Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, on April 12, 1908. His father was an immigrant from Ireland who had come to the United States to find work. Henry's mother was an American of Scottish descent. After their marriage in 1912, the couple lived in several small towns in Nebraska and Colorado before settling in California in 1915
Read more
There he attended school until he was expelled for fighting with another student.
A few years later, during the Depression, they moved to New York City where Henry obtained employment as a model. He worked for a time at the Steiner Studios, later moving to Hollywood where he appeared in several films around 1930.
In 1933, Fonda married Frances Jane turned-Torrey (born on October 22, 1913), a Hollywood actress who appeared with him in many of his early films. They remained married for fifty-three years until her death on September 29, 1984.
After making his film debut in 1933 Fonda began appearing regularly on the stage at night while continuing to appear in films during the day.
During this time he also began writing short stories and essays which were published frequently by "Variety" magazine. In addition he wrote movie reviews for "The New York Times" and "Every Week", a column called "On The Town" for "Photoplay" magazine, and articles for Esquire magazine. His first novel was published in 1938 by Doubleday Publishing Company under the title "The Story of My Life."
His second novel titled "My Foolish Heart" was published by Doubleday publishing company in 1941 followed by "Swing Time", also published by Doubleday Publishing Company in 1944.
By this time Fonda had become interested in political issues and began attending meetings about social problems when he lived in New York State during World War II.
The subject matter of these meetings eventually led him to write his third novel titled "An Unfinished Life" which was published by Doubleday Publishing Company in 1945 becoming his first best seller and reaching number 14 on the best seller list that year. It has since been republished by Warner Books under its original title and is considered one of Fonda's best books and is still regularly reprinted today under its original title by many publishers including:
In 1946 Fonda's play titled The Moon Is Green opened on Broadway and ran for ninety-seven performances becoming one of Broadway's biggest hits that year after it closed it played again on Broadway during the summer of
