🎬 Movies Mates PEOPLE
Henry Fonda
Acting
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 performan…
Read full 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.
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Henry Fonda's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Henry Fonda for President
as Self (archive footage)
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Citizen Jane Fonda
as Self (archive footage)
Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth
as Self(archive footage)
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War
as Self (archive footage)
John Ford: The Man Who Invented America
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Spanish Western
as Self (archive footage)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
as Self (archive footage)
John Ford & Monument Valley
as Self (archive footage)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
as Self (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
as Self (archive footage)
Sacco and Vanzetti
as Prof. Tommy Turner (archive footage)
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'
as Self (archive footage)
The Wages of Sin
as Self (archive footage)
An Opera of Violence
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Something to Do with Death
as Self (archive footage)
The Making of Midway
as Self (archive footage)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
as (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line
as Self (archive footage)
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
as Self (archive footage)
La Classe américaine
as Hugues (archive footage)
Fonda on Fonda
as Self (archive footage)
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
as Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
as (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self (archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
as (archive footage)
Let Poland Be Poland
as Self
Summer Solstice
as Joshua
On Golden Pond
as Norman Thayer Jr.
The Greatest Man in the World
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Gideon's Trumpet
as Clarence Earl Gideon
The Oldest Living Graduate
as Col. J.C. Kincaid
Barn Burning
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Paul's Case
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Golden Honeymoon
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
as Self (archive footage)
The Sky Is Gray
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Rappaccini's Daughter
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Meteor
as The President
City on Fire
as Fire Chief Risley
No Poster
The Man Who Loved Bears
as Self
Wanda Nevada
as Old Prospector
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
as Self
Fedora
as President of the Academy
The Swarm
as Dr. Krim
The Great Smokey Roadblock
as Elegant John
Home to Stay
as Grandpa George
The Biggest Battle
as Generale Foster
Inside 'the Swarm'
as Self
Rollercoaster
as Simon Davenport
Soldier's Home
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Blue Hotel
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
The Displaced Person
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
I'm a Fool
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Tentacles
as Mr. Whitehead
Underground Doctors
as Self - Host
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)
Midway
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda
as Self
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
as Narrator
Clarence Darrow
as Clarence Darrow
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Last Four Days
as Kardinal Schuster
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
as Narrator (Voice)
The Music School
as Narrator (voice)
My Name Is Nobody
as Jack Beauregard
Ash Wednesday
as Mark Sawyer
The Alpha Caper
as Mark Forbes
The Serpent
as Alan Davies
The Red Pony
as Carl Tiflin
Sometimes a Great Notion
as Henry Stamper
The American West of John Ford
as Self - Narrator
Directed by John Ford
There Was a Crooked Man...
as Woodward W. Lopeman
The Cheyenne Social Club
as Harley Sullivan
Too Late the Hero
as Capt. John G Nolan
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
as John Steinbeck (voice)
Once Upon a Time in the West
as Frank
Pat Paulsen for President
as Narrator (voice)
The Boston Strangler
as John S. Bottomly
Yours, Mine and Ours
as Frank Beardsley
Madigan
as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell
Firecreek
as Bob Larkin
A Space to Grow
as Narrator
Stranger on the Run
as Ben Chamberlain
Welcome to Hard Times
as Mayor Will Blue
No Poster
To Save a Soldier
as Narrator (voice)
No Poster
Born to Buck
as Narrator
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
as Meredith
The Really Big Family
as Self - Narrator
Battle of the Bulge
as Lt Col Kiley
The Dirty Game
as Dimitri Koulov
In Harm's Way
as CINCPAC II
The Rounders
as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis
Sex and the Single Girl
as Frank Broderick
Fail Safe
as The President
The Best Man
as William Russell
Spencer's Mountain
as Clay Spencer
Hollywood: The Great Stars
as Self - Host
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
as Narrator / Host
How the West Was Won
as Jethro Stuart
The Longest Day
as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Advise & Consent
as Robert Leffingwell
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
as Self
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
as Self - Narrator
The Fabulous Fifties
as Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
The Man Who Understood Women
as Willie Bauche
Warlock
as Clay Blaisedell
Stage Struck
as Lewis Easton
The Tin Star
as Morgan Hickman
12 Angry Men
as Juror 8
The Wrong Man
as Manny Balestrero
War and Peace
as Pierre Bezukhov
Mister Roberts
as Lieutenant Roberts
The Petrified Forest
as Alan Squier
No Poster
The Real Miss America
as Narrator (voice)
Pictura
as Narrator (segment "Grant Wood") (voice)
Benjy
as Narrator (voice)
Jigsaw
as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
Fort Apache
as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
On Our Merry Way
as Lank Solsky
Daisy Kenyon
as Peter Lapham
The Fugitive
as A Fugitive
The Long Night
as Joe Adams
My Darling Clementine
as Wyatt Earp
Immortal Sergeant
as Corporal Colin Spence
The Ox-Bow Incident
as Gil Carter
The Battle of Midway
as Narrator (voice)
It's Everybody's War
as Narrator
The Big Street
as Little Pinks
Tales of Manhattan
as George
The Magnificent Dope
as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
Rings on Her Fingers
as John Wheeler
The Male Animal
as Tommy Turner
You Belong to Me
as Peter Kirk
Wild Geese Calling
as John Murdock
The Lady Eve
as Charles Pike
Chad Hanna
as Chad Hanna
The Return of Frank James
as Frank James
Lillian Russell
as Alexander Moore
The Grapes of Wrath
as Tom Joad
Drums Along the Mohawk
as Gilbert Martin
Young Mr. Lincoln
as Abraham Lincoln
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Thomas Watson
Let Us Live
as "Brick" Tennant
Jesse James
as Frank James
Breakdowns of 1938
as Self (archive footage)
The Mad Miss Manton
as Peter Ames
Spawn of the North
as Jim Kimmerlee
Blockade
as Marco
Jezebel
as Preston Dillard
I Met My Love Again
as Ives Towner
That Certain Woman
as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.
Slim
as Slim Kincaid
Wings of the Morning
as Kerry Gilfallen
You Only Live Once
as Eddie Taylor
Spendthrift
as Townsend Middleton
The Moon's Our Home
as Anthony Amberton / John Smith
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
as Dave Tolliver
I Dream Too Much
as Johnny Street
Way Down East
as David Bartlett
The Farmer Takes a Wife
as Dan Harrow
No Poster
Loving Against Time: the Making of On Golden Pond
as (archive footage)