Hollywood Goes To War: Henry Fonda

This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including yours.

Send them to OurAmericanStories.com. They're some of our favorites. We love to tell stories about movies and the culture. Our American Stories contains both elements beautifully. It's time for another one of our Roger McGrath's Hollywood Goes to War stories. We've done a number of them.

Go to our website and do a search for Jimmy Stewart's and so many more. McGrath is the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes, Violence on the Frontier, a U.S. Marine and former history professor at UCLA. Dr. McGrath has appeared on numerous History Channel documentaries and is a regular contributor for us here at Our American Stories. Here's Roger McGrath with the story of Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda was one of the greatest actors of Hollywood's golden age, appearing in nearly 50 movies in the legendary years of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He would add 35 more movies in the 1960s and 70s. In 1940, he was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. And then, 41 years later, won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond. Fonda played a wide variety of characters in films of many different genres, including several that are considered classics. Drums Along the Mohawk, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, The Oxbow Incident, Fort Apache, 12 Angry Men, Mr. Roberts, The Longest Day.

He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Henry Fonda is born in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1905 to William Fonda and his wife, Herberta. Young Henry is of Dutch, English, Scottish and German descent. Most of his ancestors were here in America before the Revolution.

In 1906, the family moves to Omaha. His sister, Harriet, is born in 1908 and a second sister, Jane, in 1909. His family is close-knit and raised in the Christian Science faith. His father has a successful printing business.

Fonda is a good swimmer and runner, but spends much of his spare time drawing and making models. Like so many young boys of his era, he becomes a Boy Scout. By the time he graduates high school, he has grown to more than six foot one, but as thin as a rail. He goes off to the University of Minnesota to major in journalism, but works two part-time jobs to support himself and has little time to study or sleep.

After completing two years, he tires of the grind and returns to Omaha. Dorothy Brando, a friend of his mother's, urges Fonda to audition for the part of a teenager in a play put on by the Omaha Community Playhouse. Fonda gives it a try and is cast in the role. More plays and more roles follow and Fonda becomes determined to make acting his profession. Dorothy Brando, an experienced actress on the stage, continues to mentor Fonda.

Dorothy will later mentor her own son, Marlon Brando. In 1920, Fonda heads east and joins the University Players in Massachusetts. In 1931, he marries another of the players, Margaret Sullivan, who becomes the first of five successive Mrs. Fondas. In 1932, Margaret heads to New York City for a role as a female lead in a major stage production and Fonda follows. However, the couple are soon divorced and Fonda struggles finding parts. To save money, he shares a small apartment with the writer Josh Logan and another aspiring actor, James Stewart. Hank Fonda and Jimmy Stewart are alike in many ways, both from middle-class families in America's heartland, both tall and thin and boyish looking, and both passionate about acting.

Politically, though, they mostly disagree. Fonda is a solid Democrat and Stewart is a staunch Republican. Work on the Broadway stage picks up for both of them during 1933 and 1934, and both catch the eye of Hollywood scouts. Fonda arrives in Hollywood in 1935 to take the role of the male lead in The Farmer Takes a Wife. Fonda has played the same part in the stage play of the same name on Broadway, so he is well prepared for the movie role.

What he isn't well prepared for is the money he is suddenly making, $3,000 a week, and this is in the depths of the Great Depression, when $50 a week is considered good money for a professional. Stewart also arrives in Hollywood in 1935 to make his first movie. Soon, Fonda and Stewart are renting a house together and dating all the young starlets they can.

From nearly starving in a small apartment in New York, they are now living it up in a large home in an upscale neighborhood. And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of Henry Fonda, and my goodness, what a roommate to have, each of them, and what are the odds that Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda would share, well, let's just say share a very small shelter, because times were tight back when they moved to New York, and were aspiring actors. When we come back, more of this remarkable life story, a part of our Hollywood Goes to War series, here on Our American Stories. Henry Fonda's story continues. 🎵 🎵 🎵 And we continue with Our American Stories and with Roger McGrath telling the story of Henry Fonda as a part of our Hollywood Goes to War continuing series.

Let's pick up where we last left off. Here's McGrath. Fonda arrives in Hollywood in 1935 to take the role of the male lead in The Farmer Takes a Wife. What he isn't well prepared for is the money he is suddenly making, $3,000 a week.

And this is in the depths of the Great Depression, when $50 a week is considered good money for a professional. Jimmy Stewart also arrives in Hollywood in 1935 to make his first movie. Soon, Fonda and Stewart are renting a house together and dating all the young starlets they can. Fonda appears in two more movies in 1935, and then in three movies in 1936. It's in 1936 that he marries his second wife, Frances Seymour, who will give birth to Fonda's daughter, Jane, and his son, Peter. 1937 and 1938 see Fonda in nine more movies.

His fame grows and the money rolls in, but the best is yet to come. In 1939, Fonda plays Frank James in the movie Jesse James. Tyrone Power plays Jesse. Although the movie takes quite a few liberties with the real story of the Outlaw Brothers, it's a box office smash. It's also in 1939 that Fonda plays Abraham Lincoln in Young Man Lincoln. Directed by John Ford, the movie is another hit. Fonda stars in still another John Ford hit in 1939, Drums Along the Mohawk. Set in New York's Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War, Fonda gives another great performance, which includes one of the greatest escapes in movie history when he runs for his life from a band of Indian warriors. Fonda's movies in 1940 include still another John Ford smash success, The Grapes of Wrath. Fonda is nominated for Best Actor for portraying Tom Joad. He's on top of his game and stars in three more movies in 1940, including The Return of Frank James.

It's three movies for Fonda in 1941 and seven in 1942, including the critically acclaimed The Oxbow Incident. The United States is now in World War II, and Fonda begins thinking about enlisting. The director he has worked with so successfully, John Ford, is already serving in the Navy and was wounded in the Battle of Midway. Fonda's good friend, Jimmy Stewart, is already a pilot in the Army Air Corps. The last movie Fonda makes in 1942, The Immortal Sergeant, which will be released in 1943, has Fonda in the role of a Canadian serving in the British Army in North Africa, who is transformed from a diffident and shy young man into a war hero. The man in the movie convinces Fonda to quit Hollywood, declaring, I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio, and he enlists in the Navy. During the fall of 1942, Fonda excels in Navy boot camp, and upon graduation is sent to Quartermaster School.

In May 1943, he graduates in the top 5% of his Quartermaster class. He's now recommended for a commission. While his paperwork is being processed, he's assigned as Quartermaster Third Class to the destroyer, the USS Satterley, which is fresh out of a shipyard in Tacoma, Washington. Satterley's sea trials take her from Puget Sound to San Diego. After a week in San Diego, orders arrive for Fonda, telling him to report for commissioning in New York. Fonda can fly or take a train to New York, but instead he stays aboard Satterley, which is set to sail through the Panama Canal and onto Norfolk, Virginia. He doesn't want to leave Satterley a Quartermaster short, and he reckons he can use more experience at sea. After Satterley arrives at Norfolk, Fonda takes a train to New York and reports to naval headquarters.

He's discharged as an enlisted man and then sworn in as a lieutenant junior grade, equivalent to a first lieutenant in the Marines or Army. He is soon ordered to the naval air station at Anacostia, Washington, D.C. to make training films. Fonda is terribly upset he didn't leave Hollywood to make films for the Navy.

Fonda's commanding officer, who is stuck behind a desk himself, empathizes with Lieutenant J.G. and cuts orders for Fonda to be trained in air combat intelligence at the naval air station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Fonda enjoys both his training at Quonset Point and his classmates. For the most part, they are an older and well-educated group. Many of them come from the professional ranks in civilian life.

