Editing Henry Fonda (section)

==Personal life==

===Marriages and children===

{{chart top|Henry Fonda family tree}}

{{Tree chart/start|align=center}}

{{Tree chart|P10 |v|P11 | | | | | | | | |
| P10=[[William Brace Fonda]]<br />1879–1935
| P11=[[Herberta Krueger Jaynes]]<br/>1879–1934
| boxstyle_P10=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P11=background: pink;
}}
{{Tree chart| | | |! | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart| | |P1|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|
| P1=Henry Fonda<br />1905–1982
| boxstyle_P1=background:lightblue; 
}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | `|P2|)|P3|`|P4|`|P5|` |P6 |  | | 
| P2=[[Margaret Sullavan]]<br />1909–1960
| P3=[[Frances Ford Seymour]]<br />1908–1950
| P4=[[Susan Blanchard (socialite)|Susan Blanchard]]<br />1928–
| P5=[[Afdera Franchetti]]<br />1931–
| P6=[[Shirlee Mae Adams]]<br />1932–
| boxstyle_P2=background:pink;
| boxstyle_P3=background:pink;
| boxstyle_P4=background:pink;
| boxstyle_P5=background:pink;
| boxstyle_P6=background:pink;
}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | |) |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|. |}}
{{Tree chart| | | | |P20|v|P7|v |P21| | | |P8|v|P12 | | | | | | | |
| P7=[[Jane Fonda]]<br />1937–
| P8=[[Peter Fonda]]<br />1940–2019
| P12=[[Susan J. Brewer]]
| P20=[[Roger Vadim]]<br />1928–2000
| P21=[[Tom Hayden]]<br />1939–2016
| boxstyle_P7=background:pink; 
| boxstyle_P8=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P12=background: pink;
| boxstyle_P20=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P21=background: lightblue;
}}

{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | !| | | |) |- |- |- |. | | | |,|-|^|-|-|-|-|-|.}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | |P22 | |P23 | |P24 | |P9 |v|P14| |P13 | |
| P9=[[Bridget Fonda]]<br />1964–
| P14=[[Danny Elfman]]<br/>1953–
| P13=[[Justin Fonda]]
| P22=[[Vanessa Vadim]]
| P23=[[Troy Garity]]<br />1973–
| P24=[[Mary Williams (activist)|Mary Williams]]<br />1967–
| boxstyle_P9=background:pink; 
| boxstyle_P13=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P23=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P14=background:lightblue; 
| boxstyle_P22=background: pink; 
| boxstyle_P24=background: pink; 
}}

{{Tree chart| | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | }}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | |P15| | | | |
| P15=[[Daniel Robert Elfman]]
| boxstyle_P15=background:lightblue; 
}}

{{Tree chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

Fonda was married five times and had three children, one of them adopted. His marriage to Margaret Sullavan in 1931 soon ended in separation, which was finalized in a 1933 divorce. Throughout most of 1935, Fonda dated actress/singer [[Shirley Ross]];<ref name="HF&SR2HF&VB">{{Cite book |last=Eyman |first=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ka-uDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart |date=2017 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-5011-0217-2 |location=New York |page=74 |quote=Stewart would take great delight in pricking Fonda's affectation of isolation, often by enumerating chapter and verse. He noted Fonda's infatuation with the actress Shirley Ross, and said that, 'We both dated Virginia Bruce.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Fidler |first=Jimmy |date=December 22, 1941 |title=Turner and Taylor Top Team in Picture of Week in Sure Fire 'Johnny Eager; Seven Years Ago in Hollywood |page=22 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/636434459/?clipping_id=107566461 |access-date=August 14, 2022 |quote=Shirley Ross and Henry Fonda were romancing}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Harrison |date=May 1, 1935 |title=Behind the Scenes in Hollywood |page=2 |work=The Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/182204368/?clipping_id=107566352 |access-date=August 14, 2022 |quote=Shirley Ross and Henry Fonda (Margaret Sullivan's ex) were having a gay time at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club the other evening ... she in a white linen sport suit and he in a tuxedo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Ed |date=June 17, 1935 |title=Broadway: Men and Maids |page=31 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/415321152/?clipping_id=107569355 |access-date=August 14, 2022 |quote=Henry Fonda, who clicks in the Janet Gaynor flicker, is sending flowers daily to Shirley Ross}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kendall |first=Read |date=September 20, 1935 |title=Around and About in Hollywood; Odd and Interesting Hollywood Gossip |page=13 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380636061/?clipping_id=107567856 |access-date=August 14, 2022 |quote=Henry Fonda and Shirley Ross, who is singing in 'Anything Goes' at El Capitan, tete-a-teting at the Century Club}}</ref> by year's end, it had been widely reported—by, among others, then-syndicated columnist [[Ed Sullivan]]—that the couple was engaged, with wedding plans afoot.<ref name="Lancaster">{{Cite news |date=November 1, 1935 |title=Comedy Star to Wed |page=29 |work=Lancaster New Era |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/560343103/?clipping_id=107568596 |access-date=August 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kendall |first=Read |date=November 16, 1935 |title=Around and About in Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107566650/the-los-angeles-times |access-date=August 14, 2022 |website=The Los Angeles Times |page=29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 22, 1935 |title=In Hollywood: Bells to Ring |page=2 |work=Movienews Weekly |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/756359405/?clipping_id=107567776 |access-date=August 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Ed |date=August 14, 2022 |title=Broadway: Dawn Patrol |page=62 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107576270/daily-news}}</ref> Reports notwithstanding, both parties evidently reconsidered and in January 1936 it was reported that Fonda was now seeing actress [[Virginia Bruce]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Harrison |date=January 22, 1936 |page=25 |work=The Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/524199625/?clipping_id=107577563 | title = Marlene Answers Mother's Plea; Ailing Girl May Get Gowns |access-date=August 14, 2022}}</ref><ref name="HF&SR2HF&VB" />

