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Henry Fonda

 
Who2 Biography: Henry Fonda, Actor
Henry Fonda
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  • Born: 16 May 1905
  • Birthplace: Grand Island, Nebraska
  • Died: 12 August 1982 (heart failure)
  • Best Known As: Tom Joad in the movie The Grapes of Wrath

Henry Fonda was one of America's most popular movie stars from the 1940s through the 1970s. Early in his career he was closely associated with director John Ford, starring in Ford movies including Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and My Darling Clementine (1946). After serving in the Navy in World War II Fonda began three decades of work as an American icon, often playing modest, fundamentally decent heroes in movies like Mister Roberts (1955, co-starring Jack Lemmon) and Twelve Angry Men (1957). Fonda was also a regular on Broadway, most notably originating the title role in the naval comedy Mister Roberts in 1948. (Fonda himself had enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving in the South Pacific and earning a Bronze Star.) He capped his career with his first Oscar as best actor for On Golden Pond (1981, opposite screen legend Katharine Hepburn). Fonda is the father of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda and the grandfather of actress Bridget Fonda.

Fonda attended the University of Minnesota, but didn't graduate... He was married five times: to actress Margaret Sullavan from 1931 until their divorce in 1933; to Frances Ford Seymour from 1936 until her suicide in 1950; to Susan Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, from 1950 until their divorce in 1956; to the Italian Afdera Franchetti from 1957 until their divorce in 1961; and to Shirlee Adams from 1965 until his death in 1982. Frances was the mother of Jane Fonda (b. 1937) and Peter Fonda (b. 1939). Henry also adopted a daughter, Amy (b. 1953), with Susan Blanchard.

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American Theater Guide: Henry [Jaynes] Fonda
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Fonda, Henry [Jaynes] (1905–82), actor. The lanky, slightly twangy‐voiced leading man was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, and raised in Omaha, where he first appeared on stage in 1925 as Ricky in You and I with the Omaha Community Playhouse. After performing with various stock groups for several years, he made his Broadway debut as a walk‐on in The Game of Love and Death (1929). Shortly thereafter, he joined the University Players and remained with them until 1932. Fonda next appeared on Broadway in I Love You Wednesday (1932), Forsaking All Others (1933), and New Faces (1934), before winning acclaim as canal man Dan Harrow in The Farmer Takes a Wife (1934). Apart from a brief run in Blow Ye Winds (1937), he devoted himself to films until he returned to play Mister Roberts (1948). John Mason Brown wrote of his performance, “He is to the full the unheroic hero; the shy, modest, everyday young man whose decencies and hidden strength have somehow made a leader of him. His is a quiet performance . . . Its power is its understatement, its reticence, its utter and communicated honesty.” Thereafter, Fonda became one of the few major stars to shuttle regularly between Hollywood and Broadway. Among his memorable stage performances were businessman Charles Gray in Point of No Return (1951); the reluctant prosecuting attorney Lt. Greenwald in The Caine Mutiny Court‐Martial (1954); staid Irish lawyer Jerry Ryan in Two for the Seesaw (1958); John, who finds an evening of love in a New England inn, in Silent Night, Lonely Night (1959); the drama critic Parker Ballantine in Critic's Choice (1960); the conservative executive Jim Bolton in Generation (1965); the one‐man show Clarence Darrow (1974); and liberal Supreme Court Justice Daniel Snow in First Monday in October (1978). Autobiography: Fonda: My Story, with Howard Teichman, 1981; biography: Henry Fonda: His Life and Work, Norm Goldstein, 1982.

Biography: Henry Fonda
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A star of both stage and screen for more than 50 years, Henry Fonda (1905-1982) was known for portraying the average "every man" with sincerity, integrity, and decency. Though Fonda occasionally played characters with a dark or impatient side, critics considered most all of his performances to be natural and unassuming. Despite spectacular performances in films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Fonda did not receive an Academy Award until a shortly before his death.

Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, on May 16, 1905. He was the oldest of three children, born to William Brace Fonda and his wife, Herberta (nee Jaynes). William Fonda worked as a printer. When Fonda was still an infant, the family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where his father opened a print shop. As a child, Fonda liked to write, winning a short story contest when he was ten years old. Two years later he began working in his father's shop after school.

Discovered the Theater

After graduating from Omaha Central High School in 1923, Fonda entered the University of Minnesota to study journalism. William Fonda insisted that his son hold a job while in college, and Fonda held two. He worked as a physical education instructor at a settlement house and for the telephone company. The strain of maintaining two jobs may have contributed to Fonda's dropping out of school after about two years. In 1925, Fonda returned to Omaha, to look for a job in journalism. A friend of his mother's, Dorothy Brando (mother of famous American actor Marlon Brando), offered him a chance to audition for a part at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Dorothy Brando was an amateur actress and very involved with the group. Despite his inexperience, Fonda was cast as Ricky in You and I. Though initially unsure of himself, Fonda grew to love the experience. Soon he was spending a significant amount of time at the Playhouse, performing odd jobs such as ushering and set building.

