Henry Fonda

Born: 1905-05-16 in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

Died: 1982-08-12

Known For: 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.

Filmography

2025

Henry Fonda for President as Self (archive footage)

2023

The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty as Self - Actor (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)

2015

Spanish Western as Self (archive footage)

2013

John Ford & Monument Valley as Self (archive footage)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia as Self (archive footage)

2008

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men' as Self (archive footage)

2006

Jezebel: Legend of the South as Self (archive footage)
Sacco and Vanzetti as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)

2004

Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man' as Self (archive footage)

2003

An Opera of Violence as Self - Actor (archive footage)
The Wages of Sin as Self (archive footage)
Something to Do with Death as Self (archive footage)

2000

Revisiting 'Fail-Safe' as Self (archive footage)

1999

Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults as (archive footage)

1997

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero as Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line as Self (archive footage)

1993

La Classe américaine as Hugues (archive footage)

1992

Fonda on Fonda as Self (archive footage)

1981

On Golden Pond as Norman Thayer Jr.
The Greatest Man in the World as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Summer Solstice as Joshua

1980

Barn Burning as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Paul's Case as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's as Self (archive footage)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Rappaccini's Daughter as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Gideon's Trumpet as Clarence Earl Gideon
The Golden Honeymoon as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Oldest Living Graduate as Col. J.C. Kincaid
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Sky Is Gray as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1979

Roots: The Next Generations as Colonel Frederick Warner
Wanda Nevada as Old Prospector
Meteor as The President
City on Fire as Fire Chief Risley
The Man Who Loved Bears as Self

1978

The Swarm as Dr. Walter Krim
Fedora as President of the Academy
The Kennedy Center Honors as Self
A Special Sesame Street Christmas as Self
The Great Smokey Roadblock as Elegant John
Inside 'the Swarm' as Self
The Biggest Battle as Generale Foster
Home to Stay as Grandpa George

1977

Rollercoaster as Simon Davenport
Tentacles as Mr. Whitehead
Soldier's Home as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Displaced Person as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
I'm a Fool as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Laugh-In as Guest Performer
The Blue Hotel as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Underground Doctors as Self - Host

1976

Midway as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
Family as James Lawrence
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Captains and the Kings as Sen. Enfield Bassett
Bernice Bobs Her Hair as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

1975

Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda as Self
Henry James' The Jolly Corner as Narrator

1974

Spécial cinéma as Self (archive footage)
Dinah! as Self
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Music School as Narrator (voice)
Parker Adderson, Philosopher as Narrator (Voice)
The Last Four Days as Kardinal Schuster
Clarence Darrow as Clarence Darrow

1973

Ash Wednesday as Mark Sawyer
The Serpent as Alan Davies
My Name Is Nobody as Jack Beauregard
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as Self
The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
The Alpha Caper as Mark Forbes
The Red Pony as Carl Tiflin

1971

All in the Family as Self
V.I.P. Schaukel as Self
Sometimes a Great Notion as Henry Stamper
Directed by John Ford
The American West of John Ford as Self - Narrator
The Smith Family as Chad Smith
Cadet Rousselle as Self
Film '72 as Self

1970

The Cheyenne Social Club as Harley Sullivan
There Was a Crooked Man... as Woodward W. Lopeman
Too Late the Hero as Capt. John G Nolan

1969

Stiletto
The Bill Cosby Show as Joshua Richards
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer as John Steinbeck (voice)

1968

The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
Once Upon a Time in the West as Frank
Yours, Mine and Ours as Frank Beardsley
The Doris Day Show as Henry Fonda (uncredited)
Madigan as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
The Boston Strangler as John S. Bottomly
Firecreek as Bob Larkin
Pat Paulsen for President as Narrator (voice)
A Space to Grow as Narrator

1967

Stranger on the Run as Ben Chamberlain
Welcome to Hard Times as Mayor Will Blue
The World About Us as Narrator

1966

A Big Hand for the Little Lady as Meredith
Born to Buck as Narrator
The Really Big Family as Self - Narrator
To Save a Soldier as Narrator (voice)

1965

Battle of the Bulge as Lt Col Kiley
In Harm's Way as CINCPAC II
The Dirty Game as Dimitri Koulov
The Rounders as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis

1964

Sex and the Single Girl as Frank Broderick
The Best Man as William Russell
Fail Safe as The President

1963

Spencer's Mountain as Clay Spencer
Hollywood: The Great Stars as Self - Host

1962

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
The Merv Griffin Show as Self
The Longest Day as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
How the West Was Won as Jethro Stuart
Advise & Consent as Robert Leffingwell
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era as Narrator / Host
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute as Self

1961

The Mike Douglas Show as Self
Hollywood: The Selznick Years as Self - Narrator

1960

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

1959

Warlock as Clay Blaisedell
The Deputy as Marshal Simon Fry
The Bell Telephone Hour as Self - Host
The Man Who Understood Women as Willie Bauche

1958

Stage Struck as Lewis Easton

1957

12 Angry Men as Juror 8
The Tin Star as Morgan Hickman

1956

Tony Awards as Self (archive footage)
The Steve Allen Show as Self - Guest
War and Peace as Pierre Bezukhov
The Wrong Man as Manny Balestrero

1955

Mister Roberts as Lieutenant Roberts
The Star and the Story as Self - Host
The Petrified Forest as Alan Squier

1953

General Electric Theater as Emmett Kelly

1952

The Real Miss America as Narrator (voice)

1951

Benjy as Narrator (voice)
Pictura as Narrator: Grant Wood episode (voice)
Hallmark Hall of Fame as Clarence Earl Gideon

1950

What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest

1949

Jigsaw as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)

1948

The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
Fort Apache as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
On Our Merry Way as Lank Solsky

1947

Daisy Kenyon as Peter Lapham
The Fugitive as A Fugitive
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

The Ox-Bow Incident as Gil Carter
Immortal Sergeant as Corporal Colin Spence

1942

The Big Street as Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II
Tales of Manhattan as George
The Male Animal as Tommy Turner
The Battle of Midway as Narrator (voice)
The Magnificent Dope as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
Rings on Her Fingers as John Wheeler
It's Everybody's War as Narrator

1941

You Belong to Me as Peter Kirk
The Lady Eve as Charles Pike
Wild Geese Calling as John Murdock

1940

The Grapes of Wrath as Tom Joad
The Return of Frank James as Frank James
Chad Hanna as Chad Hanna
Lillian Russell as Alexander Moore

1939

Jesse James as Frank James
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell as Thomas Watson
Young Mr. Lincoln as Abraham Lincoln
Drums Along the Mohawk as Gilbert Martin
Let Us Live as "Brick" Tennant

1938

Blockade as Marco
I Met My Love Again as Ives Towner
Spawn of the North as Jim Kimmerlee
The Mad Miss Manton as Peter Ames
Breakdowns of 1938 as Self (archive footage)
Jezebel as Preston Dillard

1937

Slim as Slim Kincaid
That Certain Woman as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
You Only Live Once as Eddie Taylor
Wings of the Morning as Kerry Gilfallen

1936

Spendthrift as Townsend Middleton
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine as Dave Tolliver
The Moon's Our Home as Anthony Amberton / John Smith

1935

The Farmer Takes a Wife as Dan Harrow
I Dream Too Much as Johnny Street
Way Down East as David Bartlett