AUSTINLAD'S MOVIE HEROES: Henry Fonda

Once upon a time, the big screen gave us big heroes to look up to. In those kinder, gentler days before Twitter or Reality TV, we didn't know all that much about the actors off-screen – whether they were straight or gay, their height, how many times married, what their addictions were, whose spouse they were stupping, or how many millions they made per picture – what mattered most was what the big Hollywood studios fed us: their screen images.

Then as now, we moviegoers heard dirt and gossip about our favorite stars –and we were titillated by it. But for the most part, persona rather than reality reigned, and that was what brought us to the box office. And back.

In this series of hero worshipings, I recall and honor some of the screen faces I've loved over the years. many of them from the earliest days of my youth when a twitter was only the sound birds made.

Enjoy.
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Henry Fonda

The offscreen life of Henry Fonda (1905-81) wasn't idealistic. But watching his onscreen lives in such classic films as THE GRAPES OF WRATH (heroic young farmer), YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (heroic young lawyer), 12 ANGRY MEN (heroic juror), and FAIL SAFE (heroic U.S. president) – only four of his more than 100 movies – it's impossible not to think of him as anything but, well, heroic.

AUSTINLAD'S MOVIE HEROES

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Henry Fonda

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