Biography and filmography

Henry Fonda

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.

Photos

Movies (167)

Henry Fonda for President

2025 · Self (archive footage)

The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty

2023 · Self - Actor (archive footage)

Citizen Jane Fonda

2020 · Self (archive footage)

Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth

2020 · Self(archive footage)

'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War

2020 · Self (archive footage)

John Ford: The Man Who Invented America

2019 · Self - Actor (archive footage)

Spanish Western

2015 · Self (archive footage)

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

2013 · Self (archive footage)

John Ford & Monument Valley

2013 · Self (archive footage)

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'

2008 · Self (archive footage)

Jezebel: Legend of the South

2006 · Self (archive footage)

Sacco and Vanzetti

2006 · Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)

Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'

2004 · Self (archive footage)

The Wages of Sin

2003 · Self (archive footage)

Something to Do with Death

2003 · Self (archive footage)

An Opera of Violence

2003 · Self - Actor (archive footage)

The Making of Midway

2001 · Self (archive footage)

Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults

1999 · (archive footage)

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

1997 · Self (archive footage)

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero

1997 · Self (archive footage)

La Classe américaine

1993 · Hugues (archive footage)

Fonda on Fonda

1992 · Self (archive footage)

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

1991

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

1991 · Self (archive footage)

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

1990 · (archive footage)

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

1988 · Self (archive footage)

Going Hollywood: The '30s

1984 · (archive footage)

Let Poland Be Poland

1982 · Self

Summer Solstice

1981 · Joshua

On Golden Pond

1981 · Norman Thayer Jr.

The Greatest Man in the World

1981 · Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Gideon's Trumpet

1980 · Clarence Earl Gideon

The Oldest Living Graduate

1980 · Col. J.C. Kincaid