Fonda's father did not approve of his son's new career choice. He made Fonda take a job as a clerk in a credit company to support himself. Still, Fonda was cast in the lead role of Merton of the Movies at the Playhouse in 1926 or 1927. When William Fonda attended a performance, he recognized his son's talent. Fonda got an early break in 1927 when he wrote a sketch for George Billings, a leading impersonator of former president Abraham Lincoln. The sketch featured a role for Fonda as Lincoln's secretary. He toured on the vaudeville circuit with Billings for three months. When he returned to Omaha at the end of the tour, Fonda became the assistant director at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

In 1928, Fonda moved to New York City to pursue a professional acting career. That summer, he worked in summer stock at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. He was the third assistant stage manager and had several small rolls. Fonda began an association with the University Players Guild, based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He spent the next four summers (and one-year long season in Baltimore, Maryland) appearing in a number of University Players productions, first in smaller rolls, then in bigger ones. Not all were successes. Fonda's role as the dumb boxer in Is Zat So? was critically panned. As he had done in Omaha, Fonda performed other tasks for the Guild, including setting up the lighting and building and painting sets. Fonda liked to paint (primarily landscapes and still lifes), pursuing it as a hobby for the rest of his life.

Made Broadway Debut

Fonda's first appearance on Broadway was a small walk-on role in the 1929 production of The Game of Life and Death. The production closed after six weeks, and it would take several years for Fonda to establish himself in New York City. In addition to his summer work with the University Players Guild, Fonda appeared in many productions of the National Junior Theatre in Washington, D.C. He appeared in many productions in 1929 through 1931, including a stint as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Fonda was married in 1931, to fellow actress, Margaret Sullivan. The marriage was short-lived, however, and the couple divorced in 1933.

By the early 1930s, Fonda appeared more regularly in productions in New York City. In 1932, for example, he played Eustace in I Loved You Wednesday. Critics began noticing Fonda in 1934 when he appeared in the revue New Faces, doing comic sketches with actress Imogene Coca. Through his work in summer stock, Fonda got a big break later in 1934 when he was cast as the farmer, Dan Harrow, in The Farmer Takes a Wife. After a run in Washington D.C., the play moved to New York City, where it was critically and commercially acclaimed. Producer, Walter Wanger offered Fonda a film contract. Although Fonda demanded $1000 per week, Wanger agreed to the terms. Instead of jumping immediately to films, Fonda appeared in the Broadway play All Good Americans.

Began Film Career

In 1935, Fonda made his film debut in The Farmer Takes a Wife, opposite co-star Janet Gaynor. Though he had created the role on stage, Fonda was not the first choice for the screen version. His work garnered widespread critical attention. In a review of the film, Andre Sennwald of The New York Times fortuitously wrote, "Mr. Fonda, in his film debut, is the bright particular star of the occasion. As the virtuous farm boy, he plays with an immensely winning simplicity which will quickly make him one of our most attractive film actors." Fonda immediately began making American epic-type films including The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) and was a recognized film star. Despite his Hollywood success, Fonda continued to appear both in films and in theater in New York City. He married his second wife, Frances Seymour Brokaw, in 1936. They had two children together, Jane and Peter, both of whom later became actors.

In 1939, Fonda first film with director John Ford, Young Mr. Lincoln, received much acclaim. This marked the beginning of fruitful creative association. Fonda appeared in many of Ford's films, as did another screen legend, John Wayne. After the pair made Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Ford was eager to cast him as Tom Joad in a 1940 screen version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. To secure the role, however, Fonda had to sign a seven-year deal with 20th Century-Fox. The result was one of Fonda's best performances, one that cemented his reputation for emotionally honest and powerful acting. Unfortunately, the contract also meant that Fonda was forced to take roles he probably would not have agreed to otherwise. For example, he appeared in the 1941 comedy, Lady Eve. While he did receive some praise for this work, the genre as a whole was not his strong suit.

In the early 1940s, during the onset of American involvement in World War II, Fonda wanted to serve in the military. The head of 20th-Centur Fox, Darryl Zanuck, worked behind the scenes to ensure this did not happen. After Fonda completed The Immortal Sergeant and The Ox-Bow Incident in 1942, he volunteered for the United States Navy, though he was exempt from serving. Fonda worked in operations and air combat intelligence. For his heroism, he earned the Bronze Star and a presidential citation. Before his discharge in 1945, Fonda reached the rank of lieutenant.

After his tour of duty was ended, Fonda briefly returned to film before concentrating on theater. After his calmly valiant turn as Wyatt Earp in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), Fonda appeared in Ford's Fort Apache (1948). Fonda's role in Fort Apache showed a different side to his acting abilities: his character was darker, meaner, and a bit stuffy. It was his last starring film role for seven years.

In 1948, Fonda returned to Broadway and starred in Mister Roberts. He did not miss any of the long-running show's 1077 performances, and later claimed that this was one of his favorite roles. Fonda was praised for his accomplishments, receiving critical acclaim for his genuinene performances. He later recreated the role on a national tour. During the run of Mister Roberts, Fonda's tumultuous marriage to Frances Seymour Brokaw came to an end. Mentally unstable for much of their marriage, she committed suicide on October 14, 1950, when Fonda demanded a divorce. Fonda was married for a third time to Susan Blanchard, on December 28, 1950. He adopted her daughter, Amy, from a previous relationship. The couple divorced in 1956.

While Fonda continued to appear on Broadway in the 1950s, in such plays as Point of No Return (1951) and The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1953), he also returned to film. His first project was a film version of Mister Roberts (1955). This was the last collaboration between Fonda and John Ford, who took over the directorial helm at Fonda's request. However, they had completely opposite opinions on interpretation, which resulted in physical clashes. Ford became ill and was unable to complete the work, so Mervyn Le Roy took over as director. Still, Fonda was never happy with the way the film turned out.

