Henry Fonda

Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda once dated when they were very young. No romance brewed and they moved on.

However, they must have felt a certain fondness for each other than they ever admitted, probably as the years went by.

When Lucille was to star in The Big Street with Henry, Desi Arnaz felt so insecure about leaving the both of them alone together that he often pop by in the movie sets to keep an eye on his lovely wife and a handsome actor, and his paranoid self made the director so exasperated that he finally banned him from being 10 feet near. 

I've always wondered if there was a certain attraction. Maybe it was because Lucille wanted Desi to have a taste of his own medicine and therefore made him jealous as often as she could by flirting with Henry, or maybe because she purely enjoyed Henry's attention. You can see from the pictures the way she was smiling-- that smile can only be conjured by a few men, including Desi Arnaz, Bob Hope and Henry Fonda.

 

Here's my postulation. It's purely based on speculations, but probably years ago, Lucille wasn't the queen of movies when they first dated in early 1940s. When he met her, her career was just starting to take off, and so was his. He probably was attracted, but she didn't have fame. He must have felt angry with himself when Lucy became North America's favorite housewife Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy in mid 1950s!

A credible person, none other than Henry's daughter Jane Fonda, claimed that Henry Fonda and Lucille had a very intimate relationship while filming the movie Yours, Mine and Ours in 1968. He became deeply and crazily in love with Lucille until his death.

In Dean Martin Roasts Lucille Ball, Lucille appeared to be overjoyed when she knew that Henry Fonda was going to roast her.

Henry hinted that there would have been Fondalu and not Desilu if they got married!

But I guess there will be no doubt in any of everyone's mind, that Lucy always belonged to Desi, even after her second marriage to Gary Morton.