Henry Fonda facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Henry Fonda
Fonda in Warlock (1959)
Born	Henry Jaynes Fonda (1905-05-16)May 16, 1905 Grand Island, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	August 12, 1982(1982-08-12) (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1928–1981
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Margaret Sullavan ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1933)​ Frances Seymour Brokaw ​ ​ (m. 1936; died 1950)​ Susan Blanchard ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1956)​ Afdera Franchetti ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1961)​ Shirlee Mae Adams ​ (m. 1965)​
Children	3, including Jane and Peter
Relatives	Bridget Fonda (paternal granddaughter) Troy Garity (maternal grandson)

Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. His career lasted fifty years on Broadway and in Hollywood. He acted in several films considered to be classics. Fonda was the patriarch of a family of actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity. In 1999, he was named the sixth-Greatest Male Screen Legends of the Classic Hollywood Era (stars with a film debut by 1950) by the American Film Institute.

Family history and early life

Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, on May 16, 1905, Henry Jaynes Fonda was the son of printer William Brace Fonda, and his wife, Herberta (Jaynes). The family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1906. He is descended from the family that founded Fonda, New York, in the mid-1600s. By 1888, many of their descendants had moved to Nebraska.

Fonda was a bashful, short boy who tended to avoid girls, except his sisters, and was a good skater, swimmer, and runner. He also enjoyed drawing. He worked part-time in his father's print plant and thought he may become a journalist someday. Later, he worked after school for the phone company. Fonda was active in the Boy Scouts of America. By his senior year in high school (12th grade), Fonda had grown to more than six feet (1.8m) tall, but remained shy. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in journalism, but did not graduate. Despite having a religious background, he later became an agnostic.

Career

At age 20, Fonda started his acting career at the Omaha Community Playhouse. He enjoyed acting because it allowed him to be someone else rather than himself. Fonda decided to quit his job and go east in 1928 to seek his fortune. He had a short career in Massachusetts and then moved to New York City, where he became roommates with James Stewart, who is well-known as "Jimmy." The two men got along well as long as they did not discuss politics while they honed their skills on Broadway. Fonda appeared in theatrical productions from 1926 to 1934.

Fonda in Jezebel

Fonda's first Hollywood film was in 1935. He quickly rose to stardom with performances in films like Jezebel (1938), Jesse James (1939), and Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). He also played Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Suddenly, he was making $3,000 each week ($64,034 in 2025) and dining with Hollywood stars. The New York Times announced him as "Henry Fonda, the most likable of the new crop of romantic juveniles."

Fonda in Navy uniform

Fonda enlisted in the United States Navy to fight in World War II in August 1942. He served for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee. He was later a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence in the Central Pacific. For that, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Navy Presidential Unit Citation. Fonda was discharged from active duty and transferred to the Naval Reserve, where he served from 1945-1948.

After the war, Fonda took a break from movies and attended Hollywood parties and enjoyed civilian life. Beginning in 1946, however, Henry returned to acting. He did seven films after the war and moved back to acting in plays on Broadway.

On Broadway, he starred as Mister Roberts in the play Mister Roberts, a comedy about the U.S. Navy, during World War II. After success on Broadway and an eight-year absence from films, he starred in the same role in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts.

After Mr. Roberts, Fonda played Pierre Bezukhov in the film made from Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace (1956). He continued acting in war and Western films. In 1957, he produced one film in which he acted: 12 Angry Men. He vowed never to produce another film and to continue acting.

Fonda won an Academy Award for his work with Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond.

Despite health problems as he was approaching his seventies, Fonda continued to work in theater, television, and film through the 1970s. He finished the 1970s with a series of unsuccessful films. As his health declined and he took longer breaks between films, critics began to talk about the value in his work. He 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.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Jane Fonda, Henry Fonda, and Peter Fonda in the 1950s

Fonda was married five times and had three children:

1. Margaret Sullivan (1931-1933), an actress
2. Frances Seymour Brokaw (1936-1950), the widow of a wealthy industrialist, George Tuttle Brokaw: she had a daughter from her previous marriage, and the couple had two children, Jane (b. 1937) and Peter (1940–2019), both of whom became successful actors.
3. Susan Blanchard (1950-1956): they adopted a daughter, Amy Fishman (born 1953).
4. Afdera Franchetti (1957-1961), an Italian baroness
5. Shirlee Mae Adams (1965-his death in 1982)

Fonda's relationship with his children has been described as "emotionally distant." In Peter Fonda's 1998 autobiography Don't Tell Dad (1998), he described how he was never sure how his father felt about him. His daughter Jane rejected her father's friendships with Republican actors such as John Wayne and James Stewart. Their relationship became extremely strained as Jane Fonda became a left-wing activist. She was frustrated that her father's acting talent seemed effortless.

