The Oscar winning American stage and film actor Henry Jaynes Fonda is well-known for his plain-speaking idealistic roles. Henry Fonda is often regarded as a natural method actor. Fonda’s close friends and family called him by his nickname of "Hank". The American Film Institute honoured Henry Fonda as one of the top ten Greatest Male Star ever born. Henry Fonda performed in 106 films, short films & television programs and also appeared in many foreign productions.

Henry Fonda was born on the 16th May, 1905, in a small town known as Grand Island in Nebraska to Elma Herbert Jaynes and advertising jobber William Brace Fonda. Fonda was a good swimmer, skater & runner and worked part-time in the print plant owned by his father. During his school years Henry Fonda served as a Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts. Henry joined the University of Minnesota with the intentions of graduating in journalism. However, Henry dropped his pursuit to be a journalist in favour of a job offered by a large Retail Credit Company.

Henry Fonda stepped into the world of acting through the Broadway theaters; he worked fora theater between 1926 and 1934. Henry Fonda then entered Hollywood in 1935 with his first film The Farmer Takes a Wife. The same year he performed in the RKO movie I Dream Too Much also starring popular stage actress Lily Pons. In 1936, Henry Fonda starred in the movies entitled The Moon's Our Home and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. Fonda played in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once in 1937, the 1938 film Jezebel followed by the lead role in the John Ford directed Young Mr. Lincoln. Henry Fonda's exceptional acting acumen led Ford to cast him as Tom Joad in the 1940 released The Grapes of Wrath which earned Henry Fonda an Oscar nomination. Henry Fonda also performed in many critically and commercially successful films including the 1941 hit movie The Lady Eve opposite Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Tierney’s successful 1942 humour filled movie entitled Rings on Her Fingers and in the 1943 classic The Ox-Bow Incident.

Henry Fonda joined the Navy during the Second World War for 3 years and earned a Bronze Star and a Presidential Citation during his tenure. After his discharge from the Navy, Henry Fonda performed in John Ford's 1946 film My Darling Clementine and in the 1948 film Fort Apache. Continuing his association with theater Fonda appeared on Broadway in the lead role of the Navy comedy, Mister Roberts for which he received a Tony Award. Henry starred in the film version of the same name in the year 1955 along with William Powell, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon. Fonda also made stage appearances in Point of No Return, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, War and Peace and The Wrong Man.

Henry Fonda tried his hand in film production with the critically acclaimed 1957 classic 12 Angry Men, the movie earned Henry a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nominations. He co-produced it with Reginald Rose and performed as "Juror #8 in the movie which brought him the 1958 Best Actor BAFTA Award. Fonda also appeared in The Tin Star in 1957 followed by the film Warlock in 1959. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Henry Fonda performed in movies such as The Longest Day, In Harm's Way, Battle of the Bulge, Spencer’s Mountain, Fail-Safe, The Cheyenne Social Club, Too Late the Hero and There Was a Crooked Man.

Henry Fonda was cast as Marshal Simon Fry in the television series The Deputy between 1959 and 1961.Henry Fonda returned to T.V. productions by starring in the ABC series The Smith Family from 1971 to 1972 followed by the 1973 TV-film The Red Pony. In 1976, Henry Fonda was cast in different notable T.V. productions that included Collision Course, Almos' a Man, Captains and Kings, and ABC's Roots: The Next Generations. Henry Fonda made television appearances during early 1980s in the critically acclaimed The Oldest Living Graduate and in the Emmy Award nominated Gideon's Trumpet. The Tony Awards committee awarded a special award for his Broadway’s achievements in 1979 and the Golden Globes presented him the Lifetime Achievement award in 1980.

During the late 1970s, Henry Fonda appeared in various disaster films including the 1976 Midway, the 1977 Tentacoli , Rollercoaster, the action movie The Swarm, Meteor, City on Fire and the 1979 film Wanda Nevada. Henry Fonda’s final personal and professional triumph came with Mark Rydell directed 1981 film On Golden Pond which brought 11 Oscar nominations and earned $120 million. This movie brought the Best Actor Academy Award to Fonda. He also received a Golden Globe award for Best Actor.

During his life Henry married five times, in 1931 he married Margaret Sullavan and they divorced in 1933. His second marriage was with Frances Ford Seymour in 1936. The couple had a daughter Jane, born on the 21st December, 1937 and a son Peter, born in 1940. However their marriage dissolved in 1950 after Frances committed suicide. Henry married Susan Blanchard the same year but separated 3 years later after adopting a daughter Amy. Henry Fonda’s fourth marriage was with Afdera Franchetti in 1957 and the divorce came in 1961. Henry Fonda married for the fifth time to Shirlee Adams and they were together till Fonda’s death in 1982. On the 12th August, 1982 Fonda died of heart disease at age 77 in Los Angeles.