Henry Fonda's Unhinged Life Was Hollywood's Biggest Secret 

I met Peter Fonda about 15 years ago. I told him somone needed to do a conprehensive documentary about the 1960's and his movie "Easy Rider'. He looked at me, pointed his finger at me and said " That's a great idea, but you work on it. Don't just talk about doing things......go do them" Not sure, but maybe Henry told him that one time. So, I did start working on the documentary and it ended up being a 4 hour 4 part film that we called "On the Trail of Easy Rider". It was shown only in Europe on Television in 2011. Peter did great interviews in the film. We won a New York Festivals Gold Award for the effort. Peter was a super nice guy......

We all have our troubles. But a a lousy parent is a lousy person. We have a DUTY to be our best selves for our children.

Millions of men came back from WWII emotionally and mentally damaged, it’s PTSD.

Went to high school with his youngest daughter Amy....she was completely estranged from Henry, most b/c he was totally negligent as a father...Dont trust leaders or stars...

I figured out that he was a narcissist early in this video because I recently learned that my husband of 55 years is a narcissist too. It is a mental health disorder often caused by trauma in childhood. They missed out on the stages of learning to love and empathize. My husband sole emotion is anger. It is easier for me to understand him at this late date which is a tremendous help to me. Thank you for posting this video. :)

My dad had PTSD from WWII, surviving and escaping a Japanese POW camp, yet he managed to be both strict and very loving, due to the support he gave and received from his fellow camp survivors, both Filipino American, and Americans. I have never seen that type of deep friendship and strength since.

The job of Hollywood is to make life look the way we wished it was: meaningful, heroic and romantic.

Jimmy Stewart was the "bigger star" in the sense that although Fonda was respected, Stewart was loved by millions around the world. America identified with the intensity of Fonda's Tom Jode but Stewart as George Bailey was a tour de force of humanity in all its trials and triumphs. Jimmy was married for 44 years to his one and only Gloria.

As a girl in the 70's I fell in love with Mr Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, the brilliant Gregory Peck and my hero Mr John Wayne. These 4 gentlemen were and still are in a class of their own. Much respect for them.

I truly feel sorry for all of them. It's plain in the photos of Jane, as a child, that she was very sad. Very sad.

What gets me is that he had so IittIe caring for his chiIdren that when his son Peter was shot, he didn't even go to the hospitaI to see him.

Once Upon A Time In The West is my favorite Western and my favorite Henry Fonda role! He was a very convincing villain!

My dad was a close friend of a fellow who was also a close friend of Henry Fonda. When this fellow died, he had asked that my dad and Fonda spread his ashes at sea. The two of them rented a small boat one day and did as they were asked. I still remember my dad, who was a gregarious sort of fellow, grumbling the next day about being stuck in a boat for hours with Fonda - he hardly said a word the entire time. He had a reputation for being taciturn, and it was well deserved!

War destroys generations.

I think it is tricky, to judge the life of someone from a complete different era with our moral standard's today. For example, in those days it was quite common to hide feelings, to speak not about suicide, men used not to share their privacy with their wife ( a wife had normally nothing to say or demand inside a marriage), men usually didn't care much about their children, that was women's duty and so on. A Woman had often no clue, how much money her husband was earning. He gave her monthly money for the households. Many things were simply different then today. We could tell thousands of so called "tragic" stories from the past, because they appear tragic today, but in those days it was ordinary.

People really need to stop worshipping actors & celebrities as if they were something great. Judge them by their humanity, not their celebrity.

I can't imagine Tyrone Powers in that role in The Grapes of Rath. Again I can't imagine anyone but Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Stewart and Fonda had a classic dialogue about Republican vs Democrat in THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB (1970), after Stewart's character inherits a brothel - opining there was never a greater calling than to be a Republican business owner, to which Fonda's character finally recalls, "But didn't you always vote Democrat?" and Stewart's responds, "...well, that's when I didn't know any better."

I met Mr. Fonda back stage after his performance at Minskoff Theater in the production of Clarence Darrow. I was a college student. I was introduced to him by Maggie Pierce of fame as the lead female in My Mother the Car. Henry shook my hand and signed my playbill which I have to this day!

