The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart
New York Times bestselling author Scott Eyman tells the story of
the remarkable friendship of two Hollywood legends who, though different
in many ways, maintained a close friendship that endured all of life’s
twists and turns.
Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of the
biggest stars in Hollywood for forty years. They became friends and then
roommates as stage actors in New York, and when they began making films
in Hollywood, they roomed together again. Between them they made such
memorable films as The Grapes of Wrath, Mister Roberts, Twelve Angry Men, and On Golden Pond; and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Philadelphia Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, and Rear Window.
They
got along famously, with a shared interest in elaborate practical jokes
and model airplanes, among other things. Fonda was a liberal Democrat,
Stewart a conservative Republican, but after one memorable blow-up over
politics, they agreed never to discuss that subject again. Fonda was a
ladies’ man who was married five times; Stewart remained married to the
same woman for forty-five years. Both men volunteered during World War
II and were decorated for their service. When Stewart returned home,
still unmarried, he once again moved in with Fonda, his wife, and his
two children, Jane and Peter, who knew him as Uncle Jimmy.
For
Hank and Jim,
biographer and film historian Scott Eyman spoke with Fonda’s widow and
children as well as three of Stewart’s children, plus actors and
directors who had worked with the men—in addition to doing extensive
archival research to get the full details of their time together. This
is not another Hollywood story, but a fascinating portrait of an
extraordinary friendship that lasted through war, marriages, children,
careers, and everything else.
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