Fonda had mixed success with films throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Though many critics believed that he was miscast as Pierre, others praise his work in War and Peace (1956). The only time Fonda acted as a film producer was for 1957's Twelve Angry Men, in which he also had a starring role as the juror who saves the life of the accused man. He played political roles in several movies in the early 1960s, including a turn as the president of the United States in Fail-Safe (1963). Fonda continued to explore his dark side by playing villains several times, primarily in westerns such as Firecreek (1968) and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). Fonda married his fourth wife, Countess Adfera Franchetti, on March 10, 1957. They divorced in 1962. Fonda married for the fifth and final time to model and stewardess Shirlee Adams, in 1965.

Professionally, Fonda concentrated on theater and television. In 1959, he was the co-producer and star of the short-lived series The Deputy. In 1962, he returned to Broadway to appear in A Gift of Time with Olivia De Havilland. Fonda took a second try at a television series in 1971-72 as the patriarch of The Smith Family. One of Fonda's last major theater roles was as Clarence Darrow in a one-man show. From 1974 until 1975, Fonda appeared in this role on Broadway and on a national tour. Before one performance, he collapsed backstage and was forced to have a pacemaker installed on his heart. This marked the beginning of frequent health problems. Despite frequent hospitalization, Fonda continued to work.

Fonda's last film role was one of his most memorable and acclaimed. In 1981, he appeared in On Golden Pond as an irascible old professor reflecting on his life, trying to make peace with his daughter (played by Fonda's daughter Jane), and face his own fears about death. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote "Mr. Fonda gives one of the great performances of his long, truly distinguished career. Here is film acting of the highest order - As you watch him in On Golden Pond, you're seeing the intelligence, force and grace of a talent that has been maturing on screen for almost 50 years." Fonda won his only Academy Award for this role, a short time before his death. He died of heart failure on August 12, 1982, in Los Angeles, California. He was 77 years old.

Further Reading

American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cassell Companion to Cinema, Cassell, 1997.

The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, volume 1, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers-3: Actors and Actresses, third edition, edited by Amy L. Unterburger, St. James Press, 1997.

Thomson, David, A Biographical Dictionary of Film, third edition, Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

New York Times, August 9, 1935, p. 21; December 4, 1981, p.D4; August 13, 1982, p. A1

Variety, August 18, 1982, p. 4.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Henry Jaynes Fonda
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(born May 16, 1905, Grand Island, Neb., U.S. — died Aug. 12, 1982, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. actor. He achieved success on Broadway in The Farmer Takes a Wife (1934), which led him to Hollywood for the film version (1935). He portrayed thoughtful men of integrity in films such as Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). He also made comedies such as The Lady Eve (1941) and The Male Animal (1942). He returned to the stage in Mister Roberts (1948, Tony Award; film, 1955). His last film, On Golden Pond (1981, Academy Award), also starred his daughter Jane Fonda. His son, Peter (b. 1939), also achieved fame as a screen actor.

For more information on Henry Jaynes Fonda, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Henry Fonda
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Fonda, Henry, 1905-83, American actor, b. Grand Island, Nebr. He had considerable stage experience, appearing in such plays as Mr. Roberts (1948), The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1958), and Two for the Seesaw (1959). Fonda played honest, homespun young men in such films as The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). His comedic talents were revealed in such films as The Lady Eve (1941) and Rings on Her Fingers (1942). Later in his career he often portrayed heroic figures. His other films include The Wrong Man (1956), Twelve Angry Men (1957), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and On Golden Pond (1982), for which he won the Academy Award. He was the father of Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.
Quotes By: Henry Fonda
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Quotes:

"The best actors do not let the wheels show."

Actor: Henry Fonda
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  • Born: May 16, 1905 in Grand Island, Nebraska
  • Died: Aug 12, 1982 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Western
  • Career Highlights: Once Upon a Time in the West, My Darling Clementine, The Ox-Bow Incident
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)

Biography

One of the cinema's most enduring actors, Henry Fonda enjoyed a highly successful career spanning close to a half century. Most often in association with director John Ford, he starred in many of the finest films of Hollywood's golden era. Born May 16, 1905, in Grand Island, NE, Fonda majored in journalism in college, and worked as an office boy before pursuing an interest in acting. He began his amateur career with the Omaha Community Playhouse, often performing with the mother of Marlon Brando. Upon becoming a professional performer in 1928, Fonda traveled east, tenuring with the Provincetown Players before signing on with the University Players Guild, a New England-based ensemble including up-and-comers like James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Joshua Logan. Fonda's first Broadway appearance followed with 1929's The Game of Life and Death. He also worked in stock, and even served as a set designer.

In 1931, Fonda and Sullavan were married, and the following year he appeared in I Loved You Wednesday. The couple divorced in 1933, and Fonda's big break soon followed in New Faces of '34. A leading role in The Farmer Takes a Wife was next, and when 20th Century Fox bought the film rights, they recruited him to reprise his performance opposite Janet Gaynor, resulting in his 1935 screen debut. Fonda and Gaynor were slated to reunite in the follow-up, Way Down East, but when she fell ill Rochelle Hudson stepped in. In 1936 he starred in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (the first outdoor Technicolor production), the performance which forever defined his onscreen persona: Intense, insistent, and unflappable, he was also extraordinarily adaptable, and so virtually impossible to miscast. He next co-starred with Sullavan in The Moon's Our Home, followed by Wings of the Morning (another Technicolor milestone, this one the first British feature of its kind).

For the great Fritz Lang, Fonda starred in 1937's You Only Live Once, and the following year co-starred with Bette Davis in William Wyler's much-celebrated Jezebel. His next critical success came as the titular Young Mr. Lincoln, a 1939 biopic directed by John Ford. The film was not a commercial sensation, but soon after Fonda and Ford reunited for Drums Along the Mohawk, a tremendous success. Ford then tapped him to star as Tom Joad in the 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, a casting decision which even Steinbeck himself wholeheartedly supported. However, 20th Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck wanted Tyrone Power for the role, and only agreed to assign Fonda if the actor signed a long-term contract. Fonda signed, and Zanuck vowed to make him the studio's top star -- it didn't happen, however, and despite the success of The Grapes of Wrath (for which he scored his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination), his tenure at Fox was largely unhappy and unproductive.

