Henry Jaynes Fonda

'''Henry Jaynes Fonda''' (1905-82), American Actor

This page is written and copyright 2008 by Will Johnson, Freelance biographer, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com].

This page is not finished, and is still very rough. I'm making constant changes to it as I uncover more material. Should you have corrections, additions, deletions, chocolate eclairs, effusive praise, or vicious catty comments, please email me.

[[#William Brace Fonda|William Brace Fonda]], Henry's father was enumerated in the Federal Census in 1900 living, as a single man, in Omaha, Douglas County, [[Nebraska]] with his own parents, and listed there as a salesman.  On 10 Jun 1903, William Fonda married [[#Herberta Jaynes|Herberta Jaynes]], probably in or near Omaha, Nebraska.  Moving to Grand Island, Hall County, [[Nebraska]], they rented a house from Grand Island banker George Bell in 1904 and it was in that house that their eldest child Henry Fonda was born 16 May 1905.  They only lived there for six more months.  The house, marked as Henry Fonda's birthplace, was in 1966 relocated after Henry paid to have it moved from downtown, ten miles to the location at the Stuhr Museum ([http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=114970741&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=3 ''Seguin Gazette Enterprise'' (Seguin, Texas), 13 Aug 1982, page 3]).   

Henry Fonda graduated from Omaha Central High School in 1923.  A much later newspaper mention of him [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=4564143&currentResult=3&src=search&firstvisit=true ''The Soda Springs Sun'' (Soda Springs, Idaho), 20 Apr 1934] states that "during his last two years in high school he worked as a trouble-shooter", he then went to the University of Minnesota and got a degree, his thesis being on communication systems. Another source states that he had been studying journalism but dropped out after about two years.  A much later newspaper article ([http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=80955793&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=0 "The Fondas", by Richard L Coe, Jan 1972]) states that he "...thought of himself as a future newspaperman.  Hank went to the University of Minnesota as a journalism major, but dropped out from exhaustion from jobs he took to pay his way through school."

Dorothy Brando, was an amateur actress and the co-founder of the Omaha Community Playhouse.  She was also the mother of [[Marlon Brando]] and a friend to Henry Fonda's mother Herberta.  She first got Henry Fonda interested in acting, but she was not a part of the cast or crew of his first role Roderick "Ricky" White in the play ''You and I'' at that playhouse, which ran for only four performances in Oct 1925.  It's quite possible that the credit for encouraging Henry Fonda might go to the man who directed him in five of his first six plays there, a man named Gregory Foley.

===1928-1929===

Fonda performed in two plays for the University Players that Summer, but after the season ended, he had to compete with numerous other actors in the crowded New York City market.  He finally found work in December 1928 with the National Junior Theatre in Washington, D.C. In April 1929, Bernie Hanighan, organized a musical ''Close Up'' at Cambridge.  The Junior season was ending and so Fonda came to Cambridge to do this one scene with Margaret Sullavan (cf [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sullavan "Margaret Sullavan"], Wikipedia).  That's when he fell in love with her.  Jane seems to confuse how and where he met Margaret and pushes it forward into the Summer, "When [[Margaret Sullavan]] was invited to join the University Players the following summer in Falmouth, she stole his shy Nebraska heart.  Their romance bloomed until Sullavan went off to star in a Broadway play." (''My Story'', p. 36).

At this time, the Omaha Community Playhouse made him an offer of a round-trip ticket and the opportunity to guest-star in any play he chose ([http://books.google.com/books?id=cXscbDlSt0cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA7,M1 Sweeney p7]).  That is how, in Apr 1930, he is enumerated, living in the household of his parents back in Omaha as an unemployed actor, and single.  Kevin Sweeney [http://books.google.com/books?id=cXscbDlSt0cC&pg=PA174&dq=quigley+fonda&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U39AcYrmvws1oFAbB65Dv1tHM7a5g#PPA171,M1 says that April 1930] he was back in Omaha in the play ''A Kiss for Cinderella''.  That Summer he reprised the role, this time opposite Margaret Sullavan for the University Players in West Falmouth, Mass.

===1931-1933===

Kevin Sweeney states that during 1931, Henry appeared in ''The Straw Hat'' in Aug in West Falmouth, so what was Henry doing from Dec 1930 to Aug 1931? And Sweeney goes on to say that then the Players went to Baltimore where they performed ''Death Takes a Holiday'' next, and then in December ''The Ghost Train''.  These last two, Sweeney says were "with Margaret Sullavan."  This off-season extension was supposedly a financial disaster, which led to the break-up of the troupe, at least for that season.

