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 Daviss fiancee in her Academy Awardwinning 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 Awardnominated 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 Bookending his service in WWII were his starring roles in two highly regarded westerns The OxBow Incident 1943 and My Darling Clementine 1946 the latter directed by John Ford and he also starred in Fords western Fort Apache 1948 After a sevenyear break from films during which Fonda focused on stage productions he returned with the WWII warboat ensemble Mister Roberts 1955 In 1957 he starred as Juror No8 the holdout juror in 12 Angry Men Fonda who was also coproducer 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 lighterhearted 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 Description above from the Wikipedia article Henry Fonda licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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