Henry Fonda

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Birthday:

16 May 1905, Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

Birth Name:

Henry Jaynes Fonda

Height:

187 cm

Henry Jaynes Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, to Elma Herberta (Jaynes) and William Brace Fonda, who worked in advertising and printing. His recent ancestry included Dutch, English, and Scottish.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 transferred 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 Fonda and Peter Fonda, also to become screen stars (his granddaughter is actress Bridget Fonda). He is most remembered for his roles as Abe Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which he received an Academy Award Nomination, and more recently, Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond (1981), 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. Show less «

I don't want to just sell war bonds. I want to be a sailor.

I hope you won't be disappointed. You see I am not a very interesting person. I haven't ever done anything except be other people. I ain't r...Show more »

I hope you won't be disappointed. You see I am not a very interesting person. I haven't ever done anything except be other people. I ain't really Henry Fonda! Nobody could be. Nobody could have that much integrity. Show less «

I'm not that pristine pure, I guess I've broken as many rules as the next feller. But I reckon my face looks honest enough and if people buy...Show more »

I'm not that pristine pure, I guess I've broken as many rules as the next feller. But I reckon my face looks honest enough and if people buy it, Hallelujah. Show less «

Baby it out. That's an old marble shooter's expression for approaching your target cautiosly instead of trying to take it out with one shot.

[about director Sergio Leone] Next to Clint Eastwood's father, he personally had done more for 'Clint Eastwood' than anyone else."

[speaking in 1978] I guess I go overboard to avoid taking credit for the image I have. That's why it's easier to live with myself. I don't f...Show more »

[speaking in 1978] I guess I go overboard to avoid taking credit for the image I have. That's why it's easier to live with myself. I don't feel I'm totally a man of integrity. Show less «

If there is something in my eyes, a kind of honesty in the face, then I guess you could say that's the man I'd like to be, the man I want to...Show more »

If there is something in my eyes, a kind of honesty in the face, then I guess you could say that's the man I'd like to be, the man I want to be. Show less «

I look like my father. To this day, when I walk past a mirror and see my reflection in it, my first impression is: That's my father. There i...Show more »

I look like my father. To this day, when I walk past a mirror and see my reflection in it, my first impression is: That's my father. There is a strong Fonda look. Show less «

[on Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, 1976] "I didn't help or discourage them or lead them by the hand. I'm not trying to set myself up as a good ...Show more »

[on Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, 1976] "I didn't help or discourage them or lead them by the hand. I'm not trying to set myself up as a good father, because I wasn't a good father. But I think I knew instinctively that if they did make it, they would like to know they'd done it on their own. I recognise all the problems my children have had, and I don't claim any credit for what they've become. They've become what they are in spite of me." Show less «

I can't articulate about the Method because I never studied it. I don't mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about ...Show more »

I can't articulate about the Method because I never studied it. I don't mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about it. I don't know what the Method is and I don't care what the Method is. Everybody's got a method. Everybody can't articulate about their method, and I can't, if I have a method - and Jane sometimes says that I use the Method, that is, the capital letter Method, without being aware of it. Maybe I do, it doesn't matter. Show less «

I've been close to Bette Davis for thirty-eight years - and I have the cigarette burns to prove it.

[on director John Ford] It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say...Show more »

[on director John Ford] It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say. Show less «

I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio.

[on John Ford] He had instinctively a beautiful eye for the camera. But he was also an egomaniac.

[on John Ford] He was so egomaniacal. He would never rehearse, didn't want to talk about a part. If an actor started to ask questions he'd e...Show more »

[on John Ford] He was so egomaniacal. He would never rehearse, didn't want to talk about a part. If an actor started to ask questions he'd either take those pages and tear them out of the script or insult him in an awful way. He loved getting his shot on the first take, which for him meant it was fresh. He would print the first take -- even if it wasn't any good. Show less «

[on War and Peace (1956) and referring to author of book Leo Tolstoy] When I first agreed to do it, the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was fine, b...Show more »

[on War and Peace (1956) and referring to author of book Leo Tolstoy] When I first agreed to do it, the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was fine, but what happened? King Vidor used to go home nights with his wife and rewrite it. All the genius of Tolstoy went out the window. Show less «

Money must be, I guess, what first took me to Hollywood. When I first came out, I certainly had NO ambition to make pictures.

I don't really like myself. Never did. People mix me up with the characters I play. I'm not a great guy like Doug Roberts [in 'Mister Robert...Show more »

I don't really like myself. Never did. People mix me up with the characters I play. I'm not a great guy like Doug Roberts [in 'Mister Roberts']. I'd like to be but I'm not. Show less «

[on stage acting] Anyone who gives the same performance he gave on opening night is not doing a good job. Unless a performance is growing co...Show more »

[on stage acting] Anyone who gives the same performance he gave on opening night is not doing a good job. Unless a performance is growing constantly, unless the actor is finding new insights into the character, he must grow stale. Show less «

[on the producers of "War and Peace"] Their idea of Pierre was that he look as much like Rock Hudson as possible.

[on Marlon Brando] I don't think there's anybody better when he wants to be good.

At a roast for Bette Davis, after many references to her chain smoking, Fonda said we really didn't mean to burn down the sets on Jezebel, b...Show more »

At a roast for Bette Davis, after many references to her chain smoking, Fonda said we really didn't mean to burn down the sets on Jezebel, but there was Bette and those damned cigarettes, which resulted in uproarious laughter. Show less «

The beat actors do not let the wheels show.