HENRY
FONDA

Henry Fonda was an American stage and screen actor born in Grand Island, Nebraska, on 16 May 1905. His long career included dramas, westerns and roles on Broadway. He died on 12 August 1982.

After working on stage, Fonda made his Hollywood film debut in The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935). In The Grapes of Wrath (1940), he played Tom Joad and received an Academy Award nomination for leading actor.

In 12 Angry Men (1957), Fonda played Juror 8, whose questions challenge a jury’s rush toward a verdict. The role draws much of its force from discussion and a willingness to reconsider evidence.

He also played a very different figure in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. In On Golden Pond (1981), he portrayed Norman Thayer alongside Katharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda, winning the Academy Award for leading actor at the 1982 ceremony.

Fonda had received an honorary Oscar at the previous ceremony in recognition of his contribution to acting. His screen work includes both principled characters and roles that complicate that familiar image.