<table><tr><td>The Wikipedia biography of Jimmy Stewart [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart_(actor) here] citing Houghton (1951) and also Eliot (2006) states that Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan married on Christmas Day 1931 in Baltimore where the University Players were for an 18-week Winter season, but by the following Summer of 1932 their marriage had ended.  I've now found a contemporary newspaper announcement that they did marry on Christmas Day, 1931, but the place is not specified. Sweeney [http://books.google.com/books?id=cXscbDlSt0cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA8,M1 states on page 8] that they married "in the dining room of the Kernan Hotel in Baltimore.  He was 26, she was 20"  Henry's daughter Jane says, "After a year and a half of courting her, he proposed and they married. They lived in Greenwich Village, New York City, but the marriage only lasted about four months." Sweeney says "as lovers they fought ceaselessly...as husband and wife they fought even more" (page 8)  By Feb or Mar, they had separated according to Sweeney, Henry announced he would not be returning to the Players and moved into a "flea-bitten hotel below 42nd Street".</td><td>http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/fondahenry.jpg</td></tr></table>

Meanwhile for Henry Fonda, work was non-existent.  Even though he had said he wouldn't, he tried to go back to the University Players, but Joshua Logan had already replaced him with a Princeton architectural graduate named [[Jimmy Stewart]].  Fonda was forced to take a menial summer job in Surrey, Maine.  So what did Fonda do for money between say Feb and June of 1932 ?  I haven't found anything yet.

At this same time, Henry's future wife, socialite Frances (Seymour) Brokaw who had married George Brokaw Jan 1931 was "...living in splendor as Mrs Brokaw, in a mansion with a moat on Fifth Avenue..." (''My Life'', p 36).

It has been reported that it was in this Summer of 1932 that Henry met and was the roommate of fellow-actor [[Jimmy Stewart]], at the Madison Square Hotel "while both worked on Broadway" ([http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=114970741&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=3 Seguin Gazette Enterprise (Seguin, Texas), 13 Aug 1982, page 3]), but this is false.  Some sources state that Stewart was also a member of the University Players, starting that Summer, which is true.  But Stewart replaced Fonda, they did not work together.  Jimmy Stewart was in Massachusetts for the Summer of 1932, and Henry Fonda was in Maine.  They were not roomming together in New York City, with or without Joshua Logan.

Jane says of this general period, but which I will place exactly here, "For a while he shared a two-room apartment on the West side with Josh Logan, Jimmy Stewart and radio actor Myron McCormick." (''My Life'', p 36) So what I think is that he *may* have been roommates with Stewart starting in the Fall or Winter of 1932, not the just-ended Summer.  Fall was when all the summer stock actors moved back into New York City looking for the big score and living on rice and water. The University Players, now called the "Theatre Unit" however were perhaps doing a tad better, moving Carry Nation to Broadway for 30 performances.

Henry Fonda next played Winter stock in East Orange, New Jersey ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader?asin=0313265712&pageID=S00N&checkSum=vg5jWBA/lHeslFozQmNTPcSX9IzEXv%20YoWKPvAKepqw= Sweeney, page 9]).  He then had a role in the Broadway play ''Forsaking All Others'' which opened 1 Mar 1933.  Some sources report that Fonda was also this year in ''All Good Americans'', but the cast list [http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=11804 here at the Internet Broadway Database] does not show that.  Desperate for work he took a job as a florist's assistant ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader?asin=0313265712&pageID=S00N&checkSum=vg5jWBA/lHeslFozQmNTPcSX9IzEXv%20YoWKPvAKepqw= Sweeney, p9]).  "His mood wasn't helped by the news that his ex-wife had just been cast in a Hollywood film ''Just Yesterday'' (1933) ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader?asin=0313265712&pageID=S00N&checkSum=vg5jWBA/lHeslFozQmNTPcSX9IzEXv%20YoWKPvAKepqw= Sweeney, p9]) Finally, a 5 Dec 1933 article in the ''New York Times'' mentions that he is rehearsing in the play ''Love Story'', but it's not clear that he actually appeared.

===1934===

Henry Fonda co-starred with [[Imogene Coca]] in director [[Leonard Sillman]]'s ''New Faces of 1934'' which opened March 1934.([http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=38771701&currentResult=2&src=search&firstvisit=true ''Dunkirk Evening Observer'' (Dunkirk, New York), 19 Apr 1934, page 5]). This was the first of director Sillman's annual revues, each called ''New Faces''.  Note the interesting tidbit, that one of the potential backers who came to watch the auditions was none other than [[Libby Holmon]] later to be well-known in regards to her relationship with [[Montgomery Clift]].  Libby you will recall was the torch-singer who married a wealthy man who died such an interesting death that Libby went on trial for it.

