num_pages: 367
description: 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 lifes 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 Its 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 Fondas widow and children as well as three of Stewarts children plus actors and directors who had worked with the menin 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.
language: English
title: Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart
publisher: Simon & Schuster