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.
166 movies · 32 shows
Henry Fonda for President
2025·7.0
The Fondas: A Cinematic Dynasty
2023·10.0
Citizen Jane Fonda
2020·7.8
Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth
2020·7.5
'Fail-Safe' and the Cold War
2020·0.0
John Ford: The Man Who Invented America
2019·5.9
Spanish Western
2015·6.2
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
2013·7.7
John Ford & Monument Valley
2013·1.0
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Making '12 Angry Men'
2008·0.0
Jezebel: Legend of the South
2006·7.0
Sacco and Vanzetti
2006·7.0
Guilt Trip: Hitchcock and 'The Wrong Man'
2004·7.3
The Wages of Sin
2003·7.5
Something to Do with Death
2003·6.3
An Opera of Violence
2003·6.8
The Making of Midway
2001·9.0
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999·9.0
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line
1997·7.7
Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
1997·7.0
La Classe américaine
1993·7.6
Fonda on Fonda
1992·7.0
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991·8.0
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
1991·6.5
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990·8.5
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988·8.2
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984·9.0
Let Poland Be Poland
1982·0.0
Summer Solstice
1981·5.0
On Golden Pond
1981·7.3
The Greatest Man in the World
1981·7.0
Gideon's Trumpet
1980·6.4
The Oldest Living Graduate
1980·4.0
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
1980·6.0
Barn Burning
1980·5.4
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
1980·4.0
Paul's Case
1980·4.0
The Golden Honeymoon
1980·6.0
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
1980·4.0
Rappaccini's Daughter
1980·7.3
The Sky Is Gray
1980·7.0
Meteor
1979·5.2
City on Fire
1979·5.1
The Man Who Loved Bears
1979·4.0
Wanda Nevada
1979·5.8
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
1978·6.7
Fedora
1978·6.7
The Swarm
1978·5.1
The Great Smokey Roadblock
1978·5.7
Home to Stay
1978·5.3
The Biggest Battle
1978·4.7
Inside 'the Swarm'
1978·8.0
Rollercoaster
1977·6.0
Soldier's Home
1977·6.0
The Blue Hotel
1977·5.3
The Displaced Person
1977·7.0
I'm a Fool
1977·6.0
Tentacles
1977·4.6
Underground Doctors
1977·6.0
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1976·5.3
Midway
1976·6.6
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
1976·4.0
Parkinson: Meet Henry Fonda
1975·4.0
Henry James' The Jolly Corner
1975·6.5
Clarence Darrow
1974·9.5
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
1974·7.2
The Last Four Days
1974·6.3
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
1974·7.0
The Music School
1974·7.0
My Name Is Nobody
1973·7.3
Ash Wednesday
1973·5.5
The Alpha Caper
1973·6.0
The Serpent
1973·6.1
The Red Pony
1973·10.0
Sometimes a Great Notion
1971·6.9
The American West of John Ford
1971·6.4
Directed by John Ford
1971·7.0
There Was a Crooked Man...
1970·6.8
The Cheyenne Social Club
1970·6.4
Too Late the Hero
1970·6.4
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
1969·5.7
Once Upon a Time in the West
1968·8.3
Pat Paulsen for President
1968·4.0
The Boston Strangler
1968·6.7
Yours, Mine and Ours
1968·6.9
Madigan
1968·6.2
Firecreek
1968·6.3
A Space to Grow
1968·6.2
Stranger on the Run
1967·5.7
Welcome to Hard Times
1967·5.3
To Save a Soldier
1966·7.0
Born to Buck
1966·7.0
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
1966·7.1
The Really Big Family
1966·6.5
Battle of the Bulge
1965·6.9
The Dirty Game
1965·6.0
In Harm's Way
1965·6.6
The Rounders
1965·5.5
Sex and the Single Girl
1964·6.6
Fail Safe
1964·7.8
The Best Man
1964·7.3
Spencer's Mountain
1963·6.8
Hollywood: The Great Stars
1963·4.0
Hollywood: The Fabulous Era
1962·0.0
How the West Was Won
1962·7.0
The Longest Day
1962·7.6
Advise & Consent
1962·7.2
President Kennedy's Birthday Salute
1962·7.8
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961·4.4
The Fabulous Fifties
1960·6.0
The Man Who Understood Women
1959·3.9
Warlock
1959·6.8
Stage Struck
1958·6.0
The Tin Star
1957·7.0
12 Angry Men
1957·8.6
The Wrong Man
1956·7.1
War and Peace
1956·6.6
Mister Roberts
1955·7.0
The Petrified Forest
1955·6.8
The Real Miss America
1952·0.0
Pictura
1951·10.0
Benjy
1951·6.2
Jigsaw
1949·5.0
Fort Apache
1948·7.0
On Our Merry Way
1948·5.7
Daisy Kenyon
1947·6.6
The Fugitive
1947·6.0
The Long Night
1947·5.8
My Darling Clementine
1946·7.5
Immortal Sergeant
1943·6.1
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943·7.7
The Battle of Midway
1942·5.9
It's Everybody's War
1942·5.9
The Big Street
1942·5.8
Tales of Manhattan
1942·6.4
The Magnificent Dope
1942·7.3
Rings on Her Fingers
1942·6.8
The Male Animal
1942·4.5
You Belong to Me
1941·6.0
Wild Geese Calling
1941·6.5
The Lady Eve
1941·7.3
Chad Hanna
1940·7.3
The Return of Frank James
1940·6.3
Lillian Russell
1940·6.7
The Grapes of Wrath
1940·7.8
Drums Along the Mohawk
1939·6.5
Young Mr. Lincoln
1939·7.2
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939·6.3
Let Us Live
1939·6.8
Jesse James
1939·6.5
Breakdowns of 1938
1938·5.8
The Mad Miss Manton
1938·6.4
Spawn of the North
1938·6.1
Blockade
1938·5.8
Jezebel
1938·7.0
I Met My Love Again
1938·6.0
That Certain Woman
1937·5.6
Slim
1937·6.5
Wings of the Morning
1937·6.2
You Only Live Once
1937·7.1
Spendthrift
1936·6.0
The Moon's Our Home
1936·6.9
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1936·6.5
I Dream Too Much
1935·5.4
Way Down East
1935·4.3
The Farmer Takes a Wife
1935·6.2