There is a district attorney, a judge, and a mayor among those training. Fonda and the others spend hours learning coding, photo analysis, and enemy plane and ship identification. After completing his training as an air combat intelligence officer, or ECI officer for short, Fonda is sent to Pearl Harbor. He now goes through a course in anti-submarine warfare at Kaneohe before being assigned to the USS Curtis, a seaplane tender that is currently at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In May 1944, Fonda flies to Kwajalein, rested from the Japanese in February, and becomes a member of Curtis' complement of 100 officers and more than 1,000 men.

Most of them are veterans of the attack on Pearl Harbor and battles in the Solomon, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands. Fonda assumes duties as an assistant ECI officer. He's finally in a forward area, and he's eager to see action.

He soon will. Curtis sails to Eniwetok, also recently taken from the Japanese, and begins preparing for the American invasion of the Marianas, some 1,200 miles to the west. A general quarters alarm goes off and Fonda races to his battle station, thinking he's in for his first action, but nothing materializes. The alarm will go off several times over the next several weeks with reports of Japanese subs or airplanes in the area. Curtis is responsible for servicing, resupplying, and, if needed, repairing the PBY Catalina seaplane. This means the PBY can range far and wide without worrying about land base. Most important for an air combat intelligence officer such as Henry Fonda, the PBY pilots bring back photographs of Japanese ships and Japanese installations on various islands.

The photos have to be analyzed, and the pilots have to be debriefed. The intelligence is then forwarded to fleet headquarters. The base of work for Curtis increases with the American invasion of the Mariana Islands, beginning with Saipan in June 1944, and followed by Guam and Tinian in July. By August 12, Curtis is anchored at Saipan. A few months later, Tokyo Rose mentions Curtis in one of her broadcasts and says the actor Henry Fonda is aboard.

She promises that Japanese forces are on their way to sink this ship. I've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of Henry Fonda, and, my goodness, right in the middle of one of the most prolific careers in Hollywood history, including an Oscar nomination, motion picture box office successes, working with the greatest director of his time, John Ford, something starts to bug him. His pals, and that's Jimmy Stewart, and John Ford were both serving. Ford got wounded in his time spent in the Navy at Midway.

Jimmy Stewart had volunteered for perhaps the most dangerous activity you could imagine, and that was joining the Army Air Corps. The call to duty called Henry Fonda hard. And when we come back, more of this remarkable story, a part of our Hollywood Goes to War series, the story of Henry Fonda going to war here on Our American Story.

Music And we continue with Our American Stories. Let's pick up with Roger McGrath. It's August 44. Henry Fonda's ship, Curtis, is anchored at Saipan. A few months later, Tokyo Rose mentions Curtis in one of her broadcasts and says that actor Henry Fonda is aboard. She promises that Japanese forces are on their way to sink the ship.

Here's McGrath. Sure enough, a few days later, Curtis is attacked by Japanese planes. Fonda is at his battle station to witness it. The pilot of one of the planes decides on a kamikaze attack and dives his plane directly at Curtis. Fire from the many guns of Curtis send the Japanese plane crashing into the sea, but not before it misses the ship by a mere 25 yards. The next day, Fonda and two young sailors don diving gear and swim down to the wrecked Japanese plane. They find the plane upside down on the ocean floor, the Japanese pilot and his bombardier still strapped into their seats. Fonda retrieves the pilot's flight log, maps, and several other items.

Back aboard Curtis, Fonda pours over the recovered items and determines that the plane flew from Pagon Island, which lies some 200 miles north of Saipan. The intel is radioed, the fleet headquarters, and airstrikes are immediately launched against Pagon. Japanese submarines are in ever-present danger.

Occasionally, their radio transmissions are intercepted and decoded. This enables Fonda and other ACI officers to attempt to plot a course for a Japanese sub and devise a search pattern. Fonda strikes gold when his estimated location for a Japanese sub enables Navy fighters to catch a sub on the surface and sink it. In November 1944, Lieutenant J.G., Henry Fonda, is promoted to lieutenant. Four months later, he is awarded a Bronze Star for his outstanding contributions to the Navy's Mariana and Iwo Jima campaigns. The citation reads in part, For distinguishing himself by meritorious service in connection with operations against the enemy as an assistant operations officer and air combat intelligence officer, he contributed materially to the planning and execution of air operations which effectively supported the campaigns, neutralized enemy installations on nearby enemy-held islands and atolls, and which subsequently developed into search missions in Empire waters and strikes on the Japanese mainland. His keen intelligence, untiring energy, and conscientious application to duty were in a large measure responsible for his successful contribution to the Central Pacific campaign. In March 1945, Fonda is transferred from his billet aboard Curtiss to serve on the staff of Admiral John Hoover on Guam. Hoover is the commander, Central Pacific Forward Area, and is responsible for support of fleet operations with island-based aircraft.

Hoover had used Curtiss as his flagship, and now he shifts his flag to the Navy base at Apra Harbor on Guam. The move ashore may have saved Fonda's life. While in the waters off Okinawa in June 1945, a kamikaze scores a direct hit on Curtiss, and 35 of Fonda's old shipmates are killed and 21 wounded. Lieutenant Fonda continues his excellent contributions as confirmed by his officer's fitness report for March to August 1945. Fonda is rated in the top 10% in every category. The rating officer, Commander Lyle Kepke, says, Lieutenant Fonda performed all his duties in an outstanding manner.

His pleasing personality, his ability to work with others, his intelligence, his untiring endurance and willingness made him a superior air combat intelligence officer while attached to this command. Early in August 1945, Fonda flies with Commander Kepke from Guam to Tinian to meet the pilots and crews of the B-29s who will drop the atom bombs on Japan and to be briefed on the operation. Fonda doesn't know exactly what these bombs are, but he is told their effects will be devastating.

On August 6th, a Noma Gay, commanded by Paul Tibbets, drops an atom bomb on Hiroshima, and on August 9, Boxcar, commanded by Charles Sweeney, drops an atom bomb on Nagasaki. The next day, Lieutenant Fonda receives orders to report to the Naval Director of Public Information in Washington, D.C. Fonda's war is over. He spends one month in Washington and then is ordered to Los Angeles for separation from active duty.

He spends six weeks on leave at his home in Brentwood and then is formally separated in November 1945. In 1946, Henry Fonda is back making movies, appearing as Wyatt Earp in John Ford's My Darling Clementine. Fonda's movie-making pace picks up with three movies in 1947 and two in 1948, including the John Ford classic, Fort Apache, in which Fonda plays an authoritarian cavalry officer. Fonda will appear in several dozen war movies in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, playing military officers several times, including his role as Lieutenant J.G.

Doug Roberts in another John Ford classic, Mr. Roberts. Although Fonda opposes sending American troops to Vietnam, he nonetheless goes on a USO tour of South Vietnam in 1967. He thinks it's important to boost the morale of the troops. The war is not their fault. Opposing the war but supporting the troops later leads to a temporary falling out with his daughter, Jane, who makes an ill-advised trip to North Vietnam and is photographed sitting in an anti-aircraft gun emplacement with NVA troops.

Fonda calls her foolish and frivolous. Most people today probably think of Henry Fonda only as one of Hollywood's iconic movie stars and don't know they turned his back on Hollywood and the fame and fortune that were his to join the US Navy during World War II and serve in the Pacific. Henry Fonda was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor, but he also was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service. And great work on the piece as always by Greg and a special thanks to Roger McGrath as always, author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes, a former UCLA professor and always a US Marine. And my goodness, I wonder which stood higher up on his mantle, the Bronze Star or the Oscar. He'd been nominated for an Oscar in 1940 for John Ford's epic, The Grapes of Wrath, but he won the Oscar 40 years later, starring in a film with his daughter, Jane, called On Golden Pond. If you ever get a chance, rent it. It still works.

It still plays. That he went to support the troops on the USO tour while being against the war is just how classy Henry Fonda was and how sensible he was. They didn't choose the war. They were just, well, representing their country. The story of Henry Fonda, part of our Hollywood Goes to War series, here on Our American Stories. .