Henry Fonda
Acting • Born 1905-05-16 – Died 1982-08-12
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
199 credits
The Ox-Bow Incident
Movie • 1943
Gil Carter
Fail Safe
Movie • 1964
The President
The Grapes of Wrath
Movie • 1940
Tom Joad
The Lady Eve
Movie • 1941
Charles Pike
My Darling Clementine
Movie • 1946
Wyatt Earp
Jezebel: Legend of the South
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)
Jezebel
Movie • 1938
Preston Dillard
Rollercoaster
Movie • 1977
Simon Davenport
Daisy Kenyon
Movie • 1947
Peter Lapham
Madigan
Movie • 1968
Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
Firecreek
Movie • 1968
Bob Larkin
The Tin Star
Movie • 1957
Morgan Hickman
Midway
Movie • 1976
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
War and Peace
Movie • 1956
Pierre Bezukhov
The Wrong Man
Movie • 1956
Manny Balestrero
On Golden Pond
Movie • 1981
Norman Thayer Jr.
Something to Do with Death
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War
Movie • 2020
Self (archive footage)
The Wages of Sin
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)
The Rounders
Movie • 1965
Marion 'Howdy' Lewis
How the West Was Won
Movie • 1962
Jethro Stuart
My Name Is Nobody
Movie • 1973
Jack Beauregard
The Longest Day
Movie • 1962
Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
There Was a Crooked Man...
Movie • 1970
Woodward W. Lopeman
The Boston Strangler
Movie • 1968
John S. Bottomly
Sex and the Single Girl
Movie • 1964
Frank Broderick
Tales of Manhattan
Movie • 1942
George
Yours, Mine and Ours
Movie • 1968
Frank Beardsley
Battle of the Bulge
Movie • 1965
Lt Col Kiley
Sometimes a Great Notion
Movie • 1971
Henry Stamper
Meteor
Movie • 1979
The President
The Cheyenne Social Club
Movie • 1970
Harley Sullivan
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
Movie • 1980
Self (archive footage)
The Great Smokey Roadblock
Movie • 1978
Elegant John
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Movie • 1966
Meredith
The Best Man
Movie • 1964
William Russell
Fort Apache
Movie • 1948
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
The Fugitive
Movie • 1947
A Fugitive
Warlock
Movie • 1959
Clay Blaisedell
The Return of Frank James
Movie • 1940
Frank James
Jesse James
Movie • 1939
Frank James
Young Mr. Lincoln
Movie • 1939
Abraham Lincoln
The Mad Miss Manton
Movie • 1938
Peter Ames
The Serpent
Movie • 1973
Alan Davies
The Long Night
Movie • 1947
Joe Adams
Mister Roberts
Movie • 1955
Lieutenant Roberts
Gideon's Trumpet
Movie • 1980
Clarence Earl Gideon
Spencer's Mountain
Movie • 1963
Clay Spencer
In Harm's Way
Movie • 1965
CINCPAC II
La Classe américaine
Movie • 1993
Hugues (archive footage)
Directed by John Ford
Movie • 1971
Jigsaw
Movie • 1949
Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Movie • 1991
Breakdowns of 1938
Movie • 1938
Self (archive footage)
Wanda Nevada
Movie • 1979
Old Prospector
Advise & Consent
Movie • 1962
Robert Leffingwell
Sacco and Vanzetti
Movie • 2006
Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
The Swarm
Movie • 1978
Dr. Walter Krim
Hollywood: The Great Stars
Movie • 1963
Self - Host
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Movie • 1961
Self - Narrator
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
Movie • 1962
Narrator / Host
Tentacles
Movie • 1977
Mr. Whitehead
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Movie • 1939
Thomas Watson
Let Us Live
Movie • 1939
"Brick" Tennant
The Biggest Battle
Movie • 1978
Generale Foster
The Greatest Man in the World
Movie • 1981
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
You Only Live Once
Movie • 1937
Eddie Taylor
Drums Along the Mohawk
Movie • 1939
Gilbert Martin
On Our Merry Way
Movie • 1948
Lank Solsky
The Male Animal
Movie • 1942
Tommy Turner
Fedora
Movie • 1978
President of the Academy
The Battle of Midway
Movie • 1942
Narrator (voice)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Movie • 1936
Dave Tolliver
Immortal Sergeant
Movie • 1943
Corporal Colin Spence
Spawn of the North
Movie • 1938
Jim Kimmerlee
That Certain Woman
Movie • 1937
Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
Rings on Her Fingers
Movie • 1942
John Wheeler
You Belong to Me
Movie • 1941
Peter Kirk
The Big Street
Movie • 1942
Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II
The Man Who Loved Bears
Movie • 1979
Self
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty
Movie • 2023
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Stranger on the Run
Movie • 1967
Ben Chamberlain
City on Fire
Movie • 1979
Fire Chief Risley
The Moon's Our Home
Movie • 1936
Anthony Amberton / John Smith
An Opera of Violence
Movie • 2003
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Inside 'the Swarm'
Movie • 1978
Self
Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Stage Struck
Movie • 1958
Lewis Easton
Chad Hanna
Movie • 1940
Chad Hanna
Blockade
Movie • 1938
Marco
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
Movie • 1976
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Welcome to Hard Times
Movie • 1967
Mayor Will Blue
Wings of the Morning
Movie • 1937
Kerry Gilfallen
Lillian Russell
Movie • 1940
Alexander Moore
Slim
Movie • 1937
Slim Kincaid
The Dirty Game
Movie • 1965
Dimitri Koulov
Born to Buck
Movie • 1966
Narrator
The Farmer Takes a Wife
Movie • 1935
Dan Harrow
I Met My Love Again
Movie • 1938
Ives Towner
