
Henry Fonda
Known for Acting · 199 credits
- Born
- 1905-05-16
- Died
- 1982-08-12
- Place of birth
- Grand Island, Nebraska, USA
- Also known as
- Hank Fonda · Henry Jaynes Fonda · One-Take Fonda · هنری فوندا
Biography
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.
Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self / Self (archive footage)

The Mike Douglas Show
1961
as Self

Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient

Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Host / Presenter / Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee / Self - Co-Host / Special Award Recipient / Self (archive footage)

The Merv Griffin Show
1962
as Self

12 Angry Men
1957
as Juror 8
TV Shows (32)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self / Self (archive footage)

The Mike Douglas Show
1961
as Self

Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient

Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Host / Presenter / Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee / Self - Co-Host / Special Award Recipient / Self (archive footage)

The Merv Griffin Show
1962
as Self

All in the Family
1971
as Self

What's My Line?
1950
as Self - Mystery Guest

The Dick Cavett Show
1968
as Self - Guest

People's Choice Awards
1975
as Self

The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
as Self

Spécial cinéma
1974
as Self (archive footage)

The Steve Allen Show
1956
as Self

Dinah!
1974
as Self

Family
1976
as James Lawrence
Film '72
1971
as Self

The Deputy
1959
as Marshal Simon Fry

The Doris Day Show
1968
as Henry Fonda (uncredited)

The Bill Cosby Show
1969
as Joshua Richards

The Kennedy Center Honors
1978
as Self
V.I.P. Schaukel
1971
as Self

Roots: The Next Generations
1979
as Colonel Frederick Warner

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
1973
as Self

The Bell Telephone Hour
1959
as Self - Host

The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
as Self

Cadet Rousselle
1971
as Self

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Clarence Earl Gideon

Captains and the Kings
1976
as Sen. Enfield Bassett

General Electric Theater
1953
as Emmett Kelly

The Star and the Story
1955
as Self - Host

The Smith Family
1971
as Chad Smith
Laugh-In
1977
as Guest Performer / Guest Performer (uncredited)

The World About Us
1967
as Narrator
Movies (167)

12 Angry Men
1957
as Juror 8

Once Upon a Time in the West
1968
as Frank

Midway
1976
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz

The Longest Day
1962
as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

My Name Is Nobody
1973
as Jack Beauregard

How the West Was Won
1962
as Jethro Stuart

War and Peace
1956
as Pierre Bezukhov

In Harm's Way
1965
as CINCPAC II

Fort Apache
1948
as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

The Grapes of Wrath
1940
as Tom Joad

Battle of the Bulge
1965
as Lt Col Kiley

On Golden Pond
1981
as Norman Thayer Jr.

Warlock
1959
as Clay Blaisedell

Fail Safe
1964
as The President

Jezebel
1938
as Preston Dillard

Mister Roberts
1955
as Lieutenant Roberts

The Swarm
1978
as Dr. Walter Krim

My Darling Clementine
1946
as Wyatt Earp

Sex and the Single Girl
1964
as Frank Broderick

Jesse James
1939
as Frank James

Yours, Mine and Ours
1968
as Frank Beardsley

The Boston Strangler
1968
as John S. Bottomly

The Tin Star
1957
as Morgan Hickman

Spencer's Mountain
1963
as Clay Spencer

Meteor
1979
as The President

Tentacles
1977
as Mr. Whitehead

Firecreek
1968
as Bob Larkin

The Return of Frank James
1940
as Frank James

The Wrong Man
1956
as Manny Balestrero

Fedora
1978
as President of the Academy

The Lady Eve
1941
as Charles Pike

The Ox-Bow Incident
1943
as Gil Carter

There Was a Crooked Man...
1970
as Woodward W. Lopeman

Rollercoaster
1977
as Simon Davenport

Drums Along the Mohawk
1939
as Gilbert Martin

The Rounders
1965
as Marion 'Howdy' Lewis

Too Late the Hero
1970
as Capt. John G Nolan

The Serpent
1973
as Alan Davies

Spanish Western
2015
as Self (archive footage)

Sometimes a Great Notion
1971
as Henry Stamper

A Big Hand for the Little Lady
1966
as Meredith

La Classe américaine
1993
as Hugues (archive footage)