The best of Fonda's follow-up vehicles was the 1941 Preston Sturges comedy The Lady Eve, made at Paramount on loan from Fox; his co-star, Barbara Stanwyck, also appeared with him in You Belong to Me. After a number of disappointing projects, Fox finally assigned him to a classic, William Wellman's 1943 Western The Ox-Bow Incident. Studio executives reportedly hated the film, however, until it won a number of awards. After starring in The Immortal Sergeant, Fonda joined the navy to battle in World War II. Upon his return, he still owed Fox three films, beginning with Ford's great 1946 Western My Darling Clementine. At RKO he starred in 1947's The Long Night, followed by Fox's Daisy Kenyon. Again at RKO, he headlined Ford's The Fugitive, finally fulfilling his studio obligations with Ford's Fort Apache, his first unsympathetic character. Fonda refused to sign a new contract and effectively left film work for the next seven years, returning to Broadway for lengthy runs in Mister Roberts, Point of No Return, and The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.

Outside of cameo roles in a handful of pictures, Fonda did not fully return to films until he agreed to reprise his performance in the 1955 screen adaptation of Mister Roberts, one of the year's biggest hits. Clearly, he had been greatly missed during his stage exile, and offers flooded in. First there was 1956's War and Peace, followed by Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man. In 1957, Fonda produced as well as starred in the Sidney Lumet classic Twelve Angry Men, but despite a flurry of critical acclaim the film was a financial disaster. In 1958, after reteaming with Lumet on Stage Struck, Fonda returned to Broadway to star in Two for the Seesaw, and over the years to come he alternated between projects on the screen (The Man Who Understood Women, Advise and Consent, The Longest Day) with work on-stage (Silent Night, Lonely Night, Critic's Choice, Gift of Time). From 1959 to 1961, he also starred in a well-received television series, The Deputy.

By the mid-'60s, Fonda's frequent absences from the cinema had severely hampered his ability to carry a film. Of his many pictures from the period, only 1965's The Battle of the Bulge performed respectably at the box office. After 1967's Welcome to Hard Times also met with audience resistance, Fonda returned to television to star in the Western Stranger on the Run. After appearing in the 1968 Don Siegel thriller Madigan, he next starred opposite Lucille Ball in Yours, Mine and Ours, a well-received comedy. Fonda next filmed Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West; while regarded as a classic, the actor so loathed the experience that he refused to ever discuss the project again. With his old friend, James Stewart, he starred in The Cheyenne Social Club before agreeing to a second TV series, the police drama Smith, in 1971. That same year, he was cast to appear as Paul Newman's father in Sometimes a Great Notion.

After a pair of TV movies, 1973's The Red Pony and The Alpha Stone, Fonda began a series of European productions which included the disastrous Ash Wednesday and Il Mio Nome è Nessuno. He did not fare much better upon returning to Hollywood; after rejecting Network (the role which won Peter Finch an Oscar), Fonda instead appeared in the Sensurround war epic Midway, followed by The Great Smokey Roadblock. More TV projects followed, including the miniseries Roots -- The Next Generation. Between 1978 and 1979, he also appeared in three consecutive disaster movies: The Swarm, City on Fire, and Meteor. Better received was Billy Wilder's 1978 film Fedora. A year later, he also co-starred with his son, Peter Fonda, in Wanda Nevada. His final project was the 1981 drama On Golden Pond, a film co-starring and initiated by his daughter, Jane Fonda; as an aging professor in the twilight of his years, he finally won the Best Actor Oscar so long due him. Sadly, Fonda was hospitalized at the time of the Oscar ceremony, and died just months later on August 12, 1982. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Filmography: Henry Fonda
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Wikipedia: Henry Fonda
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Henry Fonda

Fonda in the 1937 film Slim.
Born Henry Jaynes Fonda
May 16, 1905(1905-05-16)
Grand Island, Nebraska, U.S.
Died August 12, 1982 (aged 77)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1935 – 1982
Spouse(s) Margaret Sullavan (1931-1932)
Frances Ford Seymour (1936-1950)
Susan Blanchard (1950-1956)
Afdera Franchetti (1957-1961)
Shirlee Mae Adams (1965-1982)

Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting.

Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor, and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda's career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved toward both more challenging, darker epics as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (portraying a villain who kills, among others, a child) and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball.

Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity; his family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Contents

Life and career

Family history and early life

Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska[1] to advertising-printing jobber William Brace Fonda and his wife Elma Herberta Jaynes, in the second year of their marriage.[2] The Fonda family had emigrated westward from Genoa, Italy, to The Netherlands in the 1500s, and then to the United States in the 1600s, settling in the town now called Fonda, New York.[3]

Fonda was brought up as a Christian Scientist and claimed that "my whole damn family was nice". They were a close family and highly supportive, especially in health matters as they avoided doctors due to their religion.[4] Fonda was a bashful, short boy who tended to avoid girls, except his sisters, and was a good skater, swimmer, and runner. He worked part-time in his father's print plant and imagined a possible career as a journalist. Later, he worked after school for the phone company. He also enjoyed drawing. Fonda was active in the Boy Scouts of America and was a Scoutmaster, but was not an Eagle Scout as some report.[5] When he was about fourteen, his father took him to observe a lynching, from the window of his father's plant, of a young Black man accused of rape.[6] This so enraged the young Fonda that a keen social awareness of prejudice was present within him for his entire adult life.[7] By his senior year in high school, he grew suddenly to over six feet but remained a shy teenager. He then attended the University of Minnesota, majoring in journalism,[8] but he did not graduate. He took a job with the Retail Credit Company.