Later that year Fonda married [[Frances Ford Seymour|Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw]], widow of a wealthy industrialist, [[George Tuttle Brokaw]].{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 22}} The Brokaws had a daughter who had been born soon after the Brokaws marriage in 1931.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 222}}

Fonda had met Frances at [[Denham Studios]] in England on the set of ''[[Wings of the Morning (1937 film)|Wings of the Morning]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andersen |first=Christopher |title=Citizen Jane |date=1990}}</ref> the first picture in Europe to be filmed in three-strip [[Technicolor]].<ref name="Slide">{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |title=Fifty Classic British Films, 1932-1982: A Pictorial Record |date=1985 |publisher=[[Dover Publications, Inc.]] |isbn=0-486-24860-7 |location=New York |page=22 |chapter=Wings of the Morning |lccn=84-21230 |author-link=Anthony Slide |access-date=May 22, 2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu1zw2ugvTsC&pg=PA22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522123344/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu1zw2ugvTsC&pg=PA22 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> They had two children, [[Jane Fonda|Jane]] (b. 1937) and [[Peter Fonda|Peter]] (1940{{ndash}}2019), both of whom became successful actors. Jane has won two Best Actress [[Academy Award]]s, and Peter was nominated for two Oscars, one for Best Actor.
[[File:Henry Fonda and Jane - 1943.jpg|upright|thumb|Fonda with his daughter [[Jane Fonda|Jane]], 1943]]
In August 1949, Fonda announced to Frances that he wanted a divorce so he could remarry; their 13 years of marriage had not been happy ones for him.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 65}} Devastated by Fonda's confession and plagued by emotional problems for many years, Frances went into the [[Craig House Sanitarium]] in January 1950 for treatment. She committed suicide there on April 14. Before her death, she had written six notes to various individuals, but left no final message for her husband. Fonda quickly arranged a private funeral with only himself and his mother-in-law, Sophie Seymour, in attendance.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 69}} Years later, Dr. Margaret Gibson, the psychiatrist who had treated Frances at Austen Riggs, described Henry Fonda as "a cold, self-absorbed person, a complete [[narcissism|narcissist]]."{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 67}}

Later in 1950, Fonda married [[Susan Blanchard (socialite)|Susan Blanchard]], his mistress. She was 21 years old, the daughter of Australian-born interior designer [[Dorothy Hammerstein]], and the step-daughter of [[Oscar Hammerstein II]].{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| pages = 63-64}} Together, they adopted a daughter, Amy Fishman (b. 1953).<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2005 |title=Amy Fonda 1953 - |url=http://fonda.org/gedtree/1028.html |access-date=January 11, 2007 |website=fonda.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124051938/http://fonda.org/gedtree/1028.html |archive-date=November 24, 2005 }}</ref> They divorced three years later. Blanchard was in awe of Fonda, and she described her role in the marriage as "a geisha", doing everything she could to please him, dealing with and solving problems he would not acknowledge.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 78}}

