Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

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.

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Movies starring Henry Fonda (166)

Henry Fonda for President (2025)

Self (Archive Footage)

The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty (2023)

Self - Actor (Archive Footage)

Spanish Western (2015)

Self (Archive Footage)

Sacco and Vanzetti (2006)

Prof. Tommy Turner (Archive Footage)

Something to Do with Death (2003)

Self (Archive Footage)

The Wages of Sin (2003)

Self (Archive Footage)

An Opera of Violence (2003)

Self - Actor (Archive Footage)

100 Years at the Movies (1994)

Self (Archive Footage)

La Classe américaine (1993)

Hugues (Archive Footage)

Fonda on Fonda (1992)

Self (Archive Footage)

On Golden Pond (1981)

Norman Thayer Jr.

The Greatest Man in the World (1981)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Gideon's Trumpet (1980)

Clarence Earl Gideon

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Barn Burning (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Paul's Case (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

The Golden Honeymoon (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Rappaccini's Daughter (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

The Sky Is Gray (1980)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Meteor (1979)

The President

City on Fire (1979)

Fire Chief Risley

Wanda Nevada (1979)

Old Prospector

Fedora (1978)

President Of The Academy

The Swarm (1978)

Dr. Walter Krim

Home to Stay (1978)

Grandpa George

Rollercoaster (1977)

Simon Davenport

Soldier's Home (1977)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

The Blue Hotel (1977)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

The Displaced Person (1977)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

I'm a Fool (1977)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Tentacles (1977)

Mr. Whitehead

Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976)

Self - Series Host (Uncredited)

Midway (1976)

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz

Clarence Darrow (1974)

Clarence Darrow

The Last Four Days (1974)

Kardinal Schuster

The Music School (1974)

Narrator (Voice)

Too Late the Hero (1970)

Capt. John G Nolan

Madigan (1968)

Commissioner Anthony X. Russell

To Save a Soldier (1966)

Narrator (Voice)

The Dirty Game (1965)

Dimitri Koulov

The Rounders (1965)

Marion 'Howdy' Lewis

Fail Safe (1964)

The President

The Best Man (1964)

William Russell

The Longest Day (1962)

Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Advise & Consent (1962)

Robert Leffingwell

The Fabulous Fifties (1960)

Narrator (Segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (Voice)

Warlock (1959)

Clay Blaisedell

The Tin Star (1957)

Morgan Hickman

The Wrong Man (1956)

Manny Balestrero

War and Peace (1956)

Pierre Bezukhov

Mister Roberts (1955)

Lieutenant Roberts

Pictura (1951)

Narrator (Segment "Grant Wood") (Voice)

Benjy (1951)

Narrator (Voice)

Jigsaw (1949)

Nightclub Waiter (Uncredited)

Fort Apache (1948)

Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

Immortal Sergeant (1943)

Corporal Colin Spence

The Magnificent Dope (1942)

Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page

Lillian Russell (1940)

Alexander Moore

Let Us Live (1939)

"Brick" Tennant

Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)

Self (Archive Footage)

Jezebel (1938)

Preston Dillard

That Certain Woman (1937)

Jack V. Merrick, Jr.

Slim (1937)

Slim Kincaid

Spendthrift (1936)

Townsend Middleton

The Moon's Our Home (1936)

Anthony Amberton / John Smith

Way Down East (1935)

David Bartlett

Movies Made by Henry Fonda (1)

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Same first name: Henry

Same surname: Fonda