Henry had evidently pulled himself together enough by 1934 that he was able to be in a play with Margaret.  The New York Times reporting that Henry Fonda "will appear" opposite Margaret Sullavan in the play ''Coquette'' at the Westchester Playhouse in Mount Kisco, New York for the week 2 Jul 1934. (NYT, 15 Jun 1934).  Because of this, his multiple roles in ''New Faces'', still then running, were distributed among four other actors. (NYT, 22 Jun 1934).  You will notice that Margaret's role here was a reprisal of her role back in 1931 for the University Players.

At this time "Leland Hayward, who was on the brink of becoming the top talent agent in the country, signed him up and convinced a reluctant Fonda to go to Hollywood for $1,000 a week." (''My Life'', p 37).

On 14 Aug 1934, a columnist is reporting that Henry was then on the Universal lot and had "signed with Walter Wagner [sic], to play an important part in ''The President Vanishes''" (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=45596791&currentResult=7&src=search&firstvisit=true here]). However, if Fonda was in the film, he wasn't credited (see [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025674/fullcredits#cast IMDb, cast list]).

And [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=40782721&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=0 on 2 Sep 1934], another column states that he signed with Walter Wagner [sic] to "make two pictures a year starting with the summer months of 1935."  

While Fonda was waiting for something with Wanger, "Henry Fonda, Broadway actor who will be seen this season [the Winter of 1934] in 'Rome Haul'" (erroneously called Rome "Hall").  Evidently this title was the title of the book by Walter Edmonds, and the Broadway play was re-named ''The Farmer Takes a Wife'' (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=49072003&currentResult=21&src=search&firstvisit=true here]).  At this time, Henry's mother fell, broke her leg and developed a blood clot which killed her in October. "I felt so bad that she didn't live to see me move ahead", he said in his biography. "...his father died two years later", states Sweeney.

<table><tr><td>http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/images/biographies/main/122_bio_homepage_main.jpg</td><td>The play ''The Farmer Takes A Wife'', tells the story of Molly Harkins, a pretty girl who works as a cook on a boat, moving from town to town.  She meets Dan Harrow, a rough, simple man who wants to settle down as a farmer.  He has to convince her to marry him and farm.  Henry Fonda plays the man, and June Walker the woman (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=23032494&currentResult=22&src=search&firstvisit=true here]).  The entry at the [http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=40805 Internet Broadway database] states that this play ran on Broadway from Oct 1934 to Jan 1935.</td></tr></table>

In Jul 1935, the ''New York Times'' is reporting that Henry Fonda is under contact with "Walter Wanger, Paramount producer" and working at the Fox studios in a new version of ''Way Down East''.  Also in 1935, Henry Fonda worked in ''The Trail of the Lonesome Pine'' with Sylvia Sidney and Fred MacMurray, but the film didn't open until Feb 1936.

On his return from London in Sep 1936 to New York, he lists his address as "233 North Carmetina, West Los Angeles", he also on this slip lists his birthplace as "Grand Island, Nebraska".  Soon after their return to New York, they were married.  Frances was a wealthy widow with a young daughter Frances "Pan" Brokaw from her prior marriage to George Tuttle Brokaw (see [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=218&did=88694858&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=7&retrieveGroup=0&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218583638&clientId=54310 here]), a retired lawyer and sportsman, many years her senior, who had died in May 1935.  Frances' family on both sides came from some sort of high-society as her engagement announcement makes clear.  Henry was to spend a few days in New York, and on [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=219&did=87989590&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=7&retrieveGroup=0&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218583654&clientId=54310 9 Sep 1936 the ''New York Times''] is reporting that Walter P. Chrysler Jr (the founder of Chrysler Corporation) gave a reception for the engaged-couple at the Waldorf-Astoria.  The article mentions the names of about 40 people who were present.  The next day, the New York Times is reporting that they obtained a marriage license at the Municipal Building (New York City) and that they would be married within a few days.  A long article about his travel in Europe is [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=222&did=85420860&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=7&retrieveGroup=0&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218584075&clientId=54310 here].  They were to be married, per a[http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=225&did=88696250&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=7&retrieveGroup=0&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218584362&clientId=54310 ''New York Times'' article], on the 16 Sep 1936 in Christ Church, at Park Avenue and Sixtieth, New York City.  Then the marriage took place and was announced yet again! (See [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=226&did=93529126&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=7&retrieveGroup=0&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218584385&clientId=54310 here]).  Her sister Miss Marjory Capell Seymour was her maid-of-honor, and Joshua Logan was the best man.  The ushers were Leland Hayward and H. Roger Seymour, another brother of the bride.  "They will make their home in Beverly Hills."  This article is where we learn that her first husband George Brokaw died in May 1935.  Unlike a few other cases such as [[Elizabeth Montgomery]] and her father [[Elizabeth Montgomery#Robert Montgomery|Robert Montgomery]], the marriage of "the former Mrs Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw to Henry Fonda, the movie actor" did not cause her to be expelled from the ''Social Register''.  She still appeared in the relevant issue, with the marriage recorded under her name. (See [http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org:2249/pqdweb?index=240&did=88085649&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1218584775&clientId=54310 here]).