At age 20, Fonda started his acting career at the Omaha Community Playhouse when his mother's friend Dodie Brando (mother of Marlon Brando) recommended that he try-out for a juvenile part in You and I, in which he was cast as Ricky.[1] He was both fascinated by the stage, learning everything from set construction to stage production, and also profoundly embarrassed by his acting ability.[9] When he received the lead in Merton of the Movies, he realized the beauty of acting as a profession, as it allowed him to deflect attention from his own tongue-tied personality and create stage characters relying on someone else's scripted words. Fonda decided to quit his job and go East in 1928 to strike his fortune. He arrived on Cape Cod and had just finished a role at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts when a friend took him over to Falmouth where he instantly became a valued member of the new University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company, where he worked with Margaret Sullavan, his future wife, and which would be responsible for a lifelong friendship with James Stewart.[10][11] He landed his first professional role in the University Players production of The Jest, by Sem Benelli, when Joshua Logan, a young sophomore at Princeton who had been double-cast in the show, gave Fonda the part of Tornaquinci, “an elderly Italian with long, white beard and heavy wig.” Also in the cast of The Jest with Fonda and Logan were Bretaigne Windust, Kent Smith, and Eleanor Phelps.[12]

Early career

Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve.

The tall (6'1.5") and slim (160 lbs) Fonda headed for New York City, where he was soon joined by Stewart (after Fonda's short marriage to Margaret Sullavan) and the two roommates struggled but honed their skills on Broadway. Fonda appeared in theatrical productions from 1926 to 1934. They fared no better than many Americans in and out of work during the Depression, with sometimes no money even to take the subway.[13] Fonda got the first break going to Hollywood to make his first film appearance in (1935) as the leading man in 20th Century Fox's screen adaptation of The Farmer Takes a Wife, reprising his role from the Broadway production of the same name which gained him critical recognition. Suddenly, Fonda was making $3,000 a week and dining with Hollywood stars like Carole Lombard.[14] Stewart soon followed him to Hollywood, and they roomed together again, in lodgings next door to Greta Garbo. In 1935 Fonda starred in the RKO film I Dream Too Much with the famous opera star Lily Pons. The New York Times proclaimed "Henry Fonda, the most likable of the new crop of romantic juveniles".[15]

Fonda's film career blossomed as he costarred with Sylvia Sidney and Fred MacMurray in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), the first Technicolor movie filmed outdoors. He also starred with ex-wife Margaret Sullavan in The Moon's Our Home, and a short re-kindling of their relationship led to a brief consideration of re-marriage. Sullavan then married Fonda's agent Leland Hayward and Fonda married socialite Frances Ford Seymour, who had little interest in the movies or the theater. Fonda got the nod for the lead role in You Only Live Once (1937), also costarring Sidney, and directed by Fritz Lang. Fonda's first child Jane Fonda was born on December 21, 1937. A critical success opposite Bette Davis, who had picked Fonda, in the film Jezebel (1938) was followed by the title role in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), his first collaboration with director John Ford and as Frank James in Jesse James (1939).

Fonda's successes led Ford to recruit him to play "Tom Joad" in the film version of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1940), but a reluctant Darryl Zanuck, who preferred Tyrone Power, insisted on Fonda's signing a seven-year contract with the studio, Twentieth Century-Fox.[16] Fonda agreed, and was ultimately nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the 1940 film, which many consider to be his finest role, but his friend James Stewart won the Best Actor award for his role in The Philadelphia Story. Second child Peter Fonda was born in 1940. He starred in The Return of Frank James (1940) with Gene Tierney.

World War II service

Fonda played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1941), and teamed with Gene Tierney in the successful screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers (1942 ) - Tierney was one of Fondas favorite co-stars, they appeared in three films together. He was acclaimed for his role in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).

Fonda after enlisting in United States Navy in November 1942.

Fonda then enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, "I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio."[17] Previously, he and Stewart had helped raise funds for the defense of Britain.[18] Fonda served for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee. He was later commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence in the Central Pacific and was awarded a Presidential Citation and the Bronze Star.[19][20]

Post-war career

Fonda in The Tin Star.

After the war, Fonda took a break from movies and attended Hollywood parties and enjoyed civilian life. He and Stewart would listen to records and invite Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Dinah Shore, and Nat King Cole over for music, with the latter giving the family piano lessons.[21] Fonda played Wyatt Earp in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946) and appeared in the film Fort Apache (1948) as a rigid Army colonel, along with John Wayne and Shirley Temple in her first adult role. Fonda did seven post-war films until his contract with Fox expired, the last being Otto Preminger's Daisy Kenyon (1947), opposite Joan Crawford.

Refusing another long-term studio contract, Fonda returned to Broadway, wearing his own officer's cap to originate the title role in Mister Roberts, a comedy about the Navy, where Fonda, a junior officer, wages a private war against the captain. He won a 1948 Tony Award for the part. Fonda followed that by reprising his performance in the national tour and with successful stage runs in Point of No Return and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. After a few years almost completely absent from films, he starred in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts opposite James Cagney, William Powell and Jack Lemmon, continuing a pattern of bringing his acclaimed stage roles to life on the big screen. On the set of Mister Roberts, Fonda came to blows with John Ford, who punched him during filming, and vowed never to work for him again. He never did (though he appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's acclaimed documentary "Directed by John Ford" and spoke glowingly of Ford therein).

