Henry Fonda

Acclaimed actor Henry Fonda was born on May 16, 1905, in Grand Island, Nebraska. As a boy, Fonda was an active leader in the Boy Scouts of America. A journalism major at the University of Minnesota, Fonda did not graduate, but instead left the university to work in an office before pursuing his career in acting. In his spare time, Fonda acted with the Omaha Community Playhouse, alongside Marlon Brando’s mother. Eventually, Fonda turned pro in his early 20s, traveling with the Provincetown Players before joining New England-based ensemble, University Players Guild. Fonda made his Broadway debut in 1929, starring in The Game of Life and Death. He also worked behind-the-scenes on Broadway, serving as a set designer.

In 1931, Fonda married fellow thespian, Margaret Sullavan. Although the couple divorced two years later, they would remain life-long friends. In 1936, Fonda married Frances Ford Seymour, with whom he had two children, Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda. In 1950, Seymour committed suicide; and that same year, Fonda married Susan Blanchard, with whom he adopted a daughter, Amy. This marriage also did not last, and in 1957, Fonda wed Italian Countess Afdera Franchetti, in another short-term marriage. Fonda’s final marriage was to Shirlee Mae Adams, with whom he remained married to up until his death.

Despite the tumultuous nature of Fonda’s personal life, his professional career did take off, and went on to include such epic films as War and Peace (1956), co-starring Audrey Hepburn; and The Grapes of Wrath (1940), for which Fonda received his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Other stars with whom Fonda shared the silver screen were: Lucille Ball, James Stewart, and Paul Newman.

Fonda’s final film came in 1981, when he starred in On Golden Pond alongside his daughter, Jane Fonda, and Katharine Hepburn. For his performance in the film, Fonda finally won the Best Actor Oscar that had eluded him for so long; however, he was hospitalized at the time of the Oscar ceremony, and unable to accept the award in person. Just months later, on August 12, 1982, Fonda passed away at his Los Angeles home at the age of seventy-seven from heart disease. He also suffered from prostate cancer, although this did not directly cause his death.

In May of 2005, the centenary of Fonda’s birth, the United States Post Office released a postage stamp bearing Fonda’s image, as part of their "Hollywood legends" series. Since his death, he continues to be regaled as one of the most formidable actors of Old Hollywood, and has been named the sixth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

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