Henry Fonda Quotes

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I don`t want to be in a fake war in a studio.

No one could have nicer sisters. No sibling problems there.

Next to Clint Eastwood`s father, he personally had done more for Clint Eastwood than anyone else. - about Sergio Leone.

I don`t know what was in his mind, but I do know Ford was stricken by what he had done, by hitting me.

When I first agreed to do it the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was fine, but what happened? King Vidor used to go home nights with his wife and rewrite it. All the genius of Tolstoy went out the window. - On War and Peace (1956)

It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say. -on director John Ford

I found myself facing a Christian Science Reading Room. My God! It had been eight years. There had never been any renunciation of religion on my part, but like so many people, it was a gradual fading away.

I hope you won`t be disappointed. You see I am not a very interesting person. I haven`t ever done anything except be other people. I ain`t really Henry Fonda! Nobody could be. Nobody could have that much integrity.

Baby it out. That`s an old marble shooter`s expression for approaching your target cautiosly instead of trying to take it out with one shot.

I`m not really Henry Fonda. Nobody could have that much integrity.

I`m not that pristine pure, I guess I`ve broken as many rules as the next feller. But I reckon my face looks honest enough and if people buy it, Hallelujah.

My whole damn family was nice. I don`t think I`ve imagined it. It`s true. Maybe it has to do with being brought up as Christian Scientists. Half of my relatives were Readers or Practitioners in the church.

I can`t articulate about the Method because I never studied it. I don`t mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about it. I don`t know what the Method is and I don`t care what the Method is. Everybody`s got a method. Everybody can`t articulate about their method, and I can`t, if I have a method - and Jane sometimes says that I use the Method, that is, the capital letter Method, without being aware of it. Maybe I do, it doesn`t matter.

I`d just as soon not get into a discussion about Jane and her politics. I`d just as soon stick to what we`re here for, the picture.

Ford didn`t know what to do with Mister Roberts that wasn`t repeating what was successful in New York. He was trying to do things to the play that would be his in the film.

For me, college wasn`t a breeze. I had 8 o`clock classes, I worked from 3 to 11 at the Settlement House. On weekends, if Northwestern Bell needed me, I`d troubleshoot for them, and I had a steady girl. God!

(speaking in 1978) "I guess I go overboard to avoid taking credit for the image I have. That`s why it`s easier to live with myself. I don`t feel I`m totally a man of integrity."

My thinking was scrambled when Sullivan and I separated. Something happened to me that had never happend before. I couldn`t cope. It was heartbreak time. I thought it was the end of the world.

It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say.

I must have had faith that day. When I went out, I was Henry Fonda again. An unemployed actor but a man.

(on John Ford) He was so egomaniacal. He would never rehearse, didn`t want to talk about a part. If an actor started to ask questions he`d either take those pages and tear them out of the script or insult him in an awful way. He loved getting his shot on the first take, which for him meant it was fresh. He would print the first take -- even if it wasn`t any good.

(on John Ford) He had instinctively a beautiful eye for the camera. But he was also an egomaniac.

(On War and Peace (1956) and referring to author of book Leo Tolstoy) When I first agreed to do it, the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was fine, but what happened? King Vidor used to go home nights with his wife and rewrite it. All the genius of Tolstoy went out the window.

(on director John Ford) It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say.

I look like my father. To this day, when I walk past a mirror and see my reflection in it, my first impression is: That`s my father. There is a strong Fonda look.

If there is something in my eyes, a kind of honesty in the face, then I guess you could say that`s the man I`d like to be, the man I want to be.

I don`t want to just sell war bonds. I want to be a sailor.

I`ve been close to Bette Davis for thirty-eight years - and I have the cigarette burns to prove it.

(on Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, 1976) "I didn`t help or discourage them or lead them by the hand. I`m not trying to set myself up as a good father, because I wasn`t a good father. But I think I knew instinctively that if they did make it, they would like to know they`d done it on their own. I recognise all the problems my children have had, and I don`t claim any credit for what they`ve become. They`ve become what they are in spite of me."