FONDA, Henry

(1905–1982)

   Born in Nebraska, Henry Fonda was a Hollywood celebrity for over 50 years, starring in some of the most memorable films of all time, including quite a few great Westerns. Beginning with Jesse James (1939), nearly every film and Western Fonda made was a major motion picture, and with each he gained a new image that was remembered through the years: young Jesse James, thin and good-looking, with the troubling look of a man searching for a black and white answer to problems that have no solution; Gil Carter in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), a simple cow puncher caught up in a mob thirsty for blood; Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine (1946), an honest lawman dedicated to justice and peace, in love with Doc Holliday’s intended; Colonel Thursday in Fort Apache (1948), a racist Indian hater. Fonda played psychologically complex characters and could not be pinned down to a specific persona. He often played the clean, wholesome American hero caught up in situations beyond his control. Sometimes he played the simple-minded but decent guy just trying to do right. But he could also play the psychotic bent on evil, as in Fort Apache and, late in his career, the spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West(1968), directed by Sergio Leone. In the latter, Fonda played the gunfighter Frank, ruthless, yes, but worse, just plain mean. A famous image from the film is Leone’s trademark close-up of the eyes—Fonda’s eyes, in this film—glazed over with pure evil. Fonda said later that Once Upon a Time in the West was his favorite Western.