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, Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination, and more recently, Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond, 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.


The Longest Day (1962): $30,000
Fort Apache (1948): $110,000

Ranked #95 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Earned the rank of Life Scout and became a scout master as an adult. During a Barbara Walters interview, Jane Fonda claimed that her father was deeply in love with Lucille Ball and that the two were "very close" during the filming of Yours, Mine and Ours (1968). His last film was also Myrna Loy's. At 76, he was the oldest person to win a best actor Oscar. Was known as a ladies' man in Hollywood, having been involved in affairs with many actresses. A friendship and collaboration of nearly 20 years was ended when director John Ford sucker-punched him while making Mister Roberts (1955). Was twice a roommate and a very close friend of James Stewart. They met and shared a room when the two were both struggling young actors in the early 1930s. Stewart went to Hollywood shortly before Fonda. When Fonda arrived he shared Stewart's home, where they both gained reputations as ladies' men. After both married and had kids, the more mellow buddies still hung out, usually spending time building model airplanes. Though a Democrat for most of his life, Fonda was once a registered Republican, according to his son Peter Fonda 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. He was voted the 10th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued in his honor on 20 May 2005. He and his daughter Jane Fonda were the first father-daughter couple to be Oscar-nominated the same year (1982). Named Father of The Year 1963 by the Father's Day/Mother's Day Council, Inc. Fonda, who played the second Commander in Chief-Pacific (CINCPAC II) in In Harm's Way (1965), was actually a naval veteran of World War II who served in the Pacific Theater. After making The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Fonda enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, "I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio." He served in the Navy for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee; later, Fonda was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2) in Air Combat Intelligence. For his service in the Central Pacific, he won the Bronze Star, the fourth highest award for bravery or meritorious service in conflict with the enemy. Three films of his are on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are: On Golden Pond (1981) at #45, 12 Angry Men (1957) at #42, and The Grapes of Wrath (1940) at #7. The birth of his daughter Jane Fonda was the cause of some interruptions during his filming of Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis. Nearly fell out with his close friend James Stewart in an argument over blacklisting in the spring of 1947. It happened shortly after Fonda joined Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and John Huston in signing an open letter to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, suggesting it end its investigations of Communism involvement in the film industry. According to Stewart, the argument was "long and pretty heated" and ended only when the two men realized they were jeopardizing so many years of friendship. Soon afterward, Fonda moved to New York, not returning to Hollywood until 1955. Although part of the reason for his extended stay in the East was his starring role in Mister Roberts on Broadway, he also confided to friends that he couldn't tolerate the political climate in Southern California during those years. Jane Fonda admits she never got her father to say exactly what was said during the argument with Stewart. "I know it was definitely about the House Unamerican Activities Committee and what became known as McCarthyism later on," she recalled. "And it's true that their friendship really almost ended over that. That was why, after they had cooled down, they decided they would never again talk politics when they were together. But since they were agreeing to be so close-mouthed with one another, they were hardly going to start opening up to other people.". Was good friends with John Wayne from the time they were part of the director John Ford's stock company. Henry's son, Peter Fonda, in his autobiography, said that Henry had some trouble with the Duke and fellow Ford film co-star Ward Bond over politics, as the two were definitely to his father's right. Peter said that the Duke and Bond were wonderful with him and very warm, in contrast to his father, who was rather cold. Henry would drift away from the Ford stock company, and his relationship with the great director would end on the set of Mister Roberts (1955) when he objected to Ford's direction of the film. Ford punched Fonda and had to be replaced. He was one of the most active, and most vocal, liberal Democrats in Hollywood along with Robert Ryan and Gregory Peck. He once said that President Ronald Reagan made him "physically ill", and that he "couldn't stomach any of the Republicans, most of all Richard Nixon.". Ranked #6 as AFI's top male screen legends. Considered for the leading role of "Ladri di biciclette" (1948). Fonda told his third wife Susan Blanchard to stay away from Ward Bond, whose ultra-conservative views and active support for McCarthyism he despised. Appeared in three movies based exclusively on World War II battles. The Longest Day (1962), Battle of the Bulge (1965) and Midway (1976). With the exception of a $200,000 bequest to daughter Amy, he left his entire estate to his 5th wife Shirlee Adams. He left a clause in his will requesting that there be no funeral or memorial service. Awarded "Father of The Year" in 1963 by the Father's Day Mother's Day Council, Inc.