Fonda followed Mr. Roberts with Paramount Pictures's production of the Leo Tolstoy epic War and Peace, in which he played Pierre Bezukhov opposite Audrey Hepburn, and which took two years to shoot. Fonda worked with Alfred Hitchcock in 1956, playing a man falsely accused of murder in The Wrong Man, an unusual though not successful effort by Hitchcock based on an actual crime and filmed on location in black and white.

In 1957, Fonda made his first foray into production with 12 Angry Men, based on a teleplay and a script by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet. The low budget production was completed in only seventeen days of filming mostly in one claustrophobic jury room and had a strong cast including Jack Klugman, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, and E. G. Marshall. The intense film about twelve jurors deciding the fate of a young Puerto Rican man accused of murder was well-received by critics worldwide. Fonda shared the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations with co-producer Reginald Rose and won the 1958 BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his performance as "Juror #8", who with logic and persistence eventually sways all the jurors to an acquittal. Early on the film drew poorly, but after winning critical acclaim and awards, it proved a success. In spite of the good outcome, Fonda vowed that he would never produce a movie again, fearing that failing as a producer might derail his acting career.[22] After western movies The Tin Star (1957) and Warlock (1959), Fonda returned to the production seat for the NBC western television series The Deputy (1959–1961), in which he also starred. Around this time, his fourth troubled marriage was coming to an end.

The 1960s saw Fonda perform in a number of war and western epics, including 1962's The Longest Day and How the West Was Won, 1965's In Harm's Way and Battle of the Bulge. In the Cold War suspense film Fail-Safe (1964), Fonda played the resolute President of the United States who tries to avert a nuclear holocaust through tense negotiations with the Soviets who see an attack coming their way. He also returned to more light-hearted cinema in Spencer's Mountain (1963), which was the inspiration for the TV series, The Waltons.

Fonda appeared against type as the villain 'Frank' in 1968's Once Upon a Time in the West. After initially turning down the role, he was convinced to accept it by actor Eli Wallach and director Sergio Leone, who flew from Italy to the United States to persuade him to take the part. Fonda had planned on wearing a pair of brown-colored contact lenses, but Leone preferred the paradox of contrasting close-up shots of Fonda's innocent-looking blue eyes with the vicious personality of the character Fonda played.

Fonda's relationship with Jimmy Stewart survived their disagreements over politics — Fonda was a liberal Democrat, and Stewart a conservative Republican. After a heated argument, they avoided talking politics with each other. The two teamed up for 1968's Firecreek, where Fonda once again played the heavy. In 1970, Fonda and Stewart costarred in the western The Cheyenne Social Club, a minor film in which the two humorously argued politics. They had first appeared together on film in On Our Merry Way (1948), a comedy which also starred William Demarest and Fred MacMurray and featured a grown-up Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.[23]

Late career

Despite approaching his seventies, Fonda continued to work in both television and film through the 1970s. In 1970, Fonda appeared in three films, the most successful of these ventures being The Cheyenne Social Club. The other two films were Too Late the Hero, in which Fonda played a secondary role, and There Was a Crooked Man, about Paris Pitman Jr. (played by Kirk Douglas) trying to escape from an Arizona prison.

Fonda made a return to both foreign and television productions, which provided career sustenance through a decade in which many aging screen actors suffered waning careers. He starred in the ABC television series The Smith Family between 1971 and 1972. 1973's TV-movie The Red Pony, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, earned Fonda an Emmy nomination. After the unsuccessful Hollywood melodrama, Ash Wednesday, he filmed three Italian productions released in 1973 and 1974. The most successful of these, My Name Is Nobody, presented Fonda in a rare comedic performance as an old gunslinger whose plans to retire are dampened by a "fan" of sorts.

Fonda continued stage acting throughout his last years, including several demanding roles in Broadway plays. He returned to Broadway in 1974 for the biographical drama, Clarence Darrow, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Fonda's health had been deteriorating for years, but his first outward symptoms occurred after a performance of the play in April 1974, when he collapsed from exhaustion. After the appearance of a heart arrhythmia brought on by prostate cancer, a pacemaker was installed following surgery and Fonda returned to the play in 1975. After the run of a 1978 play, First Monday of October, he took the advice of his doctors and quit plays, though he continued to star in films and television.

In 1976, Fonda appeared in several notable television productions, the first being Collision Course, the story of the volatile relationship between President Harry Truman (E.G. Marshall) and General MacArthur (Fonda), produced by ABC. After an appearance in the acclaimed Showtime broadcast of Almos' a Man, based on a story by Richard Wright, he starred in the epic NBC miniseries Captains and Kings, based on Taylor Caldwell's novel. Three years later, he appeared in ABC's Roots: The Next Generations, but the miniseries was overshadowed by its predecessor, Roots. Also in 1976, Fonda starred in the World War II blockbuster Midway.

Fonda finished the 1970s in a number of disaster films. The first of these was the 1977 Italian killer octopus thriller Tentacoli (Tentacles) and the mediocre Rollercoaster, in which Fonda appeared with Richard Widmark and a young Helen Hunt. He performed once again with Widmark, Olivia de Havilland, Fred MacMurray, and José Ferrer in the killer bee action film The Swarm. He also acted in the global disaster film Meteor (his second role as a sitting President of the United States after Fail-Safe), with Sean Connery, Natalie Wood and Karl Malden, and then the Canadian production City on Fire, which also featured Shelley Winters and Ava Gardner. Fonda had a small role with his son, Peter, in 1979's Wanda Nevada, with Brooke Shields.