I Dream Too Much
Movie • 1935
Johnny Street
Benjy
Movie • 1951
Narrator (voice)
The Man Who Understood Women
Movie • 1959
Willie Bauche
Way Down East
Movie • 1935
David Bartlett
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
Movie • 1969
John Steinbeck (voice)
The Alpha Caper
Movie • 1973
Mark Forbes
Spendthrift
Movie • 1936
Townsend Middleton
The Red Pony
Movie • 1973
Carl Tiflin
Clarence Darrow
Movie • 1974
Clarence Darrow
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Movie • 1984
(archive footage)
Rappaccini's Daughter
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Sky Is Gray
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Golden Honeymoon
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Paul's Case
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Blue Hotel
Movie • 1977
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Movie • 1976
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Displaced Person
Movie • 1977
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Soldier's Home
Movie • 1977
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Barn Burning
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'
Movie • 2004
Self (archive footage)
Pictura
Movie • 1951
Narrator (segment "Grant Wood") (voice)
The Magnificent Dope
Movie • 1942
Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
Ash Wednesday
Movie • 1973
Mark Sawyer
The Really Big Family
Movie • 1966
Self - Narrator
Wild Geese Calling
Movie • 1941
John Murdock
John Ford & Monument Valley
Movie • 2013
Self (archive footage)
The Real Miss America
Movie • 1952
Narrator (voice)
It's Everybody's War
Movie • 1942
Narrator
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
The American West of John Ford
Movie • 1971
Self - Narrator
Let Poland Be Poland
Movie • 1982
Self
Pat Paulsen for President
Movie • 1968
Narrator (voice)
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
The Oldest Living Graduate
Movie • 1980
Col. J.C. Kincaid
The Fabulous Fifties
Movie • 1960
Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
The Last Four Days
Movie • 1974
Kardinal Schuster
To Save a Soldier
Movie • 1966
Narrator (voice)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Movie • 1974
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Henry Fonda for President
Movie • 2025
Self (archive footage)
Summer Solstice
Movie • 1981
Joshua
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Movie • 1991
Self (archive footage)
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda
Movie • 1975
Self
Too Late the Hero
Movie • 1970
Capt. John G Nolan
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
Movie • 1978
Self
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Movie • 1990
(archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Movie • 1988
Self (archive footage)
Home to Stay
Movie • 1978
Grandpa George
John Ford: The Man Who Invented America
Movie • 2019
Self - Actor (archive footage)
A Space to Grow
Movie • 1968
Narrator
12 Angry Men
Movie • 1957
Juror 8
Spanish Western
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Once Upon a Time in the West
Movie • 1968
Frank
I'm a Fool
Movie • 1977
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Movie • 1980
Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Petrified Forest
Movie • 1955
Alan Squier
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
Movie • 1962
Self
Fonda on Fonda
Movie • 1992
Self (archive footage)
Underground Doctors
Movie • 1977
Self - Host
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Movie • 1999
(archive footage)
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
Movie • 1975
Narrator
The Music School
Movie • 1974
Narrator (voice)
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
Movie • 1974
Narrator (Voice)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Movie • 2013
Self (archive footage)
Citizen Jane Fonda
Movie • 2020
The Making of Midway
Movie • 2001
Self
All in the Family
TV • 1971
Self
The Bill Cosby Show
TV • 1969
Joshua Richards
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Emmett Kelly
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Clarence Earl Gideon
The Deputy
TV • 1959
Marshal Simon Fry
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
The Steve Allen Show
TV • 1956
Self
Captains and the Kings
TV • 1976
Sen. Enfield Bassett
The Smith Family
TV • 1971
Chad Smith
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV • 1978
Self
The Star and the Story
TV • 1955
Self - Host
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
Family
TV • 1976
James Lawrence
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
The World About Us
TV • 1967
Narrator
Laugh-In
TV • 1977
Guest Performer
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self - Mystery Guest
V.I.P. Schaukel
TV • 1971
Self
Spécial cinéma
TV • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Cadet Rousselle
TV • 1971
Self
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
TV • 1973
Self
The Doris Day Show
TV • 1968
Henry Fonda (uncredited)
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Laugh-In
TV • 1977
Guest Performer (uncredited)
The Bell Telephone Hour
TV • 1959
Self - Host
Film '72
TV • 1971
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self
Roots: The Next Generations
TV • 1979
Colonel Frederick Warner
People's Choice Awards
TV • 1975
Self