Henry Fonda Movies

Want to know the best Henry Fonda movies?  How about the worst Henry Fonda movies?  Curious about Henry Fonda’s box office grosses or which Henry Fonda movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Henry Fonda movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Whew!….After almost two months I have finally finished my Henry Fonda movie page.  Before getting to his massive 83 movie table…let’s look at some possibly interesting facts about his life.

1. Henry Fonda (1905-1982) was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. One of his first acting jobs was with the Omaha Community Playhouse. One of his fellow actors was Dodie Brando, the mother of screen legend Marlon Brando. He attended the University of Minnesota, but dropped out, and headed to Cape Cod and New York seeking stage work.

2. After eight years of stage acting, Fonda appeared in his first movie, 1936’s The Farmer Takes A Wife. He did not have to wait long for a box office hit. As Trail of the Lonesome Pine  (his 4th movie) was the 4th biggest hit of 1936. Fonda would appear in 114 movie and television projects over the next 46 years.

3. During his days as a struggling actor, his roommate was another struggling actor, James Stewart. After Fonda had moved to Hollywood, he encouraged Stewart to take a screen test. The result of the screen test earned Stewart his first movie contract and a move to Hollywood. They would remain lifelong friends and appear in 4 movies together over the years.

4. After starring in 40 movies from 1935 to 1948, Fonda left Hollywood for seven years to return to the stage. His greatest success on stage is the movie that brought him back to making movies in 1955. That movie was the classic film…..Mister Roberts.

5. Henry Fonda was married 5 times in his life. He had three children;….daughter Jane Fonda (two time Oscar® winning actress), son Peter Fonda (Oscar® nominated actor) and daughter Amy. His granddaughter, Bridget Fonda, is also an actress. The three generations of Fonda actors have 301 acting credits on IMDB.

His IMDb page shows 115 acting credits from 1935-1981. This page will rank 83 Henry Fonda movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in 1981's On Golden Pond
Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in 1981’s On Golden Pond

Henry Fonda Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Henry Fonda Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Henry Fonda movies by the co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Henry Fonda movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Henry Fonda movies by actual domestic box office rank by year
  • Sort Henry Fonda movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Henry Fonda movie received.
  • Sort Henry Fonda movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Henry Fonda in 1968's Once Upon A Time in the West
Henry Fonda in 1968’s Once Upon A Time in the West

5 More Possibly Interesting Facts About Henry Fonda.

1. Surprisingly Henry Fonda was only nominated two times for an acting Oscar®. He received his first nomination for The Grapes of Wrath in 1940 then had to wait 41 years for his second nomination for On Golden Pond. The wait was worth it as he took home the Oscar® for On Golden Pond. Fonda did receive an Honorary Oscar® in 1981 and a producer’s nomination for 1957’s 12 Angry Men.

2. The American Film Institute named Henry Fonda as the 6th greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends. In 2005 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative postage stamp to honor Fonda.

3. Henry Fonda worked with legendary director, John Ford, on 7 movies. Those movies were Drums Along the Mohawk, The Young Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, The Fugitive, Fort Apache and Mister Roberts.

4. Did you know that the brown Fedora worn by Fonda in On Golden Pond belonged to Spencer Tracy and was given to Fonda by Katharine Hepburn on the first day on the set.

5. Check out Henry Fonda‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Check Out Steve’s Henry Fonda You Tube Video

 
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

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186 thoughts on “Henry Fonda Movies”

  1. Rereading your Five More Possibly Interesting facts, I saw you did the same thing I did once when I accidently called Henry Fonda “Henry Ford.”

    Look at Number 3 right under the photo of Henry in Upon a Time in the West:

    You have the words: “Henry FORD worked with the legendary John Ford…”

    I can see why you did that.

    You still have, by the way, on you Gregory Peck page under my byline that Greg took in Ava Gardner’s cat after she died.

    It was her DOG. Not her cat.

