Biography for
Henry Fonda

Birth name
Henry Jaynes Fonda
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Nickname
One-Take Fonda
Hank
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Height

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Mini biography
Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, Henry Fonda started his acting debut with the Omaha Community Playhouse, a local amateur theater troupe directed by Dorothy Brando. He moved to the Cape Cod University Players and later Broadway, New York to expand his theatrical career from 1926 to 1934. His first major roles in Broadway include "New Faces of America" and "The Farmer Takes a Wife". The latter play was transfered to the screen in 1935 and became the start-up of Fonda's lifelong Hollywood career. The following year he married Frances Seymour Fonda with whom he had two children: Jane and Peter Fonda also to become screen stars. He is most remembered for his roles as Abe Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which he received an Academy Award Nomination, and more recently, Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond (1981), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1982. Henry Fonda is considered one of Hollywood's old-time legends and was friend and contemporary of James Stewart, John Ford and Joshua Logan. His movie career which spanned almost 50 years is completed by a notable presence in American theater and television.


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IMDb mini-biography by
Laurence Dang <ldang@san-jose.ate.slb.com>
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Spouse
Shirley Fonda (3 December 1965 - 12 August 1982) (his death)
Afdera Franchetti (March 1957 - January 1961) (divorced)
Susan Blanchard (28 December 1950 - May 1956) (divorced) 1 child
Frances Seymour Brokaw (16 September 1936 - 14 April 1950) (her death) 2 children
Margaret Sullavan (25 December 1931 - 1932) (divorced)

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Trade mark
Noticeable for his "cat-like" walk, especially in westerns: moving at a slow but clock-like tempo, throwing forward one feet at time, while letting the arms dangle loosely at his sides.


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Trivia
The Fonda family name comes from Spain, by way of the Netherlands.

Ranked #95 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Father of Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.

Studied acting with 'Dorothy Brando', mother of Marlon Brando.

Tony Award for "Mister Roberts" in the title role. [1948]

Eagle Scout and ScoutMaster (youth and early adulthood).

Grandfather of Bridget Fonda, Justin Fonda and Troy Garity.

During a Barbara Walters interview, Jane Fonda claimed that her father, Henry Fonda was deeply in love with Lucille Ball and that the two were "very close" during the filming of "Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)".

Hobby was making model airplanes and kites.

Grandfather of Vanessa Vadim, father-in-law of Roger Vadim.

Father-in-law of Tom Hayden.

His last film was also Myrna Loy's.

Fonda's ancestors came from Genoa, Italy and fled to the Netherlands around 1400. Among the early Dutch settlers in America, they established a still-thriving small town in upstate New York named Fonda in the early 1600. Henry Fonda's paternal grandparents moved to Nebraska in the 1800.

Father-in-law of Ted Turner.

The oldest person ever to win a Best Actor oscar (He was 76 at the time).

Was good friends with James Stewart.

Fonda, who periodically returned to the legitimate stage throughout his career ("Mister Roberts," "Critic's Choice," "First Monday in October"), missed out on the chance to create the role of George in the original Broadway production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" when his agent rejected the script out of hand, without consulting Fonda. The agent gave as his reason the assertion that, "you don't want to be in a play about four people yelling at each other all the time." Fonda, who was an admirer of playwright Edward Albee's talents, was furious. It didn't help matters when old friends like Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, or even his daughter Jane, told him that they saw the play in New York and couldn't picture anyone but Fonda in the lead. Finally seeing the show himself, Fonda was duly impressed by Arthur Hill's performance in the role, and conceded that he couldn't have played the part any better.

Was known as a ladies' man in Hollywood, having been involved in affairs with many actresses.

Step-daughter, Pan, with Frances Brokaw

Daughter, Amy, with Susan Blanchard.

In spite of his kind, heroic, honest screen persona, he was often described as being cold, aloof and frequently angry off-screen.

A friendship and collaboration of nearly 20 years was ended when director John Ford sucker-punched him while making "Mister Roberts."

The Fonda family was acquainted with Marlon Brando's family, as they both lived in Omaha, NE, although the two very different actors never knew each other from there because Fonda was much older. In fact, when the teenaged Brando started out as an actor, he did so in the shadow of Fonda, who was the most famous person from Omaha at that point.

Was twice a roommate and a very close friend of James Stewart. They met and shared a room at Summer Stock when the two were both struggling young actors in the early 1930s. Stewart went out to Hollywood a little before Fonda did and when Fonda moved out there he shared Stewart's home, where they both gained reputations as ladies' men. After Stewart got married and Fonda had kids, the more mellow buddies still hung out, usually spending time building model airplanes.

He was voted the 29th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Though a Democrat for most of his life, he was once a registered Republican, according to his son Peter in his autobiography "Don't Tell Dad: A Memoir" (1999). Peter believes that Henry's liberalism caused him to be "gray-listed" during the early 1950s, when he experienced a six-year layoff from films.

Won Broadway's 1948 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Mister Roberts" in the title role -- an award shared with Paul Kelly for "Command Decision" and Basil Rathbone for "The Heinres." He also won a second, Special Tony in 1979, and was additionally nominated for Broadway's 1975 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "Clarence Darrow."

He was voted the 10th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.

Named the #6 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute