Henry Fonda : Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

It's a matter of public record that Frances Fonda's suicide was especially difficult on her children, Pan, Jane and Peter. But it almost seems not to have affected Henry who went on to marry his young girlfriend only a few months later. He also lied to his children about what happened to their mother and didn't permit them to attend the funeral. What in earth was going through his head that he was so completely able to pretend that his wife hadn't killed herself?

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Fonda was heartbroken over the suicide. He would turn on the water in the bathroom so that others couldn't hear him cry. Other than that, he kept the pain to himself. There must have been some guilt there, but who really knows what went on in his head at any time. Fonda was a complex, moody and difficult person.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

If no one knew he was crying over his wife's suicide, didehe confide in someone and that person in turn told others?

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

It was told in 'Fonda: My Life.' It w da0 as a biography written by Howard Teichmann [told to him by Fonda] and was written in 1980. It is the definitive Fonda biography. Teichmann interviewed Fonda [who was very open with his flaws] and others who knew him. Fonda gave Teichmann names of those he should interview, and that included those who had negative words about him.

It's the closest insight we have on the complex man.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

I find it interesting that he could confide in a total stranger and yet he couldn't express grief in front of his own children. In Jane's autobiography, she states that she could have benefited from that, but that his generation wasn't the kind to be emotionally open with their children like today's is.

Actors of color need to be better represented in film, and be recognized for their contributions.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?


What in earth was going through his head that he was so completely able to pretend that his wife hadn't killed herself?


You sound like a moron.



Jesus is coming. Look busy.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

I find it interesting that he could confide in a total stranger and yet he couldn't express grief in front of his own children. In Jane's autobiography, she states that she could have benefited from that, but that his generation wasn't the kind to be emotionally open with their children like today's is.


It was 1980 and Fonda was a different man in some ways by that time.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Are you kidding? What kind of dumb do you have to be, to know that a man of his stature wasn't going to sit and cry for the pleasure of the public?
Of course he was devastated. Why do people think they need to witness a star's grief to believe it exists?

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Dr. Margaret Gibson, the psychiatrist who had treated Frances at Austen Riggs, described Henry Fonda: "He was a cold, self-absorbed person, a complete narcissist."

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

A fine actor but a failure as a human being, IMO. He'd been having an affair with wife No. 3, Susan Blanchard, since 1948; told Frances he wanted a divorce in 1949; and married Blanchard shortly after Frances's suicide in 1950. At 22, Blanchard was 23 years younger than Fonda. The marriage lasted until 1956. According to wikipedia (citing Patricia Bosworth's biography of Jane Fonda), "Blanchard was in awe of Fonda, and she described her role in the marriage as "a geisha", doing everything she could to please him, dealing with and solving problems he would not acknowledge."

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Jane once described Fonda as an angry man.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

"Henry Fonda could do anything you asked him to do as an actor, but he was a cold, removed man. He was not, for instance, a very good father. He had an access to his unconscious when he was acting that he didn't have in day-to-day life. He executed anything professional without problems, but socially he was difficult. He didn't want to reveal himself, didn't want to expose who he really was. He came out of Omaha, the ultimate white-bread place, but I always felt his talent was Jewish. His personality and his heritage were WASP, but his talent was Jewish." - Mark Rydell

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Not everybody deals with grief the same way.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

^^Indeed.

Fonda was said to have been an introvert by nature who wasn't good at opening up to people, for whatever reason. It's unfortunate that he apparently couldn't connect with his kids and provide more support, but human beings can't always have the "ideal" reaction, as cold and callous as that sounds.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

From what I remember, Scott Eyman [in his book 'Hank and Jim'] wrote that Fonda distanced himself from his wife's suicide by making excuses.

A great actor but a cold human being in a lot of ways. He mellowed in later years.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Fonda mellowed in his later years and let his children in.

Re: Was he affected at all by his second wife's suicide?

Dr. Margaret Gibson, the psychiatrist who had treated Frances at Austen Riggs, described Henry Fonda as "a cold, self-absorbed person, a complete narcissist."
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