    That is okay.

    You will have a lot of comments to read when you get home.

    Good thing you often read an entire conversation sometimes and then answer it in general or you would REALLY be dealing with insomnia.

    Reply

  2. Robert Roy aka Bobby:

    I am THRILLED you asked me about my autograph collection so that I can talk about something happy.

    I am sure you have heard of these people:

    I did get some letters/photographs from people after writing them.

    If you look on Martin sheen’s page, you will read about my detailed letter to him about how he is my hero as a disabled person.

    He sent me a photo of himself as President Bartlett which is over my fireplace.

    I have photos from:

    David Suchet
    Edward Hardwicke whom Mom wrote after Jeremy Brett died. I am a big fan of Brett.
    Bruce davis, exec. director of AMPAS wrote me about turning off the TV when Deforest Kelley was not included in the Oscar memorial.

    A letter Agatha Christie wrote my Great Aunt in 1960 in response to something about Egyptology.

    The man who did a lot of Ginger Snaps films was in a TV episode on A|PTN called Clean Fight about kick boxing.

    I was in the makeup department. mom did his tattoo.

    I ended up being an extra in that.

    I have several autographs from him.

    I will have to answer more later.

    Again, thank you so much Bobby.

    Reply

    1. FLORA:
      1 Yes I am familiar with Jeremy, Edward and David and I admire Martin Sheen not just for his acting but also for his caring attitude.

      2 I can hardly believe that you have a personal photo from David Suchet. He, Peter Falk, Kelsey Garmmer and David Hyde Pierce are my 4 favourite TV actors. Well done Flora.

      BOBBY

      PS I have seen every one of David Suchet’s Poirot episodes several times over. I have read all the Agatha Christie Poirot books and Suchet plays Poirot exactly as I imagined him from the books. It’s uncanny. The Agatha Christie letter must be quite valuable.

      Reply

      1. I would not hazard a guess re: Christie.

        By the way, the actor I mentioned regarding the tattoo I see I did not mention his name.

        It was Nathanial Arcand. I hope I spelled that correctly.

        he called us all by our first names. There is the Ginger Snaps picture.

        And then there is a picture of his tattooed back.

        Reply

      2. Just saw your list of favourites, Bobby.

        I love Frasier and Cheers. I remember a scene in Frasier in the coffee shop
        where DHP mentioned a singer joke who sang about “me-me-me-me…”

        Reply

        1. 1 I remember that scene too. I have every episode of Frasier in a large box set of DVDs

          2 I love the Cheers episodes too and my favourite characters are Sam Malone and Cliff.

          3 Watching the young Woody Harrelson in that series you would never have thought that he would become the strong dramatic actor he did. The only thing that I don’t like about his serious roles is that he uses a lot of swear words that NOBODY would have been allowed to use in Cheers.

          4 Hope your enjoying your weekend.

          BOBBY

          Reply

          1. I am LOVING my weekend.

            Regarding this being Henry Fonda’s page and the large number of westerns he did:

            I was reminded as I always am when I watch westerns that in westerns, everyone sings at weddings, funerals and services regardless of whether they are good at singing, okay, or are actually tone deaf.

  3. FLORA
    1 As always it will be good to see your comments on another truly great star.

    2 Until Bruce tabulated all Hank’s movies in his grosses section I never realised that he had made 83 movies. Wow! Stewart and Wayne also made over 70 movies. Hank, Duke and Jimmy must have lived on the set !

    3 Marlon was the opposite to those three. He was paid so much for so little that he simply didn’t want to work after the 70s and as Bruce has said in his Brando page Marlon virtually retired from 1980 onward making just a handful of films in the last quarter-century of his life. I suppose as the cliche goes it takes all sorts to make a world.

    4 However there are several modern stars who have generated an enormous body of work such as DeNiro.

    5 A stray cat has just got into my house and rushed up the stairs so I’ll have to go and eject it. Bye for now.

    BOBBY

    Reply

    1. FLORA:

      1 I’ve had a preliminary read through both the old and new parts of this page and you’ve certainly been very busy on the page so it will take me a couple of readings to familiarise myself with all of the very interesting comments. However a couple of issues struck me right away that I would like to highlight now.

      2 I notice you seem to have the autographs of celebrities that you have met. Are there any with whose names you think I might be familiar?

      3 I found most interesting your exchanges with James Garner’s daughter. I loved James and thought he was a very caring person with a good sense of humour. I saw an interview with him once where he explained that he used to be a very heavy drinker but gave it up because it made him aggressive and hostile towards people.

      BOBBY

      Reply

      1. FLORA
        1 When James Garner was making Grand Prix with Eva Marie Saint he lost his temper with another member of the cast and struck him to the ground. It was that kind of quick tempered incident that encouraged him to stop drinking alcohol altogether.

        2 Conversely he could be very good at peacemaking. I saw an interview with James in which he said that when he was making Sayonara (1957) with Brando he and Marlon became friends; but Marlon and the director Joshua Logan were feuding and James was able to come between them and stop matters from getting too far out of hand.

        3 Back in the 50s when he was primarily a TV star in Maverick James was my favourite TV star and I loved Maverick and later Rockford.

        4 My favourite Garner cinematic movie was Duel at Diablo with Sidney Poitier. One of James’s highest grossing movies was Space Cowboys which Clint Clint Eastwood produced and starred in. Clint said in an interview that when he had production control over a movie the only other stars that would be cast in it were those who had EARNED the right to be given star billing in a movie. That he made James one of the top stars of Space Cowboys demonstrates that the regarded him very highly.

        Have a good weekend.

        BOBBY

        Reply

  4. FLORA – GOOD MORNING MY DAY:

    1 i think Henry was the most GRACIOUS actor ever to appear on screen. An under-player in the Crosby/Tracy tradition he would quietly dominate a scene where all others were loud and animated. 12 Angry Men exemplifies that. His courting of the heroine in My Darling Clementine was like poetry in motion at times.

    2 He began on the stage in 1928 and as Bruce indicates above his screen career lasted from 1935 until 1981 a short while before his death. He was therefore one of that small number of actors whose careers straddled both the Classic Era and the early part of the modern cinema

    3 That enabled him to act both with classic Greats such as Wayne Cagney, Stewart and Bette Davis and more modern icons like Connery and Caine. He even performed on radio with Bogie.
    In short he could successfully compete with actors of ANY era.

    4. IN Hank’s time he personally considered Brando the “best” actor in films and they both had parts in the TV mini-series Roots 2 (1979) but never shared scenes together.

    5 Whereas the careers of other actors disappeared in their reclining years Henry’s final cinematic movie On Golden Pond (1981) was as Bruce’s chart shows a massive box office success and I think that it added to the ‘happy ending’ that Jane acted alongside him in that movie and that she also produced the film. .

    6. Of course we know that AFI ranked him in one of the highest positions on its All-time Greatest Screen Legends list therefore demonstrating that historically he was one of the ‘cream of the cream’ of the Classic Era.

    7 I loved Mr Roberts of course and would like to have witnessed his stage famous performance of that character but I think that on balance my four favourite Fonda films were
    12 Angry Men, My Darling Clementine, The Tin Star and Warlock with the marvellous and equally quiet-spoken Widmark

    Best wishes

    BOBBY.

    Reply

    1. Hello, Bobby- thanks for the lengthy comment.

      I am thrilled to see ANOTHER Henry Fonda fan commenting from an entirely separate country.

      Bobby aka Robert Roy is from Belfast.

      I will answer your comment in detail when I am on a computer which is better

      Reply

  5. By the way, Bruce.

    I don’t know if Robert Roy realizes that this page exists. I do not think he has commented on it.

    Reply

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