"I know Dad would be so pleased that he is being honoured at the Cannes Festival. I'm very moved to represent his family here. I am inspired and proud of his legacy."

Jane Fonda


Henry Fonda was born in 1905 in Nebraska. Spotted on Broadway in 1934, he owes his first role in the movies to the adaptation by Victor Fleming of Marc Connelly's play The Farmer Takes a Wife. Inseparable from John Ford's body of work, he stars notably in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940 and My Darling Clementine in 1946. Enlisted in the Marines from 1942-1945, upon his return he takes up part of Gabin in the remake of The Long Night by Anatole Litvak. After several years devoted to the theatre, it's Sydney Lumet's 12 Angry Men (Golden Bear, Berlin, 1957) that marks his return to the silver screen. In 1962 and 1965, he comes to the Festival de Cannes by the side of Otto Preminger for Advise & Consent (in Competition), then In Harm's Way (Out of Competition). In 1969, Sergio Leone uses him cast against type in Once Upon a Time in the West. In 1978, he stars in Billy Wilder's Fedora, selected Out of Competition in Cannes.
A mythical actor of the golden age of the Hollywood cinema, Henry Fonda was notably directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Aldrich, Henri Verneuil, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Anthony Mann. Henry Fonda died in 1982, a few weeks after receiving his first Oscar as Best Actor for his last film, On Golden Pond by Mark Rydell.

The Festival pays tribute to Henry Fonda on Saturday, May 26th.
The film 12 Angry Men will be screened in the presence of Jane Fonda in the 60th Anniversary Theatre at 7:15 pm.

12 ANGRY MEN

Feature film (1957) - colour - 95'
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Screenplay: Reginald Rose
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Ed Binns, Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, John Savoca, Rudy Bond
Cinematography: Boris Kaufman
Music: Kenyon Hopkins
Production: Henry Fonda / Reginald Rose

Synopsis
The 12 members of the jury must rule on the case of a young man accused of murdering his father. 11 think he's guilty. The 12th, however, habours doubts and tries to convince them.