Henry Fonda
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1905-05-16
Day of Death
1982-08-12 (77 years old)
Place of Birth
Grand Island, Nebraska, USA
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.
Acting
(2025)
Henry Fonda for President
as Self (archive footage)
(2023)
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
(2020)
Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity
as Self (archive footage)
(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)
(2008)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
as Self (archive footage)
(2006)
Sacco and Vanzetti
as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
(2006)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
as Self (archive footage)
(2004)
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'
as Self (archive footage)
(2003)
An Opera of Violence
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
(2003)
Something to Do with Death
as Self (archive footage)
(2003)
The Wages of Sin
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 Self (Archival Footage)
(1997)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
as Self (archive footage)
(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)
(1991)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
as Self (archive footage)
(1990)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
as (archive footage)
(1988)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self (archive footage)
(1984)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
as (archive footage)
(1982)
Let Poland Be Poland
as Self
(1981)
On Golden Pond
as Norman Thayer Jr.
(1981)
Summer Solstice
as Joshua
(1981)
The Greatest Man in the World
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
as Self (archive footage)
(1980)
Gideon's Trumpet
as Clarence Earl Gideon
(1980)
The Oldest Living Graduate
as Col. J.C. Kincaid
(1980)
Paul's Case
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
The Sky Is Gray
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
Barn Burning
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
Rappaccini's Daughter
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1980)
The Golden Honeymoon
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1979)
Meteor
as The President
(1979)
Wanda Nevada
as Old Prospector
(1979)
City on Fire
as Fire Chief Risley
(1979)
The Man Who Loved Bears
as Self
(1978)
The Swarm
as Dr. Walter Krim
(1978)
The Great Smokey Roadblock
as Elegant John
(1978)
Fedora
as President of the Academy
(1978)
The Biggest Battle
as Generale Foster
(1978)
(1978)
Home to Stay
as Grandpa George
(1978)
Inside 'the Swarm'
as Self
(1977)
Tentacles
as Mr. Whitehead
(1977)
The Displaced Person
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1977)
Rollercoaster
as Simon Davenport
(1977)
Soldier's Home
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1977)
The Blue Hotel
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1977)
I'm a Fool
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1977)
Underground Doctors
as Self - Host
(1976)
Midway
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
(1976)
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
(1976)
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
(1975)
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
as Narrator
(1975)
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda
as Self
(1974)
The Last Four Days
as Kardinal Schuster
(1974)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1974)
Clarence Darrow
as Clarence Darrow
(1973)
My Name Is Nobody
as Jack Beauregard
(1973)
The Serpent
as Alan Davies
(1973)
Ash Wednesday
as Mark Sawyer
(1973)
The Alpha Caper
as Mark Forbes
(1973)
The Red Pony
as Carl Tiflin
(1971)
Sometimes a Great Notion
as Henry Stamper
(1971)
(1971)
The American West of John Ford
as Self - Narrator
(1970)
There Was a Crooked Man...
as Woodward W. Lopeman
(1970)
Too Late the Hero
as Capt. John G Nolan
(1970)
The Cheyenne Social Club
as Harley Sullivan
(1969)
(1969)
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
as John Steinbeck (voice)
(1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West
as Frank
(1968)
Yours, Mine and Ours
as Frank Beardsley
(1968)
The Boston Strangler
as John S. Bottomly
(1968)
Madigan
as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
(1968)
Firecreek
as Bob Larkin
(1968)
Pat Paulsen for President
as Narrator (voice)
(1968)
A Space to Grow
as Narrator
(1967)
Welcome to Hard Times
as Mayor Will Blue
(1967)
Stranger on the Run
as Ben Chamberlain
(1966)
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
as Meredith
(1966)
The Really Big Family
as Self - Narrator
(1966)
Born to Buck
as Narrator
(1966)
To Save a Soldier
as Narrator (voice)
(1965)
In Harm's Way
as CINCPAC II
(1965)
Battle of the Bulge
as Lt Col Kiley
(1965)
The Rounders
as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis
(1965)
The Dirty Game
as Dimitri Koulov
(1964)
Fail Safe
as The President
(1964)
Sex and the Single Girl
as Frank Broderick
(1964)
The Best Man
as William Russell
(1963)
Spencer's Mountain
as Clay Spencer
(1963)
Hollywood: The Great Stars
as Self - Host
(1962)
The Longest Day
as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
(1962)
How the West Was Won
as Jethro Stuart
(1962)
Advise & Consent
as Robert Leffingwell
(1962)
(1962)
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
as Narrator / Host
(1961)
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
as Self - Narrator
(1960)
The Fabulous Fifties
as Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
(1959)
Warlock
as Clay Blaisedell
(1959)
The Man Who Understood Women
as Willie Bauche
(1958)
Stage Struck
as Lewis Easton
(1957)
12 Angry Men
as Juror 8
(1957)
The Tin Star
as Morgan Hickman
(1956)
War and Peace
as Pierre Bezukhov
(1956)
The Wrong Man
as Manny Balestrero
(1955)
Mister Roberts
as Lieutenant Roberts
(1955)
The Petrified Forest
as Alan Squier
(1952)
The Real Miss America
as Narrator (voice)
(1951)
Benjy
as Narrator (voice)
(1951)
Pictura
as Narrator: Grant Wood episode (voice)
(1949)
Jigsaw
as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
(1948)
Fort Apache
as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
(1948)
On Our Merry Way
as Lank Solsky
(1947)
The Long Night
as Joe Adams
(1947)
The Fugitive
as A Fugitive
(1947)
Daisy Kenyon
as Peter Lapham
(1946)
My Darling Clementine
as Wyatt Earp
(1943)
The Ox-Bow Incident
as Gil Carter
(1943)
Immortal Sergeant
as Corporal Colin Spence
(1942)
Tales of Manhattan
as George
(1942)
The Big Street
as Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II
(1942)
The Battle of Midway
as Narrator (voice)
(1942)
The Male Animal
as Tommy Turner
(1942)
Rings on Her Fingers
as John Wheeler
(1942)
It's Everybody's War
as Narrator
(1942)
The Magnificent Dope
as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
(1941)
The Lady Eve
as Charles Pike
(1941)
You Belong to Me
as Peter Kirk
(1941)
Wild Geese Calling
as John Murdock
(1940)
The Grapes of Wrath
as Tom Joad
(1940)
The Return of Frank James
as Frank James
(1940)
Chad Hanna
as Chad Hanna
(1940)
Lillian Russell
as Alexander Moore
(1939)
Jesse James
as Frank James
(1939)
Drums Along the Mohawk
as Gilbert Martin
(1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln
as Abraham Lincoln
(1939)
Let Us Live
as "Brick" Tennant
(1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Thomas Watson
(1938)
The Mad Miss Manton
as Peter Ames
(1938)
Jezebel
as Preston Dillard
(1938)
Breakdowns of 1938
as Self (archive footage)
(1938)
I Met My Love Again
as Ives Towner
(1938)
Spawn of the North
as Jim Kimmerlee
(1938)
Blockade
as Marco
(1937)
You Only Live Once
as Eddie Taylor
(1937)
Slim
as Slim Kincaid
(1937)
That Certain Woman
as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
(1937)
Wings of the Morning
as Kerry Gilfallen
(1936)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
as Dave Tolliver
(1936)
Spendthrift
as Townsend Middleton
(1936)
The Moon's Our Home
as Anthony Amberton / John Smith
(1935)
The Farmer Takes a Wife
as Dan Harrow
(1935)
I Dream Too Much
as Johnny Street
(1935)
Way Down East
as David Bartlett
Crew
(1957)
12 Angry Men
Producer