CBS NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: HENRY FONDA: AN AMERICAN ACTOR (TV)
Summary
This news special, anchored by Dan Rather, looks at the life and career of Henry Fonda, who just died at the age of seventy-seven. The special includes taped interviews with Fonda, his children Jane and Peter Fonda, film directors Mark Rydell and Peter Bogdanovich, Fonda's biographer Howard Teichmann, director/actor Joshua Logan, actor James Stewart, and actor/producer John Houseman. Highlights include: the fact that Fonda appeared in eighty-five films and almost as many stage productions in his long career; how, at the age of seventy, he starred in the stage production of "Clarence Darrow" and after that, when he thought his career was over, along came "On Golden Pond"; how this movie marked the first time he had appeared with Katharine Hepburn and his daughter Jane; Mark Rydell's memories of directing the film and Jane's efforts to make the film work; how the role in "On Golden Pond" earned Fonda his first Academy Award which was accepted by Jane because he was too ill to attend; his upbringing in Nebraska and his first acting experience; being part of the University Players in Cape Cod with such actors as Joshua Logan and James Stewart; a clip from his first film, "The Farmer Takes a Wife"; Bogdanovich's analysis of how "The Grapes of Wrath" shaped Fonda's career; Teichmann's overview of Fonda's personal life and his numerous failed marriages; Houseman's reminsicences about acting with Fonda and directing him in "Clarence Darrow"; and clips from some of Fonda's films, including "The Grapes of Wrath," "Young Mr. Lincoln," "On Golden Pond," "My Darling Clementine," "The Farmer Takes a Wife," "Mr. Roberts," "The Moon's Our Home," "The Lady Eve," "Jezebel," "Twelve Angry Men," and "The Best Man."
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundation, 1996.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: August 12, 1982 11:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:34
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T86:0314
- GENRE: News; Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: Actors; Biography; Film
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1982
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dan Rather … Anchor
- Terry Drinkwater … Reporter
- Peter Bogdanovich … Guest
- John Houseman … Guest
- Henry Fonda
- Jane Fonda
- Peter Fonda
- Joshua Logan
- Mark Rydell
- James Stewart
- Howard Teichmann