Skip to main content
Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Actor · 1905 – 1982 · Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

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.

Movies24

  • Movie8.6

    12 Angry Men

    1957 · 10K votes

  • Movie8.3

    C'era una volta il West

    Once Upon a Time in the West

    1968 · 5.1K votes

  • Movie7.6

    The Longest Day

    1962 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie6.6

    Sex and the Single Girl

    1964 · 83 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Midway

    1976 · 341 votes

  • Movie6.6

    War and Peace

    1956 · 281 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Il mio nome è Nessuno

    My Name Is Nobody

    1973 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.8

    The Grapes of Wrath

    1940 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.3

    On Golden Pond

    1981 · 527 votes

  • Movie7.0

    How the West Was Won

    1962 · 514 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Wrong Man

    1956 · 628 votes

  • Movie6.6

    In Harm's Way

    1965 · 167 votes

  • Movie7.5

    My Darling Clementine

    1946 · 501 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Fort Apache

    1948 · 425 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Battle of the Bulge

    1965 · 291 votes

  • Movie7.8

    Fail Safe

    1964 · 498 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Tin Star

    1957 · 149 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Spencer's Mountain

    1963 · 42 votes

  • Movie7.7

    The Ox-Bow Incident

    1943 · 439 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Yours, Mine and Ours

    1968 · 167 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Warlock

    1959 · 176 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Advise & Consent

    1962 · 127 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Jezebel

    1938 · 225 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Mister Roberts

    1955 · 185 votes

Series23

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV7.0

    Golden Globe Awards

    1944 · 20 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Dick Cavett Show

    1968 · 22 votes

  • TV
  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV9.5

    Spécial cinéma

    1974 · 2 votes

  • TV6.2

    The Doris Day Show

    1968 · 11 votes

  • TV7.0

    Dinah!

    1974 · 4 votes

  • TV7.8

    All in the Family

    1971 · 187 votes

  • TV6.2

    The Steve Allen Show

    1956 · 6 votes

  • TV5.1

    Film '72

    1971 · 8 votes

  • TV9.2

    People's Choice Awards

    1975 · 6 votes

  • TV5.4
  • TV7.2

    Family

    1976 · 16 votes

  • TV7.4
  • TV6.5

    The Deputy

    1959 · 6 votes

  • TV8.0

    V.I.P. Schaukel

    1971 · 3 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV8.0
  • TV5.5

    The Bill Cosby Show

    1969 · 19 votes