Henry Fonda

American actor (1905–1982)

  • Fame70.7
  • Momentum12.3
  • Wikipedia171.4K
Source-basedRising
Lived 1905–1982, aged 77United States
  • Wikipedia
    93 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1905–1982
    Aged 77
  • Known for
    12 Angry Men
    1957
Summary
Updated 2026-08-31

He made decency compelling. For five decades, Henry Fonda turned ordinary integrity into screen magnetism — the hold-out juror, the dust-bowl drifter, the wrongly accused everyman — and proved that quiet moral weight could carry a close-up.

Biography

About

Born in Nebraska in 1905, Fonda came up through Broadway before his 1935 Hollywood debut. He hit his stride fast: Jesse James and Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939, then an Oscar nomination for Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). After World War II service, he anchored Westerns for John Ford — My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache — and took a seven-year film break to work on stage. He returned in 1955 with Mister Roberts, then co-produced 12 Angry Men (1957) as the lone dissenting juror, earning a BAFTA. Late career brought range: a rare villain turn in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), military…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda
said
She was not an easy woman to categorize or to explain. If I´ve ever known anyone in my life, man or woman, who was unique, it was she. There was nobody like her before or since.
About first wife Margaret Sullavan. Haywire (1977) by Brooke Hayward. Jonathan Cape Ltd., pp. 162-63. .
Henry Fonda
saidundated
I've been close to Bette Davis for thirty-eight years - and I have the cigarette burns to prove it.
This 'n that‎ (1987) by Bette Davis and Mickey Herskowitz. Putnam's. p. 98. .
Deep cuts

Filmography

Low confidence
Deep cuts

TV credits

Low confidence
Deep cuts

Awards

Low confidence
  • Academy Award for Best Actor
  • Academy Honorary Award
  • Kennedy Center Honors
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Rising
70.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum12.3
Historical30.2
Now attention45.2
Source confidence65.0
Completeness75.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence