"The words one associates most often with Henry Fonda are 'honesty' and 'integrity.'"-Leonard Maltin. In part that was what AFI was honoring when it chose Henry Fonda (1905-1982) as the sixth recipient of AFI's Life Achievement Award in 1978. In many ways America's ideal hero, Henry Fonda epitomized the perfect president, commanding officer or juror. With a range that encompassed a tormented passionate lover (YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE), a feckless light comedian (THE LADY EVE) and an utterly memorable villain (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST), Fonda's quiet authority- in whatever the part-perhaps allowed us to take him for granted. In the ultimate accolade for a truly dedicated actor, he never seemed to be acting. Fonda was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for ON GOLDEN POND, but he also received an Honorary Oscar in 1980. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, AFI Silver looks at the career of the American cinema giant who once said, "I'm not really Henry Fonda. Nobody could have that much integrity."

YOUNG MISTER LINCOLN

Among the heights of John Ford's Americana, Henry Fonda's Abraham Lincoln loves and loses Ann Rutledge. Then he studies law, runs his first political race, meets Mary Todd and Stephen A. Douglas, and takes on a climactic murder trial-with its solution found in a farmer's almanac. National Film Registry, 2003.

DIR John Ford; SCR Lamar Trotti; PROD Kenneth Macgowan. US, 1939, b&w, 101 min. RATED APPROVED

New 35mm Print!
THE GRAPES OF WRATH

The exodus of the Joad family, led by Fonda (Hero #12: AFI's 100 YearsÉ100 Heroes & Villains) and Jane Darwell, from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to the Eden of California at the height of the Depression. Oscars to director John Ford and actress Jane Darwell, and a nomination for Fonda for this adaptation of Steinbeck's classic. National Film Registry, 1989. "Fonda's grave face and his loping walk were never better used. A document of social history."-David Shipman, The Story of Cinema.

DIR John Ford; SCR Nunnally Johnson, from the novel by John Steinbeck; PROD Darry F. Zanuck. US, 1940, b&w, 129 min. UNRATED

JEZEBEL

Spoiled ante-bellum Southern belle Bette Davis's headstrong behavior- including wearing a red gown to an all-white ball-loses her straightarrow fiancé Henry Fonda but provides her salvation when the yellow fever hits. Fonda's only film for William Wyler, who had also been previously married to Margaret Sullivan.

DIR/PROD William Wyler; SCR Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel and John Huston. US, 1938, b&w, 104 min. RATED APPROVED

THE LADY EVE

In Preston Sturges' comedy masterpiece, owlish herpetologist ("Snakes are my life!") and Pike's Pale Ale heir Henry Fonda is an easy mark for con artist Barbara Stanwyck and dad Charles Coburn. But does love get in the way of chicanery?

DIR/SCR Preston Sturges; PROD Paul Jones. US, 1941, b&w, 97 min. UNRATED

THE WRONG MAN

Fonda's only film for Hitchcock, and a rare sober, near-documentarystyle treatment of a true story from the Master. Stork Club bassist Henry Fonda's quiet life with wife Vera Miles ends when he's mistaken for a look-alike stickup man and thrown into the slammer. Will justice win out?

DIR Alfred Hitchcock; SCR Maxwell Anderson and Angus Macphail; PROD Alfred Hitchcock (uncredited): US, 1956, b&w, 105 min. UNRATED

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE

Ex-con Fonda vows to go straight for wife Sylvia Sydney. But who's going to believe it if he does? Reminiscent of the Bonnie and Clyde story as they go on the lam, its highlights are its two intense and passionate performances and Lang's German Expressionistic direction.

DIR Fritz Lang; SCR Gene Towne and Graham Baker; PROD Walter Wanger (uncredited). US, 1936, b&w, 86 min. RATED APPROVED

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
[C'era una volta il West]

Kid-blasting villain Henry Fonda is stalked by revenge-bent Charles Bronson with the aid of good-bad man Jason Robards, as the railroad marches relentlessly westward.

DIR Sergio Leone; SCR Sergio Donati and Leone; PROD Bino Cicogna. US, 1968, color, scope, 165 min. RATED PG

MISTER ROBERTS

On a cargo ship in the Pacific backwaters during World War II, Fonda's Lt. Doug Roberts-returning to his signature, Tony Awardwinning stage comedy smash after six years off screen-keeps up morale as he battles palm tree-loving Captain James Cagney.

DIR John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy; SCR Frank Nugent and Joshua Logan, from the play by Logan and Thomas Heggen; PROD Leland Hayward. US, 1955, color, scope, 123 min. RATED APPROVED

Restored Director's Cut!
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature's Doc Holliday square off with Walter Brennan at the OK Corral. One of Ford's most atmospheric works, memorable for Fonda's dance in the open air with Cathy Downs in the title role. "One of Ford's finest films, and an American classic."-Leonard Maltin. Restored by the UCLA Film Archive: Ford's version before Darryl Zanuck's re-edit.

DIR DIR John Ford; SCR Winston Miller and Samuel G. Engel; PROD Samuel G. Engel. US, 1946, b&w, 97 min. RATED APPROVED