US actor. His engaging style made him ideal in the role of the American pioneer and honourable man. He appeared in more than 90 films, including
Young Mr Lincoln (1939),
The Grapes of Wrath (1940),
My Darling Clementine (1946),
12 Angry Men (1957), and
On Golden Pond (1981), for which he won an Academy Award.
Fonda also featured in a number of classical Hollywood comedies, such as
The Mad Miss Manton (1938) and
The Lady Eve (1941). He gave one of his finest performances in Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969), in which, cast against type, he played one of the great screen villains.
© RM 2009. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.