Fonda, Henry (Jaynes) (1905-1982)

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.

He was the father of the actor Jane Fonda and the actor and director Peter Fonda (1939- ). Henry Fonda was the recipient of the American Film Institute's life achievement award in 1978.