Henry Fonda

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Male

Birthday 1905-05-16

Deathday 1982-08-12 (77 years old)

Place of Birth Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

Also Known As Hank Fonda, Henry Jaynes Fonda, One-Take Fonda

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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Henry Fonda, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Actor

2025
Henry Fonda for President

as Self (archive footage)

2023
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty

as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2020
2020
Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth

as Self (archive footage)

2020
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War

as Self (archive footage)

2019
John Ford: The Man Who Invented America

as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2018
Jane Fonda in Five Acts

as Self (archive footage)

2015
Spanish Western

as Self (archive footage)

2013
John Ford & Monument Valley

as Self (archive footage)

2006
Jezebel: Legend of the South

as Self (archive footage)

2006
Sacco and Vanzetti

as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)

2004
2003
Something to Do with Death

as Self (archive footage)

2003
The Wages of Sin

as Self (archive footage)

2003
An Opera of Violence

as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2000
Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'

as Self (archive footage)

1997
1997
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero

as Self (archive footage)

1993
La Classe américaine

as Hugues (archive footage)

1992
Fonda on Fonda

as Self (archive footage)

1991
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

as Self (archive footage)

1990
1988
1984
Going Hollywood: The '30s

as (archive footage)

1981
Summer Solstice

as Joshua

1981
On Golden Pond

as Norman Thayer Jr.

1981
The Greatest Man in the World

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
Gideon's Trumpet

as Clarence Earl Gideon

1980
The Oldest Living Graduate

as Col. J.C. Kincaid

1980
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
Barn Burning

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
Paul's Case

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
The Golden Honeymoon

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
1980
Rappaccini's Daughter

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1980
The Sky Is Gray

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1979
Meteor

as The President

1979
City on Fire

as Fire Chief Risley

1979
Wanda Nevada

as Old Prospector

1979
Roots: The Next Generations

as Col. Frederick Warner

1978
The Swarm

as Dr. Walter Krim

1978
Fedora

as President of the Academy

1978
1978
Home to Stay

as Grandpa George

1978
The Biggest Battle

as Generale Foster

1978
1977
Rollercoaster

as Simon Davenport

1977
The Displaced Person

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1977
I'm a Fool

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1977
Tentacles

as Mr. Whitehead

1977
The Blue Hotel

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1977
Soldier's Home

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1977
Underground Doctors

as Self - Host

1977
Laugh-In

as Guest Performer

1976
Bernice Bobs Her Hair

as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1976
Midway

as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz

1976
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur

as Gen. Douglas MacArthur

1976
Captains and the Kings

as Sen. Enfield Bassett

1976
Family

as James Lawrence

1974
Clarence Darrow

as Clarence Darrow

1974
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1974
The Last Four Days

as Kardinal Schuster

1974
Dinah!

as Self

1974
Spécial cinéma

as Self (archive footage)

1973
My Name Is Nobody

as Jack Beauregard

1973
Ash Wednesday

as Mark Sawyer

1973
The Alpha Caper

as Mark Forbes

1973
The Serpent

as Alan Davies

1973
The Red Pony

as Carl Tiflin

1971
Sometimes a Great Notion

as Henry Stamper

1971
1971
1971
1971
The Smith Family

as Chad Smith

1971
1970
There Was a Crooked Man...

as Woodward W. Lopeman

1970
The Cheyenne Social Club

as Harley Sullivan

1970
Too Late the Hero

as Capt. John G Nolan

1969
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer

as John Steinbeck (voice)

1969
The Bill Cosby Show

as Joshua Richards

1968
Pat Paulsen for President

as Narrator (voice)

1968
The Boston Strangler

as John S. Bottomly

1968
Yours, Mine and Ours

as Frank Beardsley

1968
Madigan

as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell

1968
Firecreek

as Bob Larkin

1968
A Space to Grow

as Narrator

1968
The Doris Day Show

as Henry Fonda (uncredited)