I had never been impressed by his look or acting. Something about him somehow disturbed me deep in my heart and always wondered how he became a famous actor. From South Korea.

Fonda’s suppression of the truth to his children about their mother’s suicide is perfectly understandable given the stigma attached to suicide back in that time and the ages of the children when it happened. Equally, he probably didn’t have the ability to deal with questions from his children about this topic and it probably also “didn’t look good” that his wife killed herself. I think that part of the story has been twisted. However, the impacts of an emotionally repressed man living a life on the big screen with fame and adoration is relevant and interesting. I feel sorry for Jane and Peter having had emotionally unstable parents.

Hardly an unhinged life.

Fonda also witnessed the lynching of a black man in his youth. Being raised in a culture that condoned mob violence and public murder produced many twisted individuals who never became actors.

Many men came back from WWII with a cold and distant persona. PTSD had not then been acknowledged. They had to keep inside what they saw. My father came back, cold and aloof. It was many years later that I learned he had liberated a concentration camp. In addition, you cannot blame Fonda for his wife’s suicide. Bipolar disorder is very hard to treat, even today. Suicide is not uncommon. Of course he wanted to protect his children from the truth as they were quite young.

I love Twelve Angry Men. All of the actors are incredible. I am an actor. This is film I can watch again and again. I always get something out of it. I also know that Henry Fonda had to fight to get this made. Watch him in Gideon's Trumpet. A small independent film that he made near the end of his life. It's wonderful. Just wonderful.

Every life has a context. Everyone lives a number of days within a number of years. Society and culture changes. The early 20th century was still a holdover from the late 19th century. Men were to be stoic. The emotionally in control. For a man to cry in front of anyone especially in public was faux pas, not good, not even remotely within the range of mores of that time frame. Men were to be strong, intelligent but relatively quiet. Only speaking and direct proportion to the situation at hand. Women were on the verge of freedom. Freedom of expression freedom of especially flamboyant sexual identity and that coincides with the freedom to vote and to have a political voice. This all was happening while there was tumult in the world. The first world war, fascism, communism, then the second world war. The world was building up and tearing itself down at the same time. Countries were coming into their own and gaining their independence from colonial powers. There was a lot going on to say the least. The personal experience of people and how we related to technology was a new phenomenon. People were overwhelmed. The old world was slipping away and behold the brave new world was at hand. Henry Fonda was a man of his time. But I think he just became a very public face to a very common persona. No one really had a good handle on parenting as it is today. We all succeed And we all fail at parenting and marriage and employment or business. That's just life. To say Henry Fonda was a failure in his life is not really accurate. He was a stunning success and artist to be sure. But he had his failures and weaknesses and foibles. But being stoic he was not allowed to express any of it or any of his feelings about it. And for us today to force our mores and taboos on the man and his time is not really fair. We're human beings after all. Beautiful and wonderful and fantastic, but horribly flawed each and every one of us. I wouldn't have it any other way.

My father had a personality like Henry Fonda's. He was raised not to show his emotions, so it was not surprising that he could not show the love that he had for his four children. He actually did not want to have children, and told my mother that early in their marriage. But my mother went ahead and had four with him. My father was a shy, introverted man like his father had been. But he was also kind and compassionate. And I loved him to bits when he died.

My late Mother, told me she saw Henry Fonda behind one of the theaters he was acting in, having a smoke break. My Mom was with two other friends and they waved at him and said happy to see him. He stuck our this tongue at them and turned his back. My Mom was crushed. I lost any respect for him after that. I still enjoyed his acting, but no longer had any respect for him.

The war and PTSD explains much of his actions. WWII was so hard on many young boys..my dad fought in WWII and had PTSD. He never really recovered and was sometimes angry...I adored my dad. We were very close.

fonda was not "unlucky" in love....he was an ass hole

My friend is Henry's nephew and he has said nothing good about his uncle.

I distinctly heard the narrator refer to Henry Fonda as ‘Ford’. Anyone else?

He wasn't unlucky in love. He was a world class jerk!

So many of these actors personal lives are a mess! Funny we think these people have it all, when just being a regular person is much better.

Jane looks SO much like her father.

