Henry Fonda portrayed Clarence Earl Gideon, José Ferrer essayed Abe Fortas, and John Houseman portrayed the Chief Justice of the United States in Gideon’s trumpet. Henry Jaynes Fonda, a Hollywood movie and stage actor, was born on May 16, 1905, and had a five-decade career in Hollywood. Fonda established a powerful, appealing cinematic image in several now-classic films, winning one Academy Award for Best Actor out of two nominations.
Fonda began his career on Broadway and made his film debut in Hollywood in 1935. With parts like Bette Davis’ fiancé in her Academy Award-winning performance in Jezebel (1938), brother Frank in Jesse James (1939), and the future President in John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), his film career took off.
His early career peaked with his Oscar-nominated role as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), a film about an Oklahoma family who moved to California during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. This movie is largely regarded as one of the best American films, and it is based on a novel by Nobel Laureate for Literature John Steinbeck of the same name.
Fonda went on to play darker roles later in his career, such as the villain in the epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), which was a box office flop at the time of its release but is today recognized as one of the best Westerns of all time.
Fonda was the patriarch of a prominent acting family that included Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Bridget Fonda, and Troy Garity, among others. He was known as ‘Hank’ by his family and close friends. The American Feature Institute ranked him the sixth-Greatest Male Screen Legends of the Classic Hollywood Era in 1999.
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