Henry Fonda
Born May 16, 1905 (Age: 120)
•
Grand Island, Nebraska, USA
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.
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.
Read more
Filmography
Jezebel: Legend of the South
2006
•
as Self (archive footage)
•
Age: 101
Sacco and Vanzetti
2006
•
as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
•
Age: 100
Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'
2000
•
as Self (archive footage)
•
Age: 95
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999
•
as (archive footage)
•
Age: 94
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
1997
•
as Self (archive footage)
•
Age: 91
On Golden Pond
1981
•
as Norman Thayer Jr.
•
Age: 76
Meteor
1979
•
as The President
•
Age: 74
Wanda Nevada
1979
•
as Old Prospector
•
Age: 74
The Swarm
1978
•
as Dr. Walter Krim
•
Age: 73
Inside 'the Swarm'
1978
•
as Self
•
Age: 72
Rollercoaster
1977
•
as Simon Davenport
•
Age: 72
Tentacles
1977
•
as Mr. Whitehead
•
Age: 71
Midway
1976
•
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
•
Age: 71
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
1975
•
as Narrator
•
Age: 69
No Image
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
1974
•
as Narrator (Voice)
•
Age: 68
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968
•
as Frank
•
Age: 63
Pat Paulsen for President
1968
•
as Narrator (voice)
•
Age: 63
Battle of the Bulge
1965
•
as Lt Col Kiley
•
Age: 60
In Harm's Way
1965
•
as CINCPAC II
•
Age: 59
Hollywood: The Great Stars
1963
•
as Self - Host
•
Age: 57
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
1962
•
as Narrator / Host
•
Age: 57
How the West Was Won
1962
•
as Jethro Stuart
•
Age: 57
The Longest Day
1962
•
as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
•
Age: 57
Advise & Consent
1962
•
as Robert Leffingwell
•
Age: 57
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
1962
•
as Self
•
Age: 57
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961
•
as Self - Narrator
•
Age: 56
The Man Who Understood Women
1959
•
as Willie Bauche
•
Age: 54
Warlock
1959
•
as Clay Blaisedell
•
Age: 53
The Wrong Man
1956
•
as Manny Balestrero
•
Age: 51
War and Peace
1956
•
as Pierre Bezukhov
•
Age: 51
The Petrified Forest
1955
•
as Alan Squier
•
Age: 50
The Battle of Midway
1942
•
as Narrator (voice)
•
Age: 37
It's Everybody's War
1942
•
as Narrator
•
Age: 37
The Big Street
1942
•
as Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II
•
Age: 37
Tales of Manhattan
1942
•
as George
•
Age: 37
The Magnificent Dope
1942
•
as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
•
Age: 37
Rings on Her Fingers
1942
•
as John Wheeler
•
Age: 36
The Male Animal
1942
•
as Tommy Turner
•
Age: 36
You Belong to Me
1941
•
as Peter Kirk
•
Age: 36
Wild Geese Calling
1941
•
as John Murdock
•
Age: 36
The Lady Eve
1941
•
as Charles Pike
•
Age: 35