Fonda: My Life

by Henry Fonda, Howard Teichmann

A revealing, authorized biography of the star describes his long stage and film career, personal life and relationship with his children, friendships, and early life

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Media Tie In, Memoir, Film, Own

372 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 1981

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm unnaturally obsessed with Henry Fonda, but I found this book a good read anyway for its honesty. He admits he's an asshole and really makes no apologies. I liked it.

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like this book and I put off reading it for a very long time. I knew I was going to like it after only a few sentences. This is very straight forward and very enjoyable read. Henry Fonda was a very interesting person and led a very interesting life. My respect and admiration has only grown for this man in reading his biography.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a classic movie fan, I knew relatively little about Henry Fonda's life as compared to other stars (even the somewhat-mysterious Cary Grant). This book filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge. The book feels like a forerunner of the "as told to" style of autobiography soon to be popularized by Chuck Yeager, among others. Howard Teichman's book is more a biography with plenty of quotes from its subject, still alive at the time of its writing. Even better, it also has quotes from his kids Jane and Peter and several of his former co-stars. To read longtime friends Fonda and Jimmy Stewart talk about each other is a treat, as is the quotes from Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck about their close professional and personal relationship. This is not the solid biography Henry Fonda deserves but it is an entertaining story of one of Hollywood's greats at least in part through his own eyes.

[Joy H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Added 5/17/15. Finished reading 5/16/17.

I enjoyed Fonda: My Life. It's much MUCH MORE enjoyable than The Man Who Saw a Ghost: The Life and Work of Henry Fonda.

My Life is written so that it almost seems like a good novel (instead of a straight-forward autobiography). You learn about Fonda's life events but the material is presented in a very story-like style. It's hard to explain the style. For me it was a compelling read.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title, you'd think that this was an autobiography written in the first person. It really should have been called "Fonda: His Life" as it reads like a lengthy work of journalism, as actual author Howard Teichmann interviewed Henry Fonda and others in his life, including three of his five wives and his two famous children, Jane and Peter. (His not-famous daughter Amy apparently didn't have much to say.)

While I'm very familiar with Henry Fonda's on-screen persona, I didn't know much about his private life. Now I do. It was an infotaining book, I suppose, and a typical Hollywood biography in that it, unfortunately, doesn't focus much on the product of Fonda's work, his films. The Grapes of Wrath, for example, was covered in about two pages. We got a little bit more of a closer look at Mister Roberts and On Golden Pond and several of Fonda's plays. And there were some good anecdotes about Fonda's dislike of horses, which will inform my viewing next time I watch a movie when he's on horseback. There was also a good story about him playing a bad guy in a film called Once Upon a Time in the West.

But there were other points that I wish Teichmann had followed up on, and the lack of additional details left me frustrated. For example, there's a passing reference to some troubles that Fonda apparently had during the McCarthy years: Fonda "had fought Senator Joseph McCarthy's red-baiting activities in the fifties... his passport had been revoked for a time..."
But that's it! What did Fonda do or say to cause his passport to be revoked? I would have rather had more information about that then about who Fonda saw at various Hollywood parties.

And this, about a movie called Spencer's Mountain, which I'm not familiar with. Fonda is quoted as saying, "As far as I'm concerned it set the movie business back twenty years, but it was a financial success and everyone was satisfied with it." How did it set the industry back twenty years? Doesn't that seem like something that should be followed up? It certainly made me curious, but if Teichmann pressed for more details, they didn't make it into the book.

[Marti]

I learned a lot about Henry Fonda, who was an interesting actor. Probably a biography by someone else might mention incidents that he cose to downplay or omit. Naturally, I chose to read the book because I liked him onscreen, and wanted to find out how he became an actor.

[Annabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a Henry Fonda fan since seeing him portray hired gunslinger/marshall Clay Blaisedell in Warlock, one of the first movies I saw on Betamax. Over the next three decades I would watch him excel in role after upstanding, if sometimes always righteous, role; he played variations of the same wronged man theme in three different films: The Ox-Bow Incident, The Wrong Man, and the excellent Twelve Angry Men. So it was astonishing to watch him, very early into Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, suddenly, nonchalantly shoot a young boy. That this actor, whose virtuous cinematic oeuvre I had practically grown up with would have the audacity to play so diametrically against type thrilled me to the bones. More surprisingly, it was the only movie where Fonda film where I detected any sex appeal in the character he portrayed. (Methinks most of the credit should go to his co-star Clauda Cardinale.)

I purchased and read this book shortly after watching Once Upon a Time in the West. I usually enjoy reading autobiographies, but this one was as mediocre as Fonda's portrayal of Pierre in War and Peace.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprise of a good read. Even though Fonda would of necessity leave out the worst of his warts, this being an autobiography, yet his revelations and stories are compelling. There are some acknowledgments of mistakes made with his children and the disclosures give some explanation of their baffling choices over time, especially that of Fonda's daughter Jane. Her father having been a voluntary serviceman during World War 2, Jane Fonda's behavior during the Vietnam war will never be forgotten.

[jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this autobiographical narration by Howard Teichmann, but the writer's heavy thumbprint
on many descriptive passages lessened it's impact. The result was a kind of a hybrid of stitched together personal interviews (effectively accomplished), the author's presence nearly invisible, with the author's too obvious attempts to enliven the feel of a place or action by adding his own imagined dramatic interpretation.

[Scott G · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was just ok. Did not learn too much about what made him tick. He talked more about the plays he was in then the movies he made.He was pretty cool and unemotional with his kids. Sounds like he was very very strict, which most dads of the time were. I will be weary about reading autobiographie of the stars. They will tell you a little but not too much. If looking to learn about Henry Fonda look elsewhere and pass this one by.

[Ann Otto · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read in that much of Fonda's early stage and screen career before he was "discovered" is surprising. Good information on his relationships in and out of his profession. But it reads more like journalism, with strings of interviews, than narrative.

[Rob Pritts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love old Hollywood. This lives up to all expectations.

[Lenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent autobiography told by an honest injun so to speak!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, I just loved this book so! Henry is such an interesting person...a shy and lovable man with a love for reading, interests in artwork and photography, a talent in acting, and also being an officer in the Navy. When it comes to love though, it took him 5 times to finally find THE one! Wow!
While it does show that he loved his kids dearly, he always struggled with telling them so. It took his son Peter to say over the phone "I love you" to him twice before he could finally stop feeling so scared about saying the words "I love you" to his kids. The photos of him are adorable as well!
An excellent read for any fan of Henry Fonda!

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always enjoyed Henry Fonda's work, but did not know much outside that he had children and was one of Jimmy Stewart's best friends. This was an enjoyable ride through his life that did not seem to sugarcoat any of his issues. It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about the life of this American actor.

[Elizabeth]

Very interesting book. Learned a great deal about Henry Fonda and it didn't sugarcoat the details. Sometimes it seemed to go a bit out of order and other times a bit dry but I really enjoyed it. Did not realize he was from Omaha nor his early stints with the Dennis Playhouse in Cape Cod.

[Sherrida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I have seen Henry Fonda in many movies, but I didn’t realize much of his career was spent in theatrical performances. I’d also heard that he and Jane had a stormy relationship – not so according to Henry.

[Robert Gable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fonda was a good actor, if not a perfect human, but this "as told to" was not all that interesting.

[Kimberly (kimmerthebooknerd) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story on a great man! Loved learning about Henry Fonda!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting information about the life and background of a great actor. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Michael Anderson]

Yawn...