Henry Fonda Actor Known for Diverse Film Roles 1905-1982

I haven’t ever done anything except be other people. I ain’t really Henry Fonda! Nobody could be. Nobody could have that much integrity.
—Henry FONDA

Hronically, Henry Fonda was a man who hated guns and wasn’t keen on horses, but he provided excellent portrayals of heroes in numerous western films. Tall and handsome, he gained a devoted following not only from his roles in westerns but from his frequent parts as a quiet, sincere man who is undaunted in his quest to do what’s right and who is highly respected as a result. While these may have been his most frequent roles, Fonda’s deft skill and adaptability had such a broad scope that he was given many other diverse parts as well, proving himself much more than a soft-spoken hero.
Born on May 16, 1905, in Grand Island, Nebraska, Fonda pursued a degree in journalism at the University of Minnesota but then left and started working in an office. He recognized his acting gift when he took a role in an amateur production of the Omaha Community Players. From there he went on to act in summer performances and then joined with theater students in a group—called the Cape Cod University Players—that included Joshua Logan, who would become a famed director, and the budding actor and actress, respectively, Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Suilavan. Stewart would become Fonda’s longtime close friend, and Sullivan would be his wife from 1931 to 1933. Stewart and Fonda made it to Broadway in the early 1930s, and relatively quickly Fonda proved his skill in the show The Farmer Takes a Wife. The fine performance brought him not only his first screen appearance in the show’s movie version but also a contract with film producer Walter Wanger in 1934. In 1936 Fonda married Frances Brokaw, and the two would have two children, Jane and Peter, both of whom would become known in the film world as well.
By the end of the 1930s Fonda was already a key star. He acted in a number of the first Technicolor films: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), The Wings of the Morning (1938), and Jesse James (1938). He played in Jezebel (1938), which received notable attention and brought an Oscar for Bette Davis. It was in these still early years that Fonda started working with famed directot John Ford, who cast him in the lead role in YoungMr. Lincoln (1939), which turned out to be one of Fondas finest performances. It was followed in 1940 by yet another stunning Fonda portrayal, Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. To get the part, Fonda had to sign a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox, a move he didn’t want to make because of his disappointment with many of the parts they had given him up until then. The Grapes of Wrath was also one of Ford’s films and was masterfully directed and adapted from the John Steinbeck classic novel, with an all-around strong cast. It brought Fonda his first Oscar nomination, once again for an undaunted, albeit destitute, hero. Shortly after, he played successfully in comedies, then returned to a western with The Ox^Box Incident (1943), in which he turned in another of his most memorable performances.
Fonda’s annoying contract with Fox was somewhat shortened by World War II. He served in the navy, garnering a Bronze Star and Presidential citation. Upon returning to the States after his service, Fonda appeared in yet another powerful Ford western, My Darling Clementine (1946), as well as in a few more films. After the successful fort Apache (1948), which was also directed by Ford and included actor John Wayne, Fonda turned his back on movieland for a number of years, returning to the East Coast’s Broadway.
Fonda did well on the live stage once again, especially in his roles in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial and Mister Roberts. Seeing the success of the latter, Warner Brothers planned its movie version, and Ford convinced the studio executives that Fonda should play its lead as well. It appeared in 1955. Fonda stuck with films for a while, next starring in War and Peace (1956), an excessive extravaganza that was a near failure, although Fonda performed well. In 1957 he coproduced and starred in another film in a role that fans would remember him for in years to come—a key member of a disparate group of jurors in Twelve Angry Men. That same year he moved to a new genre with director Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in The Wrong Man. While a different type of movie for Fonda, his character still was one driven by a sense of justice.
From then on, Fonda stayed active both in film and on stage and did some television shows as well. The television work included a special on Clarence Darrow and a show that Fonda not only starred in but also produced, The Deputy (1959-1961). He was a guest star on dozens of shows and the narrator of many films and television shows.
In die 1960s Fonda gave exceptional performances in films that focused on politics, harkening back to his early Lincoln portrayal, The Rest Man and Fail Safe, both released rn 1964. He appeared in many other movies during this time, but most were either small parts or leads that offered little challenge. He said he took these parts to keep busy and make money. In 1974 the American Civil Liberties Union honored Henry Fonda, and he starred in the one-man show Clarence Darrow. The show was forced to close when he collapsed. Fonda was rushed to the hospital and given a pacemaker. Not to be deterred, the actor
later performed the play in Los Angeles, where it was taped for television. Fonda’s performance in the 1 977 play First Monday in October, which opened in Los Angeles, was so appreciated that he also played rhe part on Broadway and in Chicago.
In 1978 Fonda received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. He was also honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1979 and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1981 for his exceptional body of work. His autobiography appeared in the same year, but the actor was not ready to just look back on a career. In 1981 he appeared in the film On Golden Pond with his daughter, Jane, who was also its producer, and the two healed some wounds between them. For that performance Fonda won the Academy Award for Best Actor, at age seventy-six the oldest recipient in that category to date. Jane Fonda accepted the golden statue for her father, who was too sick to attend. He died in Los Angeles only a few months later, in August 1982.

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