Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda’s subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting.
Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor, and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda’s career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in 1940’s The Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda Henry Fonda youngmoved toward both more challenging, darker epics as Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (portraying a villain who kills, among others, a child) and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball.
Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity; his family and close friends called him “Hank”. In 1999, he was named the sixth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
Fonda was married five times. His marriage to Margaret Sullavan in 1931 soon ended in separation, which was finalized in a 1933 divorce. In 1936, he married Frances Ford Seymour. They had two children, Peter and Jane. In 1950, Seymour committed suicide. Fonda married Susan Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, in 1950. Together, they adopted a daughter, Amy (born 1953), but divorced three years later. In 1957 Fonda married Italian Countess Afdera Franchetti. They remained married until 1961. Soon after Fonda married Shirlee Mae Adams, and remained with her until his death in 1982.