Great video really enjoyed, narcissistic people think they are great, they think that they will hurt you, but it is themselves that they hurt, you move on to better and nicer things and people but the narcissistic stays in their cruel deluded world. Don't get angry at a narcissistic person feel sorry for them and move on in silence and love for yourself, because they can never love themselves let alone anything or anyone else no matter what is done for them, it is sad but that is the life they have chosen, you have to choose love and respect for your life.....Love and Peace to everyone in these crazy times.

He died when I was relatively young. I never realised what a gorgeous looking young man he had been! I am glad that in later life Peter and Jane seemed to have been able to get closer to him. Great video from Fascinate - I have subscribed and look forward to more - Happy New Year!

It explains so much about Jane Fonda's life. I knew her mother died, but not know about the cover up and all the lies she was told. She said something about suffering is about to start. Who doesn't suffer in life? She had a heartless father, a huge burden for any child.❤❤❤

What a mess. I would need more details to call Fonda's relationship with his first wife and his handling of her death as cruel, however. She was suffering from untreated bipolar disorder when married and killed herself in an asylum? That's a lot. Sounds more like he was a person with an emotionally avoidant personality, to me.

Read before that he was cold, distant, with a strained relationship with Jane. Not surprised he offered no help to her. Yet he could deliver the goods on camera.

I never cared for Fonda , there was always something about him that made me think he wasn't a nice man and now I know I was right .

With a father like that, it's no wonder Jane is so goofy.

Being a actor he was in love with himself!

Blessed with a gorgeous exterior and hollow interior. I always found Fonda cold, wooden, and devoid of humanity. He spawned two crazy children as well.

Haunting performance as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West, perhaps his best.

Henry fonda Ryan O'Neil Horrible fathers

This finally explains to me why his daughter turned out the way she did.

He was great in many movies, but my favorite is "Sometimes a Great Notion".

Some of Henry Fonda's traits are, in my experience, relatively common in men. My friend mentioned to me a few years ago, that her husband had only one reaction or emorion...anger. My husband was not that bad but he would let his annoyance over various things build up until he exploded to the point of yelling and jumping up and down. Most of the time, by far, however he was a rational, calm, though not particularly feeling-oriented individual.

Once Upon a Time in the Old West came out in 1968….two years after the The Good the Bad & Ugly ( the last movie of the Man with No Name Trilogy). He was never offered the Clint Eastwood role.

Once upon a time in the West was a great film With Fonda Playing a Bad Guy (A Rarity) and doing it brilliantly- Grapes of Wrath was Great as well and of course 12 Angry Men

He was one of the greats of classic Hollywood….that’s for sure. 👍

Strage how a therapist can tell a diagnose of the spouse of a patient publicly

Well done. This was interesting.

That was really interesting, thank you.

Thank you...❤

Everyone suffers, but the narrator delivers the facts without a shred of empathy.

Thank you for sharing.

I don't know how can one judge there was something so totally appealing about him and his acting of characters How can one blame him for his wife's death she finally killed herself sadly but what was she like to live with all those years pretty depressing I would think. He was so uniquely lovable and strangely sad angry and brave at the same time.RIP.

Interesting, I love the movie On golden pond.Must watch it soon. I haven’t seen since the 1980. Cheers thank you for posting this video, "Factinate"

Thanks for showing this video the truth is out there you just have to look out for it

The Fonda's...never happier then when making others unhappy.

Interesting, Fonda was Dutch, and like the Dutch was reserve and quiet, while Sullivan was Irish, and held nothing back. Being Irish, I can understand what Sullivan saw in Fonda. A break from her explosive family. Fonda saw in Sullivan a break from his repressive family. The only problem is that they were willing to change themselves.

Hank Fonda would sit in his boat and fish for hours without uttering a word. His silence spoke volumes of his discontentment.

If her therapist said anything at all, she should lose her license.....

Maybe that darkness made him a good actor but a sad and cruel human.

They adopted their secret child born out of wedlock. Look at the picture 👀

I doubt there would be few women who would write a goodbye to their ex.

And he can keep them for my part. His life is none of my business.

