Henry Fonda
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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
Credits
12 Angry Men (1957)
as Juror 8
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
as Frank
The Longest Day (1962)
as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
as Frank Broderick
How the West Was Won (1962)
as Jethro Stuart
Midway (1976)
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
My Name Is Nobody (1973)
as Jack Beauregard
Fort Apache (1948)
as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
In Harm's Way (1965)
as CINCPAC II
Warlock (1959)
as Clay Blaisedell
War and Peace (1956)
as Pierre Bezukhov
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
as Tom Joad
On Golden Pond (1981)
as Norman Thayer Jr.
Fail Safe (1964)
as The President
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
as Lt Col Kiley
The Swarm (1978)
as Dr. Walter Krim
The Wrong Man (1956)
as Manny Balestrero
My Darling Clementine (1946)
as Wyatt Earp
The Boston Strangler (1968)
as John S. Bottomly
Firecreek (1968)
as Bob Larkin
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
as Thomas Watson
A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
as Meredith
Meteor (1979)
as The President
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)
as Frank Beardsley
The Tin Star (1957)
as Morgan Hickman
Mister Roberts (1955)
as Lieutenant Roberts
Jezebel (1938)
as Preston Dillard
The Lady Eve (1941)
as Charles Pike
Rollercoaster (1977)
as Simon Davenport
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
as Gil Carter
Fedora (1978)
as President of the Academy
The Rounders (1965)
as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
as Peter Lapham
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
as Gilbert Martin
Madigan (1968)
as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
Jesse James (1939)
as Frank James
Directed by John Ford (1971)
Actor
The Fugitive (1947)
as A Fugitive
Tentacles (1977)
as Mr. Whitehead
Wanda Nevada (1979)
as Old Prospector
The Best Man (1964)
as William Russell
City on Fire (1979)
as Fire Chief Risley
The Serpent (1973)
as Alan Davies
La Classe américaine (1993)
as Hugues (archive footage)
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
as Clay Spencer
The Battle of Midway (1942)
as Narrator (voice)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
as Abraham Lincoln
Let Us Live (1939)
as "Brick" Tennant
Advise & Consent (1962)
as Robert Leffingwell
That Certain Woman (1937)
as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
Too Late the Hero (1970)
as Capt. John G Nolan
The Big Street (1942)
as Little Pinks
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
as Dave Tolliver
The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
as Harley Sullivan
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still (1974)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
You Only Live Once (1937)
as Eddie Taylor
The Biggest Battle (1978)
as Generale Foster
Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
as Mayor Will Blue
The Return of Frank James (1940)
as Frank James
The Last Four Days (1974)
as Kardinal Schuster
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
as Woodward W. Lopeman
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
as Peter Ames
I'm a Fool (1977)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Gideon's Trumpet (1980)
as Clarence Earl Gideon
Barn Burning (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Spanish Western (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991)
Actor
Stage Struck (1958)
as Lewis Easton
Way Down East (1935)
as David Bartlett
Ash Wednesday (1973)
as Mark Sawyer
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991)
as Self (archive footage)
Pictura (1951)
as Narrator (segment "Grant Wood") (voice)
The Fabulous Fifties (1960)
as Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
On Our Merry Way (1948)
as Lank Solsky
Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
as Henry Stamper
Rings on Her Fingers (1942)
as John Wheeler
Chad Hanna (1940)
as Chad Hanna
The Male Animal (1942)
as Tommy Turner
The Long Night (1947)
as Joe Adams
Tales of Manhattan (1942)
as George
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
Benjy (1951)
as Narrator (voice)
Spawn of the North (1938)
as Jim Kimmerlee
Lillian Russell (1940)
as Alexander Moore
The Red Pony (1973)
as Carl Tiflin
Wild Geese Calling (1941)
as John Murdock
The Alpha Caper (1973)
as Mark Forbes
Slim (1937)
as Slim Kincaid
The Dirty Game (1965)
as Dimitri Koulov
The Great Smokey Roadblock (1978)
as Elegant John
Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth (2020)
as Self(archive footage)
Clarence Darrow (1974)
as Clarence Darrow
A Special Sesame Street Christmas (1978)
as Self
The Sky Is Gray (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Displaced Person (1977)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Jigsaw (1949)
as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's (1980)
as Self (archive footage)
Sacco and Vanzetti (2006)
as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
Stranger on the Run (1967)
as Ben Chamberlain
Let Poland Be Poland (1982)
as Self
Fonda on Fonda (1992)
as Self (archive footage)
John Ford: The Man Who Invented America (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Revisiting 'Fail-Safe' (2000)
as Self (archive footage)
Paul's Case (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Greatest Man in the World (1981)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Born to Buck (1966)
as Narrator
The Golden Honeymoon (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
I Dream Too Much (1935)
as Johnny Street
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Henry Fonda for President (2025)
as Self (archive footage)
Home to Stay (1978)
as Grandpa George
Citizen Jane Fonda (2020)
Actor
Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1961)
as Self - Narrator
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as (archive footage)
The American West of John Ford (1971)
as Self - Narrator
You Belong to Me (1941)
as Peter Kirk
Inside 'the Swarm' (1978)
as Self
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
as Self (archive footage)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
Underground Doctors (1977)
as Self - Host
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To (1990)
as (archive footage)
The Man Who Loved Bears (1979)
as Self
Soldier's Home (1977)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
I Met My Love Again (1938)
as Ives Towner
Blockade (1938)
as Marco
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
The Wages of Sin (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur (1976)
as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Spendthrift (1936)
as Townsend Middleton
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1999)
as (archive footage)
The Oldest Living Graduate (1980)
as Col. J.C. Kincaid
Immortal Sergeant (1943)
as Corporal Colin Spence
Rappaccini's Daughter (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Wings of the Morning (1937)
as Kerry Gilfallen
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War (2020)
as Self (archive footage)
John Ford & Monument Valley (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
The Making of Midway (2001)
as Self
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men' (2008)
as Self (archive footage)
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer (1969)
as John Steinbeck (voice)
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era (1962)
as Narrator / Host
The Man Who Understood Women (1959)
as Willie Bauche
Something to Do with Death (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (1980)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Pat Paulsen for President (1968)
as Narrator (voice)
The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
as Dan Harrow
The Petrified Forest (1955)
as Alan Squier
The Magnificent Dope (1942)
as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
Jezebel: Legend of the South (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda (1975)
as Self
Parker Adderson, Philosopher (1974)
as Narrator (Voice)
The Moon's Our Home (1936)
as Anthony Amberton / John Smith
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute (1962)
as Self
An Opera of Violence (2003)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man' (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
It's Everybody's War (1942)
as Narrator
Summer Solstice (1981)
as Joshua
The Blue Hotel (1977)
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
A Space to Grow (1968)
as Narrator
The Real Miss America (1952)
as Narrator (voice)
Henry James' The Jolly Corner (1975)
as Narrator
The Music School (1974)
as Narrator (voice)
To Save a Soldier (1966)
as Narrator (voice)
Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963)
as Self - Host
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty (2023)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
The Really Big Family (1966)
as Self - Narrator