In late 1936, or early 1937, Margaret Sullavan married her last husband, Fonda's agent Leland Hayward and "lived just down the street" in California, this according to the autobiography of daughter Jane Fonda.  Jane goes on to state, that at a later time, after the Fonda's had moved to Connecticut, the Haywards also moved to that same area and the children were all friends with each other, and went to the same school. This would have been perhaps in the late 1940s or early 1950s.  Jane includes a photograph in her book showing her, Brooke Hayward and another girl on bunkbeds at a summer camp.  Margaret Sullavan eventually committed suicide in the 1960's.  Her daughter Brooke Hayward (b 1937) wrote a book ''Haywire'' about her parents Margaret and Leland Hayward.

Henry Fonda and Frances Seymour were the parents of actors [[Jane Fonda]] (b. 21 Dec 1937) and [[Peter Fonda]] (b. 1939).  Even though the family was living in California, Frances decided to fly to New York to have each of her children Jane and later Peter.  So Jane was born in New York City while Henry was filming ''Jezebel'' with [[Bette Davis]].  William Wyler, the director of Jezebel, was none other than the next husband of Henry's ex-wife Margaret Sullavan.  William and Margaret had married at the end of 1934, but by the time of this film, were already divorced.  Watch two minutes of Jezebel [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XGivFuMQos here on YouTube].

Henry had had it written into his contract that if his wife gave birth while they were shooting ''Jezebel'', he could fly back to New York to be with them.  Jane comments in her biography, how her father stated that he took dozens of pictures while there at the hospital, and that she has them.  She wistfully comments that in none of these pictures is there one of her mother holding her.

Henry in 1937 returned again to Broadway for a brief run in ''Blow Ye Winds''.  He would not again return to Broadway for 11 years.

===1938-1948===

The year 1938, saw Henry's appearence in ''Spawn of the North'' starring George Raft and Dorothy Lamour.  You will of course remember George Raft because of the role he played in the relationship between [[Lucille Ball]] and Desi Arnaz.  In 1939 Henry "had a leading role" in ''The Story of Alexander Graham Bell'' also starring Don Ameche and Loretta Young.  In newspaper articles, at this time, is where we find the appropos mention that Henry had written a thesis on communication systems while he was in college.  Also that same year, Henry Fonda played the title role in 1939's ''Young Mr. Lincoln''. Watch two minutes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0n6NAXBlC0 here on YouTube].  

In 1940 Henry received his first Oscar nomination playing in arguably his best-known role, as Tom Joad in the 1940 20th-Century Fox film ''The Grapes of Wrath'' based on the novel by Steinbeck.  Watch this entire movie on YouTube, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sywcp7DUlAQ Part 1], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMUkbULE1rk Part 2], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ0MO8tfzbc Part 3], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS_qK7wH99w Part 4], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhNz0yMp8Y8 Part 5], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAsAmzZ7dus Part 6], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_uSJ64-xmU&feature=related Part 7], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtcFtdCAaBQ Part 8], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OivSBVLaUz0 Part 9], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBKctsNpwo Part 10], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWkVJ21H6_w Part 11], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At0Qn88MypE Part 12], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJmOis7kPXE Part 13].

