hard Times

19675.3

Wings of the Morning

19376.2

Lillian Russell

19406.7

Slim

19376.5

The Dirty Game

19656.0

Born to Buck

Born to Buck

19667.0

The Farmer Takes a Wife

19356.2

I Met My Love Again

19386.0

I Dream Too Much

19355.4

Benjy

19516.2

The Man Who Understood Women

19593.9

Way Down East

19354.3

An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer

19695.7

The Alpha Caper

19736.0

Spendthrift

19366.0

The Red Pony

197310.0

Clarence Darrow

19749.5

Going Hollywood: The '30s

19849.0

Rappaccini's Daughter

19807.3

The Sky Is Gray

19807.0

The Golden Honeymoon

19806.0

Paul's Case

19804.0

The Blue Hotel

19775.3

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

19765.3

The Displaced Person

19777.0

Soldier's Home

19776.0

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

19806.0

Barn Burning

19805.4

Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'

20047.3

Pictura

195110.0

The Magnificent Dope

19427.3

Ash Wednesday

19735.5

The Really Big Family

19666.5

Wild Geese Calling

19416.5

John Ford & Monument Valley

20131.0

The Real Miss America

The Real Miss America

1952

It's Everybody's War

19425.9

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

19977.7

The American West of John Ford

19716.5

Let Poland Be Poland

1982

Pat Paulsen for President

19684.0

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero

19977.0

The Oldest Living Graduate

19804.0

The Fabulous Fifties

19606.0

The Last Four Days

19746.3

To Save a Soldier

To Save a Soldier

19667.0

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

19747.2

Henry Fonda for President

20257.0

Summer Solstice

19815.0

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

19916.5

Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda

19754.0

Too Late the Hero

19706.4

A Special Sesame Street Christmas

19786.7

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

19908.5

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

19888.2

Home to Stay

19785.3

John Ford: The Man Who Invented America

20195.9

A Space to Grow

19686.2

12 Angry Men

19578.6

Spanish Western

20156.2

Once Upon a Time in the West

19688.3

I'm a Fool

19776.0

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

19804.0

The Petrified Forest

19556.8

President Kennedy's Birthday Salute

19627.8

Fonda on Fonda

19927.0

Underground Doctors

19776.0

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

19999.0

Henry James' The Jolly Corner

19756.5

The Music School

19747.0

Parker Adderson, Philosopher

Parker Adderson, Philosopher

19747.0

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

20137.7

Citizen Jane Fonda

20207.1

The Making of Midway

20019.0

Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth

20207.5

Loving Against Time: the Making of On Golden Pond

Loving Against Time: the Making of On Golden Pond