The Man Who Saw a Ghost
The Life and Work of Henry Fonda
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The first major biography of the iconic actor Henry Fonda, a story of stardom, manhood, and the American character
Henry Fonda's performances—in The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Lady Eve, 12 Angry Men, On Golden Pond—helped define "American" in the twentieth century. He worked with movie masters from Ford and Sturges to Hitchcock and Leone. He was a Broadway legend. He fought in World War II and was loved the world over.
Yet much of his life was rage and struggle. Why did Fonda marry five times—tempestuously to actress Margaret Sullavan, tragically to heiress Frances Brokaw, mother of Jane and Peter? Was he a man of integrity, worthy of the heroes he played, or the harsh father his children describe, the iceman who went onstage hours after his wife killed herself? Why did suicide shadow his life and art? What memories troubled him so?
McKinney's Fonda is dark, complex, fascinating, and a product of glamour and acclaim, early losses and Midwestern demons—a man haunted by what he'd seen, and by who he was.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McKinney (Magic Circle: The Beatles in Dream and History) follows Henry Fonda's path from his Omaha origins to Hollywood heights. Throughout McKinney examines the contradictions in Fonda's persona from all angles: "His ego has usually manifested itself as aloofness; now it is an animal thing prowling the dark wood, savage, protective of its territory." Film critiques probe the influence of various events on Fonda's performances (such as the suicide of his wife Frances); McKinney views what he calls his "psychological biography" as an effort to capture "a broad, deep, comprehensible sense of Fonda, the essence of his life and the weight of his work." Writing in the present tense, McKinney's self-conscious style often distracts readers from his subject. His need to tinker with ordinary language produces some oddities; rather than write "TV set," he substitutes "entertainment appliance." Despite much evident research into Fonda's tragedies and triumphs, in the end, McKinney undermines his own narrative with gimmicks. 14 b&w photos throughout; two 16-page b&w photos unseen by PW.
