Adorable Story #105: Henry Fonda

Hollywood Quiet Legend

“I’m not really Henry Fonda. Nobody could have that much integrity.”

— Henry Fonda

1951: Film star Henry Fonda on a balcony overlooking a street in New York — Photo © by Slim Aarons / Getty Images

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Table of Contents: Early Life & Beginnings / Hollywood Breakthrough / World War II Service / Iconic Films & Career Highlights / Personal Life / Later Years / Did you know?

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Early Life & Beginnings

Henry Jaynes Fonda was born on May 16th, 1905, in Grand Island, Nebraska, the son of Herberta Elma (Jaynes) and William Brace Fonda, who was a commercial printer, and proprietor of the W. B. Fonda Printing Company in Omaha, Nebraska.

His distant ancestors were Italians who had fled their country and moved to Holland, presumably because of political or religious persecution. In the mid-1600s, his ancestors crossed the Atlantic and settled in upstate New York where they founded a community with the “Fonda” name.

Growing up in Omaha, he was active in the Boy Scouts of America.

Henry was just 14 years old when the tragic Omaha Race Riot of 1919 occurred (one of the 26 separate deadly riots which happened in the United States on the part of whites attacking blacks between 1919 and 1920).

The actions of those in his community had a profound effect on the young Henry, who kept a constant awareness of racial prejudice for the rest of his life.

Young Henry initially had no intention of pursuing acting. Instead, he studied journalism at the University of Minnesota: Henry was a member of local fraternity Chi Delta Xi, but failed to graduate and ended up taking a job with the Retail Credit Company, today known as Equifax.

It was after participating in amateur plays at the Omaha Community Playhouse —alongside lifelong friend James Stewart —that Henry Fonda discovered his true passion: acting.

Hollywood Breakthrough

Henry Fonda made his Broadway debut in 1929, but it wasn’t until Hollywood called that he truly became a household name.

His film debut came with “The Farmer Takes a Wife” in 1935, opposite Janet Gaynor. His quiet intensity and sincerity quickly caught the attention of both critics and audiences alike.