How the FBI almost destroyed James Stewart and Henry Fonda’s friendship: “An almighty rift”
James Stewart and Henry Fonda were basically the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of their time: two hugely successful actors in their own right, who’d met as aspiring, jobbing, and unknown thespians with big dreams and had a spell as roommates before they made it big.
The major difference between the two pairs of lifelong best friends is that Affleck and Damon have never had a fallout so destructive that it saw them go years without speaking to each other. Stewart and Fonda did, however, and in the broadest sense, it was entirely the FBI’s fault.
Technically, a little bit of the blame could be placed on Stewart, but he was only doing what he thought was his civic duty. He and Fonda had met in the early 1930s, and their shared desire to make it in Hollywood saw them up sticks and move in with each other in New York, and it wasn’t too long before both of their careers caught fire.
There were plenty of hijinks along the way to strengthen their bond, like that time they tried to dig a tunnel underneath their property so they could meet their elusive next-door neighbour, Greta Garbo, and they stayed thick as thieves until Fonda’s passing in August 1982. That said, for a while, it looked as though their friendship had been irrevocably broken.
Despite receiving death threats from organised crime syndicates, Stewart remained more determined than ever to drive the mafia out of Tinseltown, regardless of the danger it placed him in. He reported directly to FBI chief J Edgar Hoover, and since his activities were supposed to remain largely clandestine, the only people he told about it were his wife, Gloria, and his best friend, Fonda.
“The only person who knew, the only one Jim confided in, was Henry Fonda,” his spouse explained. “And that led to an almighty rift between the two that lasted for years.” Since Stewart was a Republican and Fonda a Democrat, Gloria admitted that “most people speculated that it was over politics,” but it wasn’t.
“It was worse than that,” she intoned. “Much worse. Jim thought the one person he could confide in about his secret work for the FBI was Hank. He was so wrong.” Fonda reasoned that since the bureau hadn’t been able to eliminate the mob in Chicago, “They’re sure as hell not going to run them out of Hollywood.”
Stewart was adamant that because he had Hoover’s word, he’d make good on his promise. Naturally, Fonda was much more sceptical, telling him, “He’s the head of the FBI, for god’s sake.” That caused a furious screaming match between the two, and by the time the dust had settled, it was beginning to look an awful lot like one of the industry’s most famous friendships had reached the end of its natural life.
Gloria recalled that “the row almost came to blows,” and Stewart’s reputation was the opposite of his onscreen persona, in that he was said to be a man not to be fucked with. “They didn’t speak again for several years,” the It’s a Wonderful Life star’s wife remembered, but once enough water had passed under the bridge, and he was no longer squirreling information to the FBI, they eventually picked right up where they left off, and the incident was never mentioned again.