I remember seeing him on the Million Dollar Movie in the 50’s in a movie called ‘Slim’. Sixty five years later I can’t forget his performance in the title role with Pat O’Brien reliably driving the narrative about men who tended, rain or shine, to the high tension wires that were beginning to connect the country coast to coast. I also read Brooke Hayward’s book (Dennis Hopper hides deep and unmentionable in its bowels - or heart or whatever) … Fonda’s world certainly reflects a different American reality than the Cleavers, Huxtables etc… But then what constitutes a family, and who’s to judge when the bodies are already buried? Only the children’s if they so choose…

I read Peter and Jane's memiors. I never knew his Italian wife was a baroness.

This video is excellent. Great narration.

No wonder his kids are so screwed up. The apples never fall far from the tree.

What I get sick of is this click bait. I stopped watching about halfway through when I had enough of the drama of overplaying Fonda’s life decisions. Look, he was no angel but I imagine most of us shouldn’t “throw stones”. As regards his children, and the videos attempt to make him out as a bad father, I think it’s obvious that having a mother with bipolar disorder so severe she killed herself, it undoubtedly had the worse effect on their lives through no fault of their Father.

He was not "unlucky in love". He was a giant prick who charmed very young women who couldn't know better and then treated them appallingly.

the Photo of Peter and Jane as Children is Great, I thought the women in the background was their Grandmother...Very sad for Francis ..

He really favored his beautiful mom!

There's no real "unhinged" or "dark" in this.

Sure are a lot of expert psychiatrist/psycholoogist narrators

There's no excuse for the affair and divorce. None. But other than that, exactly how was he so bad? He tried to shield his children from excess grief? Horrors! He gave up everything to serve in WWII? What a selfish SOB! He spent the rest of his life suffering from PTSD compounded by his stoic upbringing? How dare he! He avoided public scenes? What a diva!

I don't know what kind of person Hank was in real life, but Jimmy Stewart was his life-long bestest friend. I know that Hank wrote many letters to his toddler daughter, Jane, and proudly showed off her picture to his shipmates. I think he loved his children, ut I think he also suffered from bad parenting and PTSD from WWII. He loved Jimmy Stewart like a brother. I don't think Jimmy would hang around a horrible person.

Children who have a parent who committed suicide are at greater risk to commit suicide themselves. So it was probably a good decision not to tell his children how their mom really died.

This dredged up some old memories. In the 80's I lived with the daughter of Philip Knight, whose patient at Riggs was Frances. He was still treating her at the time of her death. They had a fairly modest home in Stockbridge MA. But in the foyer was a portait by another Stockbridge resident, Norman Rockwell.

Fame and fortune doesn't solve life's problems. It almost seems like he didn't feel he deserved to be happy.

I heard Honda won an award as being the ''Greatest Hollywood Father'' but apparently nobody asked his kids who had totally different opinions.

My favorite movie is Cheyenne Social Club with Fonda and Stewart.Our family watched it every thanksgiving.

Complicated man. What a face when young, though.

Saw him in person a couple of times. He was tiny. But you can't tell because of movie magic. 😊

Well put together biography and very well narrated. Very enjoyable.

A very good video enjoyed.

Good Job

And then there is Joan Crawford.

Leone wanted Fonda to play the character that Lee Van Cleef wound up playing in For A Few Dollars More.

When it means an argument or fight, the word "rows" does not rhyme with "rose"; the vowel is like the "ou" in blouse.

He took his pain to his incredible roles.

I wonder, now, what his family of origin was like...

Seeing Once Upon a Time with Fonda was real surprise to me as I was used to seeing him as the understanding good guy. It works so well because it seems wrong. Great film.

Darker??? Because some therapist he never met said he's a narcissist? He was emotionally unavailable and closed off...yeah, his children needed more for sure but let's not turn him in to a demon after he died..

We don’t get to choose our families and have to cope all our lives with the fallout of our childhoods. We do the best we can, often without the support and love of our family members. Everything is a lesson. We may never know what Fonda experienced in his early life, but he felt safe enough to express himself in the roles he played. RIP Mr. Fonda.

If you ever find yourself in Grand Island, Nebraska, you can visit the Henry Fonda house at Stuhr Museum.