Henry fonda

The economy of gestures, the intensity of his mere presence, glossed an interpretive style that exuded special authenticity. Few like him endowed a character with such emotional depth; he never noticed the difficulties of expressing the recesses of the human soul, on the contrary they flowed, transparent and without stridency, in the strength of his blue gaze. Naturalness was always his greatest virtue. However, Alfred Hitchcock defined him as the “perfect man in the street”.

The biography of Henry Fonda (1905) begins on Grand Island (Nebraska). His father had a modest printing company and that’s when he got the impulse to study journalism at the university. By chance of life, he joins the Omaha Community Theater. His evolution through the scene materializes in “Contrasts”, a work that Victor Fleming wanted him to also star in his film adaptation. Two years after making his film debut, he demonstrated his talent in You Only Live Once (1937). The irreversibility of the tragedy and the noble defense of the principles dealt with in this film would be constants in some of his most relevant roles: Jezebel (1938), Incident at Ox-Bow (1943), False Guilty and 12 Angry Men.(both from 1957), whose masterful defense as “jury number eight” raises the judicial genre to unsuspected heights.

Purist that he was, his desire was always to rehearse more. Not surprisingly, the best performances of him are in films by John Ford , whose method was to prevent actors from overacting. Her relationship with him began with Young Lincoln , followed by Wild Hearts (both from 1939) and the great, great, The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Passion of the Strong (1946) and Fort Apache (1948). In all of them he applies mastery with a mixture of energy and parsimony, to compose some unforgettable types.

Throughout her nearly 50-year career, Fonda has leaped gracefully from portrayals of idealists and heroes in action, social, romantic, and high-society comedies (her comic vis was great in Three Nights of Eve ), to solid incarnations. of politicians, generals and presidents in maturity. One of her virtues was nit-picking when choosing his roles. He knew how to see the greatest potential in the supporting role of Tierra de audaces (1939), alongside Tyrone Power ; he gave up the “likable” role of Fort Apache ( John Wayne did ), preferring the less appreciative role of feckless cavalry commander; and he risked his “good” image by making sadistic villains in the western (The Wicked of Firecreek , Till His Time Came , both from 1968). Conventions were never to his liking.

A man with a strong personality, he confronted Fox to release his contract after serving in the Navy in World War II. And in his life off the sets he went through 6 marriages and complex relationships with his famous children, Jane and Peter, also actors. With his daughter Jane he made the last film. In At the Golden Pool(1981), a beautiful story of parent-child reconciliation with death in the background, there was a lot of the actor’s vital reality. For this work he received his only Oscar (he got another honorary the year before), an award that tasted like a farewell to Hollywood old glory. Shortly thereafter, the great Henry Fonda, who brought to life rugged farmer Tom Road, legendary sheriff Wyatt Earp, stoic musician Manny Balestrero, and so many other memorable characters, died at age 77.