The Man Who Saw a Ghost: The Life and Work of Henry Fonda (64 page)

Stranger on the Run.
October 31, 1967. NBC.
NBC Tuesday Night at the Movies.
Universal. Director: Don Siegel. Producer: Richard E. Lyons. Screenplay: Dean Reisner, from story by Reginald Rose. Cast: Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter, Michael Parks, Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Lloyd Bochner, Michael Burns, Bernie Hamilton.

The Smith Family.
January 1971–June 1972. ABC. Director: Herschel Daugherty. Producer: Don Fedderson. Cast: Henry Fonda, Janet Blair, Darleen Carr, John Carter, Ron Howard, Charles McGraw, Michael-James Wixted.

The Red Pony.
March 18, 1973. NBC.
Bell System Family Theatre.
Omnibus/Universal. Director: Robert Totten. Producer: Frederick H. Brogger and James Franciscus. Screenplay: Totten and Ron Bishop, from novel by John Steinbeck. Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Hara, Ben Johnson, Jack Elam, Clint Howard, Julian Rivero, Lieux Dressler, Roy Jensen, Richard Jaeckel, Woodrow Chambliss, Rance Howard.

The Alpha Caper.
October 16, 1973. ABC. Silverton/Universal. Director: Robert Michael Lewis. Producers: Aubrey Schenck and Harve Bennett. Screenplay: Elroy Schwartz. Cast: Henry Fonda, Leonard Nimoy, James McEachin, Larry Hagman, Elena Verdugo, John Marley, Noah Beery, Jr., Tom Troupe, Woodrow Parfrey, Vic Tayback, Kenneth Tobey, James B. Sikking.

Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur.
January 4, 1976. ABC.
ABC Theatre.
Director: Anthony Page. Producers: Stan Margulies and David L. Wolper. Screenplay: Ernest Kinoy. Cast: Henry Fonda, E. G. Marshall, Lucille Benson, Lee Kessler, Lloyd Bochner, Ward Costello, Andrew Duggan, Russell Johnson, John Larch, John Randolph, Barry Sullivan, Priscilla Pointer, Howard Hesseman.

Home to Stay.
May 2, 1978. CBS. Time Life Films. Director: Delbert Mann. Producers: Donald W. Reid, David Susskind, and Frederick Brogger. Screenplay: Suzanne Clauser, from novel
Grandpa and Frank,
by Janet Majerus. Cast: Henry Fonda, Kristen Vigard, Michael McGuire, Frances Hyland, David Stambaugh.

The Oldest Living Graduate.
April 7, 1980.
NBC Live Theatre.
Director: Jack Hofsiss. Producer: Gareth Davis. Executive producer: David W. Rintels. Teleplay: Preston Jones, from his play. Cast: Henry Fonda, Cloris Leachman, George Grizzard, John Lithgow, Harry Dean Stanton, Penelope Milford, David Ogden Stiers, Timothy Hutton, Allyn Ann McLerie.

Gideon’s Trumpet.
April 30, 1980. CBS.
Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Producer: Robert H. Justman. Director: Robert Collins. Producers: David W. Rintels and John Houseman. Screenplay: Rintels, from book by Anthony Lewis. Cast: Henry Fonda, José Ferrer, John Houseman, Fay Wray, Sam Jaffe, Dean Jagger, Nicholas Pryor, William Prince, Lane Smith, Dolph Sweet.

Summer Solstice.
December 30, 1981. ABC. Director: Ralph Rosenblum. Producer: Stephen Schlow. Screenplay: Bill Phillips. Cast: Henry Fonda, Myrna Loy, Stephen Collins, Lindsay Crouse, Patricia Elliott, Marcus Smythe.

Acknowledgments

My gratitude goes first, as ever, to Kathy—for everything, and for everything else.

I’m indebted to the staffs of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis; the Museum of Television and Radio in New York; the New-York Historical Society; and the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. In Nebraska, Martha Paulsen at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Betsye Paragas at the Omaha Community Playhouse, and Mary-Jo Miller at the Nebraska State Historical Society proved to be Middle Westerners of the best kind—open, friendly, and happy to share.

Thanks to Jordan Person and Nic Rouleau of the New York University Drama School for permitting me to watch their scene from
Two for the Seesaw.
The employees of Jerry Ohlinger’s famed movie memorabilia shop were more than helpful. Ron Mandelbum was my heavenly connection to the starry dynamo that is the Photofest archives.

For their conversation and curiosity down the years, I thank Attilla Ertl, Mike Gerber, Peter Greenman, Dylan Hicks, Tim Joyce, Mark Lerner, Bryan Mette, Evan Mueller, Robert Nott, Ed Park, Stella Park, Loree Rackstraw, Tim Riley, John Shaw, Colleen Sheehy, Kathy Zimmer, and the late Peter Dee.

Martha Hunt Huie entered my life unexpectedly and delightfully with a bounty of humor and wisdom. Jonathan Lethem went beyond generosity to help this book find a home, asking nothing in return. A single word from Luc Sante shored me up at a crucial moment.