As Fonda's health continued to suffer and he took longer breaks between filming, critics began to take notice of his extensive body of work. In 1979, the Tony Awards committee gave Fonda a special award for his achievements on Broadway. Lifetime Achievement awards from the Golden Globes and Academy Awards followed in 1980 and 1981, respectively.

Fonda continued to act into the early 1980s, though all but one of the productions he was featured in before his death were for television. These television works included the critically acclaimed live performance of Preston Jones' The Oldest Living Graduate, the Emmy nominated Gideon's Trumpet (co-starring Fay Wray in her last performance).

On Golden Pond in 1981, the film adaptation of Ernest Thompson's play, marked one final professional and personal triumph for Fonda. Directed by Mark Rydell, the project provided unprecedented collaborations between Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, along with Fonda and his daughter, Jane. The elder Fonda played an emotionally brittle and distant father who becomes more accessible at the end of his life. Jane Fonda has said that elements of the story mimicked their real-life relationship, and helped them resolve certain issues. She bought the film rights in the hope that her father would play the role, and later described it as "a gift to my father that was so unbelievably successful."[24]

Premiered in December 1981, the film was well received by critics, and after a limited release on December 4 On Golden Pond developed enough of an audience to be widely released on January 22. With eleven Academy Award nominations, the film earned nearly $120 million at the box office, becoming an unexpected blockbuster. In addition to wins for Hepburn (Best Actress), and Thompson (Screenplay), On Golden Pond brought Fonda his only Oscar - for Best Actor (he would become the oldest recipient of the award; it also earned him a Golden Globe Best Actor award). Fonda was by that point too ill to attend the ceremony, and his daughter Jane Fonda accepted on his behalf. She said when accepting the award that her dad would probably quip, "Well, ain't I lucky."

After Fonda's death, some film critics called this performance "his last and greatest role" (though this overlooks one subsequent performance in Summer Solstice, a television film with Myrna Loy).

Marriages and children

Fonda was married five times. His marriage to Margaret Sullavan in 1931 soon ended in separation, which was finalized in a 1933 divorce. In 1936, he married Frances Ford Seymour. They had two children, Peter and Jane. In 1950, Seymour committed suicide. Fonda married Susan Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, in 1950. Together, they adopted a daughter, Amy (born 1953),[25] but divorced three years later. In 1957 Fonda married Italian Countess Afdera Franchetti.[26] They remained married until 1961. Soon after Fonda married Shirlee Mae Adams, and remained with her until his death in 1982.

Fonda's relationship with his children has been described as "emotionally distant." In Peter Fonda's 1998 autobiography Don't Tell Dad, he described how he was never sure how his father felt about him, and that he did not tell his father he loved him until his father was elderly and he finally heard the words, "I love you, son."[27] His daughter Jane rejected her father's friendships with Republican actors such as John Wayne and James Stewart, and as a result, their relationship was extremely strained.

Jane Fonda also reported feeling detached from her father, especially during her early acting career. Henry Fonda introduced her to Lee Strasberg, who became her acting teacher, and as she developed as an actress using the techniques of "The Method", she found herself frustrated and unable to understand her father's effortless acting style. In the late 1950s, when she asked him how he prepared before going on stage, he baffled her by answering, "I don’t know, I stand there, I think about my wife, Afdera, I don't know."

Writer Al Aronowitz, while working on a profile of Jane Fonda for The Saturday Evening Post in the 1960s, asked Henry Fonda about Method acting: "I can't articulate about the Method", he told me, "because I never studied it. I don't mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about it...I don't know what the Method is and I don’t care what the Method is. Everybody's got a method. Everybody can’t articulate about their method, and I can't, if I have a method—and Jane sometimes says that I use the Method, that is, the capital letter Method, without being aware of it. Maybe I do; it doesn’t matter."

Fonda's daughter shared this view: "My father can't articulate the way he works." Jane said. "He just can't do it. He's not even conscious of what he does, and it made him nervous for me to try to articulate what I was trying to do. And I sensed that immediately, so we did very little talking about it...he said, 'Shut up, I don't want to hear about it.’ He didn’t want me to tell him about it, you know. He wanted to make fun of it."

Fonda himself once admitted in an interview that he felt he wasn't a good father to his children[citation needed]. In the same interview, he explained that he did his best to stay out of the way of Jane and Peter's careers, citing that he felt it was important to them to know that they succeeded because they worked hard and not because they used his fame to achieve their goals.

Death and legacy

Fonda died at his Los Angeles home on August 12, 1982, at the age of 77 from heart disease. Fonda's wife Shirlee, daughter Jane and son Peter were at his side when he died.[28] He also suffered from prostate cancer, but this did not directly cause his death and was only mentioned as a concurrent ailment on his death certificate.

In the years since his death, Fonda's career has been held in even higher regard than during his life. He is widely recognized as one of the Hollywood greats of the classic era. On the centenary of his birth, May 16, 2005, Turner Classic Movies honored him with a marathon of his films. Also in May 2005, the United States Post Office released a thirty-seven-cent postage stamp with an artist's drawing of Fonda as part of their "Hollywood legends" series.[17] Henry Fonda Theater is located at 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. 34°06′07″N 118°20′27″W / 34.101944°N 118.340972°W / 34.101944; -118.340972

Filmography

From the beginning of his career in 1935 through his last projects in 1981, Fonda appeared in 106 films, television programs, and shorts. Through the course of his career he appeared in many critically acclaimed films, including such classics as 12 Angry Men and The Ox-Bow Incident. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath and won for his part in 1981's On Golden Pond. Fonda made his mark in westerns and war films, and made frequent appearances in both television and foreign productions late in his career.