Madigan
1968
as Commissioner Anthony X. Russell

Advise & Consent
1962
as Robert Leffingwell

The Best Man
1964
as William Russell

City on Fire
1979
as Fire Chief Risley

Chad Hanna
1940
as Chad Hanna

Young Mr. Lincoln
1939
as Abraham Lincoln

Let Us Live
1939
as "Brick" Tennant

Gideon's Trumpet
1980
as Clarence Earl Gideon

Jay Sebring… Cutting to the Truth
2020
as Self(archive footage)

Directed by John Ford
1971

The Fugitive
1947
as A Fugitive

Tales of Manhattan
1942
as George

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991

Barn Burning
1980
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Stage Struck
1958
as Lewis Easton

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988
as Self (archive footage)

Bernice Bobs Her Hair
1976
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Way Down East
1935
as David Bartlett

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1936
as Dave Tolliver

The Long Night
1947
as Joe Adams

The Mad Miss Manton
1938
as Peter Ames

Jigsaw
1949
as Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)

The Battle of Midway
1942
as Narrator (voice)

The Big Street
1942
as Agustus 'Little Pinks' Pinkerton, II

The Cheyenne Social Club
1970
as Harley Sullivan

Wanda Nevada
1979
as Old Prospector

The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
1980
as Self (archive footage)

Soldier's Home
1977
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Henry Fonda: Hollywood's Quiet Hero
1997
as Self (archive footage)

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939
as Thomas Watson

You Only Live Once
1937
as Eddie Taylor

The Dirty Game
1965
as Dimitri Koulov

The Last Four Days
1974
as Kardinal Schuster

Spawn of the North
1938
as Jim Kimmerlee

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
1974
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

A Special Sesame Street Christmas
1978
as Self

An Opera of Violence
2003
as Self - Actor (archive footage)

Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
as (archive footage)

The Biggest Battle
1978
as Generale Foster

Welcome to Hard Times
1967
as Mayor Will Blue

Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961
as Self - Narrator

The Red Pony
1973
as Carl Tiflin

Daisy Kenyon
1947
as Peter Lapham

Stranger on the Run
1967
as Ben Chamberlain

The Petrified Forest
1955
as Alan Squier

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line
1997
as Self (archive footage)

That Certain Woman
1937
as Jack V. Merrick, Jr.

The Displaced Person
1977
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Rings on Her Fingers
1942
as John Wheeler

On Our Merry Way
1948
as Lank Solsky

The Magnificent Dope
1942
as Thadeus Winship 'Tad' Page
Born to Buck
1966
as Narrator

The Wages of Sin
2003
as Self (archive footage)

Citizen Jane Fonda
2020

The Great Smokey Roadblock
1978
as Elegant John

John Ford: The Man Who Invented America
2019
as Self - Actor (archive footage)

The Male Animal
1942
as Tommy Turner

The Music School
1974
as Narrator (voice)

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
2013
as Self (archive footage)

Henry James' The Jolly Corner
1975
as Narrator

The Alpha Caper
1973
as Mark Forbes

Benjy
1951
as Narrator (voice)

I Dream Too Much
1935
as Johnny Street

Ash Wednesday
1973
as Mark Sawyer

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
1980
as Self - Series Host (uncredited)

Immortal Sergeant
1943
as Corporal Colin Spence

The Farmer Takes a Wife
1935
as Dan Harrow

Wings of the Morning
1937
as Kerry Gilfallen

Breakdowns of 1938
1938
as Self (archive footage)

The Fabulous Fifties
1960
as Narrator (segment "Fifties Dead Sequence") (voice)
To Save a Soldier
1966
as Narrator (voice)

Revisiting 'Fail-Safe'
2000
as Self (archive footage)

Blockade
1938
as Marco

Inside 'the Swarm'
1978
as Self

Slim
1937
as Slim Kincaid

Clarence Darrow
1974
as Clarence Darrow

Fonda on Fonda
1992
as Self (archive footage)

The American West of John Ford
1971
as Self - Narrator
About 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 (… With 199 credits spanning from 1935 to 2025, Henry Fonda has appeared in 167 films and 32 TV shows.
Fans searching for Henry Fonda movies, Henry Fonda filmography, or the latest projects starring Henry Fonda can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Henry Fonda Movies
- 12 Angry Men (1957) — as Juror 8
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) — as Frank
- Midway (1976) — as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
- The Longest Day (1962) — as Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
- My Name Is Nobody (1973) — as Jack Beauregard
Where to Watch Henry Fonda Films
Most Henry Fonda movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Henry Fonda, check our movies catalogue and browse page.