My agent, Paul Bresnick, took this book personally and represented it that way. I was fortunate to be the beneficiary of his great talent, experience, and belief. My editor, Elizabeth Beier, was never short on enthusiasm, insight, and guidance. Her assistant, Michelle Richter, also earns my enormous thanks, as do the rest of the St. Martin’s Press team, who more than earned their pay: production manager Eva Diaz; production editor John Morrone; cover designer Rob Grom; Laura Clark in marketing; John Karle in publicity; and publishers Sally Richardson and Matthew Shear.

The following deserve special thanks: Scott Cawelti, my first and best teacher of film; Ernest Callenbach, former editor of
Film Quarterly,
and the first person outside of Iowa to publish my writing; Ann Martin, his successor in that post, who taught me much; and Nick Thomson, movie friend and lover of noir, Ozu, Jack London, and the Feelies.

Love to Rhoda, Mark, Lori, and Salvador, and to Mike, Hope, and Mya.

Last and deepest thanks go to my mother, to my sister, and especially to my father. He died before this book was finished, but I promised him one day it would be. He was a Henry Fonda fan.

Index

The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

HF stands for Henry Fonda. Kinship terms like (son) are in relation to HF. Married women are listed under their birth names. Films, plays, and TV shows in which HF appeared are designated by genre.

ABC

Abry, Charles

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

actors

neurotic

traditional low prestige of

Actors Studio

Adams, Shirlee Mae (5th wife)

background of

Adler, Renata

Advise and Consent
(film)

Age of Kennedy, The
(TV special)

agrarianism, of Jefferson

Air Combat Intelligence (ACI)

Alamo, The

Albee, Edward

Alcatraz, occupation of

Alexander, Jane

Alexander, Ross

suicide of

Allen, Steve

All Good Americans

All in the Family
(TV special)

Alpha Caper, The
(TV show)

Alvarez, A.

Alvin Theatre (New York)

Ambrose, Stephen E.

Ameche, Don

America

aspirations vs. reality

ideals of

mythology of the past

politics in

values of, upheld by HF

Americana, in films and plays

American Bee Journal

American Civil War

American Film Institute

American Heart Association

American Indian Movement

American International Pictures

American Short Story, The
(video intros for series)

Amsterdam, Fondas in

Anderson, Al

Anderson, Robert

And God Created Woman

Andrews, Dana

ANTA Playhouse (New York)

anticommunism

Anti-Nazi League (ANL)

antiwar movement

Any Wednesday

Apartment, The

apocalyptic movies

Appointment in Samarra
(film project)

Appointment in Samarra
(novel, O’Hara)

Arbuckle, Fatty

Armendáriz, Pedro

Aronson, Boris

Arthur, Bea

Arthur, Jean

Ash Wednesday
(film)

Associated Press

Astaire, Adele

Astaire, Fred

Astor, John Jacob

Atkinson, Brooks

Austen Riggs sanitarium (Stockbridge, Massachusetts)

Austria

Ayers, Bill

Bacall, Lauren

Balanchine, George

Baldwin, James

Balestrero, Christopher Emanuel “Manny”

Ball, Lucille

Ballard, Lucien

Baltimore, Maryland

Bancroft, Anne

Bankhead, Tallulah

Barbarella

Bardot, Brigitte

Barefoot in the Park

Barker, The
(play)

Barnard College

Barnes, Clive

Barrow, Clyde

Barry, Philip

Barrymore, Ethel

Battle of Midway, The

Battle of the Bulge
(film)

Baum, Larry

BBC

Beatles, the

Beatty, Warren

Beau Geste

beekeeping, HF’s

Behrman, S. N.

being left alone

Belafonte, Harry

Bel Geddes, Barbara

Bell, George

Bell Telephone

Bennett, Dr. Courtney

Bennett, Joan

Benny, Jack

Berkeley, California

Berlin

Bernstein, Walter

Berryman, John

Best Man, The
(film)

Best Man, The
(play)

Beyond the Horizon
(play)

Bickford, Charles

Big Bear Lake, California

Biggest Battle, The
(film)

Big Hand for the Little Lady, A
(film)

Big Picture, The
(propaganda film series)

Big Street, The
(film)

Big Sur, California

Billings, George

Biltmore Theatre (Hollywood)

Binyon, Claude

Birth of a Nation, The

race violence fostered by

blacklist

Black Panthers

Black Power

blacks

identification with HF

oppression of

See also
lynching

Blackstone Theatre (Chicago)

Blair, Janet

Blanchard, Susan (3rd wife)

background

Blockade
(film)

Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole

Blow Ye Winds
(play)

Boddy, Manchester

Boetticher, Budd

Bogart, Humphrey

Bogdanovich, Peter

Bolton, Whitney

Bond, Ward

Bonnie and Clyde

Boorman, John

Booth, John Wilkes

Boothe, Clare

Booth Theatre (New York)

Boston Strangler, The
(film)

Bower, Sophie

Boyer, Charles

Brady, Alice

Brady, Mathew

Brahm, John

Branch, Melville C.

Brandeis, Louis

Brandler, Mark

Brando, Dorothy “Do”

Brando, Marlon