1968
The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

1967
Stranger on the Run

as Ben Chamberlain

1967
Welcome to Hard Times

as Mayor Will Blue

1967
The World About Us

as Narrator

1966
To Save a Soldier

as Narrator (voice)

1966
Born to Buck

as Narrator

1966
The Really Big Family

as Self - Narrator

1965
Battle of the Bulge

as Lt Col Kiley

1965
The Dirty Game

as Dimitri Koulov

1965
In Harm's Way

as CINCPAC II

1965
The Rounders

as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis

1964
Sex and the Single Girl

as Frank Broderick

1964
Fail Safe

as The President

1964
The Best Man

as William Russell

1963
Spencer's Mountain

as Clay Spencer

1963
1962
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era

as Narrator / Host

1962
How the West Was Won

as Jethro Stuart

1962
The Longest Day

as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

1962
Advise & Consent

as Robert Leffingwell

1961
1960
The Fabulous Fifties

as Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)

1959
1959
Warlock

as Clay Blaisedell

1959
The Deputy

as Marshal Simon Fry

1958
Stage Struck

as Lewis Easton

1957
The Tin Star

as Morgan Hickman

1957
12 Angry Men

as Juror 8

1956
The Wrong Man

as Manny Balestrero

1956
War and Peace

as Pierre Bezukhov

1956
The Steve Allen Show

as Self - Guest

1956
Tony Awards

as Self (archive footage)

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Nominee

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Host

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Co-Host/Special Award Recipient

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Host / Presenter

1955
Mister Roberts

as Lieutenant Roberts

1955
The Petrified Forest

as Alan Squier

1955
The Star and the Story

as Self - Host

1953
General Electric Theater

as Emmett Kelly

1952
The Real Miss America

as Narrator (voice)

1951
Pictura

as Narrator: Grant Wood episode (voice)

1951
Benjy

as Narrator (voice)

1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Clarence Earl Gideon

1950
What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest

1949
Jigsaw

as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)

1948
Fort Apache

as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

1948
On Our Merry Way

as Lank Solsky

1947
Daisy Kenyon

as Peter Lapham

1947
The Fugitive

as A Fugitive

1947
The Long Night

as Joe Adams

1946
My Darling Clementine

as Wyatt Earp

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient

1943
Immortal Sergeant

as Corporal Colin Spence

1943
The Ox-Bow Incident

as Gil Carter

1942
The Battle of Midway

as Narrator (voice)

1942
1942
The Big Street

as Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II

1942
1942
The Magnificent Dope

as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page

1942
Rings on Her Fingers

as John Wheeler

1942
The Male Animal

as Tommy Turner

1941
You Belong to Me

as Peter Kirk

1941
Wild Geese Calling

as John Murdock

1941
The Lady Eve

as Charles Pike

1940
Chad Hanna

as Chad Hanna

1940
1940
Lillian Russell

as Alexander Moore

1940
1939
Drums Along the Mohawk

as Gilbert Martin

1939
Young Mr. Lincoln

as Abraham Lincoln

1939
Let Us Live

as "Brick" Tennant

1939
Jesse James

as Frank James

1938
Breakdowns of 1938

as Self (archive footage)

1938
The Mad Miss Manton

as Peter Ames

1938
Spawn of the North

as Jim Kimmerlee

1938
Blockade

as Marco

1938
Jezebel

as Preston Dillard

1938
I Met My Love Again

as Ives Towner

1937
That Certain Woman

as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.

1937
Slim

as Slim

1937
Wings of the Morning

as Kerry Gilfallen

1937
You Only Live Once

as Eddie Taylor

1936
Spendthrift

as Townsend Middleton

1936
The Moon's Our Home

as Anthony Amberton / John Smith

1936
1935
I Dream Too Much

as Johnny Street

1935
Way Down East

as David Bartlett

1935

Producer

1959
The Deputy

as Executive Producer

1957
12 Angry Men

as Producer