In 1957 Fonda married the Italian [[baroness]] [[Afdera Franchetti]].<ref name="Graziano Arici ">{{Cite web |last=Graziano Arici Photographer |date=November 3, 2005 |title=Graziano Arici Archives / GA016526: Celebrities from '40's to '70's |url=http://www.grazianoarici.it/oldies/pages/GA016526.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051103030908/http://www.grazianoarici.it/oldies/pages/GA016526.htm |access-date=January 11, 2007|archive-date=November 3, 2005 }}</ref> They divorced in 1961. Soon after, in 1965, Fonda married Shirlee Mae Adams (born in 1932) and remained with her until his death in 1982.
[[File:Peter Fonda with his bride Susan Brewer and his father Henry Fonda, 1961.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Fonda at son Peter's 1961 wedding to Susan Brewer]]
Fonda's relationship with his children has been described as "emotionally distant". Fonda loathed displays of feeling in himself or others, and this was a consistent part of his character. Whenever he felt that his emotional wall was being breached, he had outbursts of anger, exhibiting a furious temper that terrified his family.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| page = 78}} In Peter Fonda's 1998 autobiography ''Don't Tell Dad'' (1998), he described how he was never sure how his father felt about him. He never volunteered to his father that he loved him until he was elderly, and Peter finally heard, "I love you, son."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Araujo |date=November 24, 2005 |title=Sermon of September 27, 1998 |url=http://www.fumcsd.org/sermons/sr092798.html |access-date=January 11, 2007 |website=First United Methodist Church of San Diego|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124212205/http://www.fumcsd.org/sermons/sr092798.html |archive-date=November 24, 2005 }}</ref> His daughter Jane rejected her father's friendships with Republican actors such as [[John Wayne]] and [[James Stewart]]. Their relationship became extremely strained as Jane Fonda became a left-wing activist.

Jane Fonda reported feeling detached from her father, especially during her early acting days. In 1958 she met [[Lee Strasberg]] while visiting her father in Malibu. The Fonda and Strasberg families were neighbors, and she had developed a friendship with Strasberg's daughter, [[Susan Strasberg|Susan]]. Jane Fonda began studying acting with Strasberg, learning the techniques of "[[method acting|The Method]]" of which Strasberg was a renowned proponent. This proved to be a pivotal point in her career. As Jane Fonda developed her skill as an actress, she became frustrated with her father's talent that, to her, appeared a demonstration of effortless ability.{{sfn| Bosworth | 2011| pages = 107-108}}

===Political views===

Fonda was a supporter of the Democratic Party and "an admirer" of U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].<ref name="JFK">{{Cite web |title=The Living Room Candidate - Commercials - 1960 - Henry Fonda |url=http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1960/henry-fonda |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107095425/http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1960/henry-fonda |archive-date=January 7, 2011 |access-date=August 27, 2015 |website=livingroomcandidate.org}}</ref> In [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]] Fonda appeared in a campaign commercial for presidential candidate [[John F. Kennedy]]. The ad focused on Kennedy's [[United States Navy|naval]] service during World War II, specifically the famous [[Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109|PT-109]] incident.<ref name=JFK/> He supported 
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in the [[1964 United States presidential election]], and [[Ted Kennedy]] in the [[1980 Democratic Party primaries]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 1, 1964 |title=Jet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 27, 1980 |title=Celebrities helping political candidates find greener pastures |work=Austin American-Statesman}}</ref> He was initially a registered Republican, but switched parties.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 26, 2013 |title=Henry Fonda, Republican? Yes, Says His Son |url=https://blog.aarp.org/entertainment/henry-fonda-republican-yes-says-his-son |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130230104/https://blog.aarp.org/entertainment/henry-fonda-republican-yes-says-his-son |archive-date=November 30, 2020 |access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref>

===On acting===

The writer Al Aronowitz, while working on a profile of Jane Fonda for ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' in the 1960s, asked Henry Fonda about [[method acting]]: "I can't articulate about the Method", he told me, "because I never studied it. I don't mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about it...I don't know what the Method is and I don't care what the Method is. Everybody's got a method. Everybody can't articulate about their method, and I can't, if I have a method—and Jane sometimes says that I use the Method, that is, the capital letter Method, without being aware of it. Maybe I do; it doesn't matter."<ref name="blacklistedjournalist.com">{{Cite web |title=Jane Fonda, Henry Fonda, Baronessa Afdera Franchetti, Lee Strasberg, Paula Strasberg, Marilyn Monroe, Maibu, Marty Freed, Mervin Leroy, Jimmy Stewart, Susan Strasberg, Ingrid Bergman |url=http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column63j.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101132519/http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column63j.html |archive-date=January 1, 2018 |access-date=November 10, 2018 |website=blacklistedjournalist.com}}</ref>

Aronowitz reported Jane saying, "My father can't articulate the way he works. He just can't do it. He's not even conscious of what he does, and it made him nervous for me to try to articulate what I was trying to do. And I sensed that immediately, so we did very little talking about it...he said, 'Shut up, I don't want to hear about it.' He didn't want me to tell him about it, you know. He wanted to make fun of it."<ref name="blacklistedjournalist.com" />