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

 
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186 thoughts on “Henry Fonda Movies

  1. How I love Henry Fonda and am excited that Peter is in the 3:10 to Yuma remake. I hope that I will be able to see Peter’s new western in Montana when it is completed, probably next year.

    Bruce: what page are you working on next in terms of brand new pages? Is it horror films?

    I have known you and Steve for 5 whole years and you, he and I know each other very well.

    I remember when the three of us were the only people who commented on this pge and it was indeed “our page.”

    1. Hey Flora….pretty much I have no new pages lined up. The tech issues with the website are taking up all of my spare time. When he get the website issues fixed we will be back to getting some new stuff out. Then I can see a Nicole Kidman, page and a Who Is The Next Marlon Brando (and other classic stars) page. It is scary how fast time is going. I am very happy how well this page has progressed…..even if it is currently causing some extra stress with the increased traffic…..but we are getting that fixed.

  2. I have decided to return to Facebook mostly to keep in touch with family members as well as finding it helpful in keeping in touch with school friends.

    I mention this on Henry Fonda’s page since I am following Peter and Jane on Facebook as well.

    There are some closed groups and public groups which I also follow.

    It can get overwhelming if you are not careful.

    I saw on letterboxd that someone had watched, rated and reviewed Trail of the Lonesome Pine which I had not heard of before your Wanger page. I replied there that I was happy to see that the movie still exists in some form for people to see it.

    1. I agree it can get overwhelming pretty quickly….somehow I have been made an adminstrator on 4 or 5 pages…..know idea how it happened…..but I get messages for approvals all the time….being a good sport….I have been doing those admin. jobs for awhile now.

    2. Alas my dear you do me wrong
      To cast me off dismissively,
      Whilst I’ve admired your posts so long
      And delighted in your poetry.

  3. Hi, Bruce.

    I see on Peter Fonda’s personal website which I have been following that also goes to his Facebook page but I am not on Facebook right now – I’m letting it go by dormant – mine that is:

    Peter Fonda is headed to Montana to film a western.

    How great is that?

    I’ve been watching a lot of westerns lately in catching up on PVR recorded movies. Some like The Rounders with Henry and Glenn Ford I’ve seen before.

    Others like The First Travelling Saleslady starring Ginger Rogers, James Arness, Barry NElson (he played Bond in a TV movie version of Casino Royale before Connery) and a young Clint Eastwood- are brand new to me.

    I just love westerns .

    1. Feel the need to add Carol Channing who was Clint Eastwood’s love interest in the movie.

      I saw Carol Channing in Vancouver playing Dolly in Hello Dolly!

    2. Good to know….Peter Fonda and a western sounds like a good combination….especially with all the classic westerns his dad appeared in. Very cool…..I have seen none of Eastwood pre-star roles….with the exception of some episodes of Rawhide….which he was the second biggest star of that one. Thanks for the comment.

      1. He was in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma which I hope to see eventually. I do not have it recorded if it aired on TCM I do not know.

  4. Hi, there.

    I;ve not been able to be online lately due to illness.

    But I thought I’d stop off and say hi on “our page”

    1. HI FLORA:

      1 I’ve been away for a while on holiday and have missed our lively exchanges about the likes of Greg, Henry, and Glenn; so when I got back I was surprised and disappointed to see no posts from you as I was looking forward to them.

      2 I was about to ask Bruce about the matter when checking over some old Henry comments I noticed your posts on this page about being ill so I thought I’d give you my best wishes for a speedy recovery so that we can get down to business again.

      3 Actually I’ve got a Gregory Peck holiday story that might interest you so let me know when you are up to receiving detailed posts again.

      Your friend

      BOBBY

  5. Okay, Bruce has answered me.

    In regards to beginning at Hubpages where these movie pages no longer exist, the shortlived Cogerson Movie Score to this page – altogether:

    He is still “under” – HA!
    7, 500,000.

    But:

    He has gotten about 100,000 views in the last week at least.

    Considering this website is a hobby of his in his spare time and where he gets paid with love for his site alone:

    PRETTY GOOD.

    Damn Good.

    Excellent.

    1. Hey Flora…..one of these days I will find my purple movie notebook….and bring out the stats on the Fonda Hub Page numbers and the Cogerson Movie Score Fonda page. The Jane Fonda page is easy to follow….it was created on UMR…..lol.

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