Henry Jaynes Fonda (
May 16,
1905 –
August 12,
1982) was an
American Academy Award-winning
film and
stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle,
naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of
Method acting.
Fonda made his mark early as a
Broadway actor, and made his
Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda's career gained momentum after his
Academy Award-nominated performance as
Tom Joad in 1940s
The Grapes of Wrath, an
adaptation of
John Steinbeck's novel about an
Oklahoma family who moved west during the
Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as
The Ox-Bow Incident,
Mister Roberts, and
12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved toward both more challenging, darker epics as
Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West (portraying a villain who kills, among others, a child and a crippled person) and lighter roles in family comedies like
Yours, Mine and Ours with
Lucille Ball.
Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter
Jane Fonda, son
Peter Fonda, granddaughter
Bridget Fonda, and grandson
Troy Garity; his family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth
Greatest Male Star of All Time by the
American Film Institute.
