Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda: Like Father Like Daughter

*Includes pictures. *Includes their own quotes about their lives and careers. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. Among all of Hollywood’s iconic leading men, arguably none proved as versatile at acting as Henry Fonda, whose career spanned six decades and earned him Academy Awards for roles in various genres. After breaking into Hollywood in 1935, Fonda quickly rose the ranks, earning an Academy Award nomination in the classic Twelve Angry Men (1940), but Fonda had the kind of staying power that most actors could only dream of. In fact, Fonda had already received an honorary lifetime achievement award from the Academy (in 1980) before winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in On Golden Pond (1981), an award he earned when he was already well into his 70s and only about a year away from his death. Fonda would also earn Emmy nominations for his work on two different shows and even a Grammy for a spoken word album in 1977. And as if all that wasn’t enough, he was also a critically acclaimed stage performer, winning a Tony for Mister Roberts in 1948. One of the remarkable aspects of Henry Fonda’s career is that he was able to play vastly different roles despite not changing his style of acting. As Henry’s distant personality would suggest, he hailed from an old-school breed of actors who didn’t express emotions outwardly, and even as his progeny would become associated with Method Acting, Henry remained in the same mold as actors like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Of course, the seemingly effortless nature of Henry’s acting only made him more endearing to contemporary audiences, even as his acting style would eventually go out of style.