<table><tr><td>http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wjhonson/Famous/TheBigStreet1.JPG<br>Henry Fonda in ''The Big Street''</td><td>To get the role of Tom Joad, he had agreed to a seven-year contract which compelled him to play in the romantic-comedy ''The Lady Eve'' in 1941 with [[Barbara Stanwyck]].  In 1942 he was in ''The Male Animal'', and also that year co-starred opposite [[Lucille Ball]] in ''[[The Big Street]]''. Lucille Ball plays a hard, snobby, gold-digging, nightclub singer.  Henry Fonda plays a busboy deeply in love with her.  When Lucy tries to leave the man she's been dating, he pushes her down the stairs and she is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of the picture.  Now destitute, she must rely on Fonda who takes care of her.  The singing of "Who Knows" is not Lucy's voice, it was dubbed in by Martha Mears.  As one of the supporting cast in this movie notice [[Agnes Moorehead]].  You can watch the entire movie, in nine parts, on Youtube.  You can also read my detailed synopsis of the movie [[The Big Street|here]].  Henry first appears at time 2:52. Watch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRlDpNAFDfI Part 1], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwx9qP2MyTM Part 2], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2mGtnErklo Part 3], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-aCLeEwYE0 Part 4], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJJtAJYMlvw Part 5], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZelh9rQv0 Part 6], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzSZN9Ey2VM Part 7], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIexCunpEyU Part 8], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Hy_Ip8eI8 Part 9].

</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>During WWII Henry Fonda served in the Navy, even though he was exempt.  For this he received a Bronze Star.  In 1946 he played Wyatt Earp in ''My Darling Clementine''. Watch several minutes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WXwO7Hqluo here on YouTube]. In 1948 Henry returned to Broadway starring in ''Mister Roberts'' for it's multi-year run, ending sometime in 1950. He would reprise this role for the 1955 film version.</td><td>http://www.hotmoviesale.com/dvds/27209/1/Henry-Fonda-The-Signature-Collection.jpg<br>(Credit HotMovieSale.com)</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td> Jane Fonda states that Henry was a man of dark moods and that they "...lived in constant awareness of the minefield we had to tread so as not to trigger his rage." (''My Life'', p 35).  On 14 Oct 1950 his then-wife Frances Seymour killed herself by slitting her throat while in a mental hospital.

Three months later, in Dec 1950, Henry married the much-younger Susan Blanchard, and went on their honeymoon to the Caribbean, returning Jan 1951.  Henry and Susan adopted a baby named Amy, possibly this occurred in 1951.  Henry Fonda and Susan Blanchard divorced in 1956.  Peter Fonda refers to Susan Blanchard, in his book as "Mom2".

<table><tr><td>http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/d/d0/250px-Fonda.henry.12am.JPG<br>Henry Fonda in 1957's ''12 Angry Men''<br>(Credit Answers.com)</td>

<td>In 1955 Henry Fonda returned to film starring in that year's ''Mister Roberts'' with [[Jack Lemmon]].  In 1957 he was in ''12 Angry Men''.  Watch it on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52y55e3LpDQ Part 1], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7Njq8YpNI Part 2], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM4nQXgfm4E Part 3], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIUDSSW9pPU Part 4], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fVozSOfH30 Part 5], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3lng0o4s-4 Part 6], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYq4DlKpJVQ Part 7], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3ab6xNn4c Part 8], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEff7rnjhl4 Part 9], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rtCXsVTt6o Part 10].

Henry Fonda was again on-Broadway as lawyer Jerry Ryan in 1958's ''Two for the Seesaw''.  He played John, in 1959 in ''Silent Night, Lonely Night''.  And he was drama critic Parker Ballantine in 1960's ''Critic's Choice'', which ran into 1961.  In 1962 he was in the play ''A Gift of Time''.

 

Fonda married for the fifth and final time to model and stewardess Shirlee Adams, in 1965, and that same year played on-stage the conservative executive Jim Bolton in ''Generation'' which ran into 1966.</td>

===Later Career===

Henry Fonda worked again with [[Lucille Ball]] in 1968's film ''Yours, Mine and Ours''.  Again he returned to Broadway for 1969's ''Our Town'', and for the 1974 one-man show ''Clarence Darrow'', which ran into 1975.  Shortly afterwards he played Adm. Chester Nimitz in the 1976 film ''Midway''.  In 1978 he appeared again on Broadway, as liberal Supreme Court Justice Daniel Snow in ''First Monday in October''.

His first Best Actor Oscar did not come until 1981 for ''On Golden Pond'' co-starring [[Katherine Hepburn]] as his wife, and his real-life daughter [[Jane Fonda]] playing his movie daughter.

*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=7488&iid=NYT715_5860-0051&fn=Henry&ln=Fonda&st=r&ssrc=&pid=21298558 4 Sep 1936]

*[http://books.google.com/books?id=cXscbDlSt0cC&pg=PA174&dq=quigley+fonda&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U39AcYrmvws1oFAbB65Dv1tHM7a5g#PPA165,M1 ''Henry Fonda: A Bio-bibliography''], by Kevin Sweeney. Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992, 296 pages ISBN 0313265712, 9780313265716