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