The only time James Stewart and Henry Fonda almost came to blows: “You stupid son of a bitch”
Lifelong friends are difficult to come by, and the strongest bonds can weather the occasional argument. However, despite being best friends for most of their lives, things once became so heated between James Stewart and Henry Fonda that they were ready to start throwing hands.
It’s not unusual for actors to stay close for the duration of their careers, and for the closest approximation of what Stewart and Fonda meant to each other, it’s not strictly inaccurate to call them the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of ‘Golden Age’ Hollywood.
Years before either man made his screen debut, the pair first met in their early 20s when they were both part of the same theatre group. Equally committed to their dream of making it in acting, they became roommates in New York City when they started treading the boards, and lived together again in Hollywood once they’d broken into films.
They appeared in several films together and constantly supported each other as they each continued rising in prominence to become renowned as two of their generation’s most gifted performers, who built their reputations on playing two different kinds of all-American everymen.
Fonda had no issues calling Stewart his best friend in the world, and the feeling was mutual. From the outside looking in, there was nothing that could come between them. As it turned out, there was, and it involved political differences, organised crime, and the FBI.
For the most part, the duo’s existence on opposite ends of the political spectrum wasn’t an issue, at least until Stewart began collaborating with J Edgar Hoover to try to run the mafia out of Hollywood. He’d had his brushes with the mob in the past, so it was only natural that he’d be willing to lend a hand in removing their hooks from the industry he called home.
Fonda went ballistic when he found out about his buddy’s clandestine work, accusing him of being an informant. “You stupid son of a bitch,” Stewart’s wife, Gloria, recalled him saying. “The FBI haven’t even been able to run the mafia out of Chicago. They’re sure as hell not going to run them out of Hollywood.”
When Stewart said he had Hoover’s word, that only incensed Fonda further. “What good is his word? And then, I suppose you’re going to help him run all the communists out of Hollywood?” The latter wasn’t a communist, although as a liberal, he sympathised with those the blacklist had victimised.
The former wasn’t quite as sympathetic to their cause, and it almost ruined their friendship. “They went at each other in the most heated argument they’d ever had,” Gloria told Michael Munn. “They’d never agreed on politics, and for the most part, they agreed never to discuss politics. But this was different.”
“This time, Hank was accusing Jim of being an informer, which is a dirty word, however it comes out,” she explained. “The row almost came to blows.” While it never escalated into physical violence, the only argument the decades-long friends ever had was enough to stop them speaking to each other for years until the fences were finally mended.
