Henry Fonda

Acting

Born May 16, 1905

From Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

Died Aug 12, 1982

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.

Henry Fonda

Known For

12 Angry Men

Once Upon a Time in the West

The Longest Day

Midway

Fort Apache

My Name Is Nobody

On Golden Pond

How the West Was Won

War and Peace

Warlock

Filmography — Acting

12 Angry Men

Once Upon a Time in the West

The Longest Day

Midway

Fort Apache

My Name Is Nobody

On Golden Pond

How the West Was Won

War and Peace

Warlock

Mister Roberts

The Grapes of Wrath

In Harm's Way

Battle of the Bulge

Fail Safe

Yours, Mine and Ours

The Swarm

Sex and the Single Girl

Meteor

Jezebel

Fedora

Too Late the Hero

The Boston Strangler

Spencer's Mountain

The Return of Frank James

My Darling Clementine

The Lady Eve

Jesse James

The Ox-Bow Incident

The Wrong Man

Tentacles

The Tin Star

Advise & Consent

Madigan

Young Mr. Lincoln

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

Rollercoaster

The Biggest Battle

Sometimes a Great Notion

The Long Night

The Rounders

Firecreek

La Classe américaine

There Was a Crooked Man...

Stranger on the Run

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

Drums Along the Mohawk

The Male Animal

Tales of Manhattan

On Our Merry Way

Gideon's Trumpet

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

Let Us Live

The Best Man

Way Down East

Directed by John Ford

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

The Fabulous Fifties

Going Hollywood: The '30s

The Fugitive

Barn Burning

The Red Pony

Welcome to Hard Times

City on Fire

Slim

The Mad Miss Manton

The Oldest Living Graduate