Politics

Fonda was initially a registered Republican but switched parties. He became a supporter of the Democratic Party and "an admirer" of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1960 Fonda appeared in a campaign commercial for presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. He supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 United States presidential election, and Ted Kennedy in the 1980 Democratic Party primaries.

Filmography

From the beginning of his career in 1935 through his last projects in 1981, Fonda appeared in 106 films, television programs, and shorts. Through the course of his career, he appeared in many films, including classics such as 12 Angry Men and The Ox-Bow Incident. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath and won for his part in 1981's On Golden Pond. Fonda made his mark in Westerns (which included his most villainous role as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West) and war films, and made frequent appearances in both television and foreign productions late in his career.

Death and legacy

Fonda died at his Los Angeles home on August 12, 1982, from heart disease. Fonda's wife, Shirlee, his daughter Jane, and his son Peter were at his side that day. He suffered from prostate cancer, but this did not directly cause his death.

Fonda requested that no funeral be held, and his body was cremated. President Ronald Reagan, a former actor himself, hailed Fonda as "a true professional dedicated to excellence in his craft. He graced the screen with a sincerity and accuracy which made him a legend."

The home where Fonda was born in 1905 is preserved at The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Fonda is widely recognized as one of the Hollywood greats of the classic era. On the centenary of his birth, May 16, 2005, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) honored Fonda with a marathon of his films. Also in May 2005, the United States Post Office released a 37-cent postage stamp with an artist's drawing of Fonda as part of their "Hollywood legends" series. The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, originally known as the Carter DeHaven Music Box, was named for the actor in 1985 by the Nederlander Organization.

Henry Fonda quotes

• "Without passion, you don't have energy; without energy, you have nothing."
• "I attribute my success to my ability to think positively and to work hard for what I want."
• "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."
• "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success."

Interesting facts about Henry Fonda

• Despite his successful acting career, Fonda initially struggled with stage fright.
• Henry Fonda acted in over 100 films.
• In 1938, Henry Fonda played Abraham Lincoln in the biographical film Young Mr. Lincoln.
• He loved photography.
• Fonda’s daughter, Jane Fonda, also became an actress.
• In 1976, Henry Fonda was presented with the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship Award, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the world of entertainment.
• Henry Fonda received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• He was known for his deep, resonating voice.
• In “On Golden Pond,” Henry Fonda worked alongside the legendary actress Katharine Hepburn.
• Henry Fonda was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States, recognizing his outstanding contribution to the arts.

Theatre

Broadway stage performances

• The Game of Love and Death (November 1929 – January 1930)
• I Loved You, Wednesday (October – December 1932)
• New Faces of 1934 (Revue; March – July 1934)
• The Farmer Takes a Wife (October 1934 – January 1935)
• Blow Ye Winds (September – October 1937)
• Mister Roberts (February 1948 – January 1951)
• Point of No Return (December 1951 – November 1952)
• The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (January 1954 – January 1955)
• Two for the Seesaw (January 1958 – October 1959)
• Silent Night, Lonely Night (December 1959 – March 1960)
• Critic's Choice (December 1960 – May 1961)
• A Gift of Time (February – May 1962)
• Generation (October 1965 – June 1966)
• Our Town (November – December 1969)
• Clarence Darrow (March – April 1974; March 1975)
• First Monday in October (October – December 1978)

Awards and nominations

Images for kids

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  Fonda in The Lady Eve

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  Fonda after enlisting in the United States Navy in November 1942

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  Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and Fonda in a live 1955 color television version of The Petrified Forest

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  Fonda in Mister Roberts

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  Fonda in How the West Was Won

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  Fonda with his daughter Jane, 1943

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  Fonda at son Peter's 1961 wedding to Susan Brewer

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  Janet Blair and Fonda in The Smith Family, 1971

See also

In Spanish: Henry Fonda para niños