Broadway stage performances

  • The Game of Love and Death (November 1929 – January 1930)
  • I Loved You, Wednesday (October – December 1932)
  • New Faces of 1934 (Revue; March – July 1934)
  • The Farmer Takes a Wife (October 1934 – January 1935)
  • Blow Ye Winds (September – October 1937)
  • Mister Roberts (February 1948 – January 1951)
  • Point of No Return (December 1951 – November 1952)
  • The Caine Mutiny (January 1954 – January 1955)
  • Two for the Seesaw (January 1958 – October 1959)
  • Silent Night, Lonely Night (December 1959 – March 1960)
  • Critic's Choice (December 1960 – May 1961)
  • A Gift of Time (February – May 1962)
  • Generation (October 1965 – June 1966)
  • Our Town (November – December 1969)
  • Clarence Darrow (March – April 1974; March 1975)
  • First Monday in October (October – December 1978)

Awards

Henry Fonda received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1978.

Awards Year Category Film Result
Academy Awards 1941 Best Actor The Grapes of Wrath Nominated
1957 Best Picture 12 Angry Men Nominated
Producer
1981 Best Actor On Golden Pond Won
1980 Honorary Award Lifetime Achievement
BAFTA Awards 1958 Best Actor 12 Angry Men Won
1981 Best Actor On Golden Pond Nominated
Emmy Awards
1973 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie The Red Pony Nominated
1980 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Gideon's Trumpet Nominated
Golden Globes 1958 Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama 12 Angry Men Nominated
1980 Cecil B. DeMille Award Lifetime Achievement Honorary
1982 Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama On Golden Pond Won
Tony Awards 1975 Best Actor Clarence Darrow Nominated
1979 Special Award Lifetime Achievement Honorary
1948 Best Actor Mister Roberts Won

See also


References

  1. ^ a b Bain, David Haward (2004). The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West. New York City, New York: Penguin Books. pp. 65–6. ISBN 0143035266. 
  2. ^ Fonda, Henry (1982). Fonda: My Life. Fulcrum Publishing. ISBN 0453004024. 
  3. ^ Fonda, Henry & Howard Teichmann, Fonda: My Life, New York, New American Library, 1981, pp. 20–21
  4. ^ Fonda 1981, p.21.
  5. ^ Terry C., Lawson (2005). "Erroneous Eagle Scouts Letter". Eagle Scout Service, National Eagle Scout Association. Boy Scouts of America. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Erroneous_Eagle_Scouts. Retrieved 2006-06-09. 
  6. ^ Fonda 1981, p.25.
  7. ^ Race Riots of 1919. Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
  8. ^ Henry Fonda. YahooMovies.com. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  9. ^ Fonda 1981, p.30.
  10. ^ Houghton 1951: pp. 56-58.
  11. ^ Fonda and Stewart were never actually with the University Players at the same time. Fonda left the Players at the end of their 1931-32 winter season in Baltimore and joined his new wife, Margaret Sullavan, in New York. Stewart did not join the University Players until the summer of 1932, after his graduation from Princeton. See Houghton 1951, supra.
  12. ^ Hougton 1951: p. 58.
  13. ^ Fonda 1981, p.60.
  14. ^ Fonda 1981, p.95.
  15. ^ Fonda 1981, p.102.
  16. ^ Rabin, Kenn. The Grapes of Wrath. FilmNight.org. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  17. ^ a b United States Postal Service. Henry Fonda joins U.S. Postal Service Legends of Hollywood Stamp Series. Press Release, May 20, 2005, Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  18. ^ Life Goes to a Party. From Life, August 5, 1940, at Tyrone-Power.com. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  19. ^ Fonda, A. Mark. Fonda Military. Fonda.org, October 23, 2006. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  20. ^ Biography for Henry Fonda. MovieTreasures.com. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
  21. ^ Fonda 1981, p.165.
  22. ^ Fonda 1981, p.250.
  23. ^ On Our Merry Way. 4alfalfa.com. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  24. ^ An Unscripted Life Starring Herself - New York Times
  25. ^ Amy Fonda 1953 - fonda.org, January 16, 2005. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  26. ^ Graziano Arici Archives / GA016526: Celebrities from '40's to '70's. Graziano Arici Photographer. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  27. ^ Araujo, Djalma. Sermon of September 27, 1998. First United Methodist Church of San Diego. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
  28. ^ Interview with Peter Fonda, NPR's "Fresh Air.

Bibliography

  • Collier, Peter (1991). The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty. Putnam. ISBN 0-399-13592-8. 
  • Fonda, Henry (1982). Fonda: My Life. Fulcrum Publishing. ISBN 0453004024. 
  • Fonda, Jane (2005). My Life So Far. Random House. ISBN 0375507108. 
  • Fonda, Peter (1998). Don't Tell Dad. Hyperion. ISBN 0786861118. 
  • Houghton, Norris (1951). But Not Forgotten: The Adventure of the University Players. New York: William Sloane Associates. 
  • James, John Douglas (1976). The MGM Story. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0517523892. 
  • Roberts, Allen and Max Goldstein (1984). Henry Fonda: A Biography. McFarland & Co.. ISBN 0899501141. 
  • Sweeney, Kevin (1992). Henry Fonda: A BioBibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313265712. 
  • Thomas, Tony (1990). The Films of Henry Fonda. Citadel Press. ISBN 0806511893. 

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