Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, writer, producer, and political activist. Fonda describes herself as a liberal, a feminist and, since 2001, a Christian. She has appeared in a variety of movies starting in the 1960s and has won numerous awards. Although she announced her retirement from acting in 1991, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law. She made numerous exercise videos during the 1980s and 1990s. Fonda has also served many political causes, including activism against the Vietnam War and Iraq War. She published an autobiography in 2005 and currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Henry Fonda had distant Dutch and Italian ancestry, and the surname Fonda originates from Italy.* Jane Fonda's name was apparently inspired by Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was frequently called "Lady Jane" or "Lady", as a child, nicknames she greatly disliked.
Her brother, Peter Fonda, (born 1939), and his daughter Bridget Fonda (born 1964), are also actors. She has an older half-sister, Frances Brokaw, as well as an adopted sister, Amy, who was born in 1953.(Amy Fonda). Generated by GedTree. Retrieved from the Google cache, 25 January 2005.
After Seymour's suicide, Henry Fonda married Susan Blanchard, who was only 10 years older than Jane. Although all of Henry's children seemed to like Blanchard, Blanchard and Henry Fonda divorced before Jane turned 20. *
In 1963, she appeared in Sunday in New York. Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses". However, she also had her detractors—in the same year, the Harvard Lampoon named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's career breakthrough came with Cat Ballou (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. This comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda to stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After this came the comedies Any Wednesday (1966) and Barefoot in the Park (1967), the latter co-starring Robert Redford.
In 1968, she played the lead role in the science fiction spoof Barbarella, which established her status as a sex symbol. In contrast, the tragedy They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) won her critical acclaim, and she earned her first Oscar nomination for the role. Fonda was very selective by the end of the 1960s, turning down lead roles in Rosemary's Baby and Bonnie and Clyde, films widely praised by critics and considered box-office successes.
Between Klute in 1971 and Fun With Dick and Jane in 1977, Fonda spent most of the first half of the decade without a major film success, even though she did appear in films such as A Doll's House (1973) and The Blue Bird (1976). From comments ascribed to her in interviews, some have inferred that she personally blamed the situation on anger at her outspoken political views - "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted."Jane Fonda profile. Hello! magazine. Retrieved 2 April 2006. However in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far it would appear that she categorically rejects such simplification. "The suggestion is that because of my actions against the war my career had been destroyed ... But the truth is that my career, far from being destroyed after the war, flourished with a vigor it had not previously enjoyed."Fonda, 2005, p 378 From her own point of view it would appear that her absence from the silver screen was related more to the fact that her political activism provided a new focus in her life. By the same token her return to acting with a series of 'issue-driven' films was a reflection of this new focus. "When I hear admonitions ... warning outspoken actors to remember 'what happened to Jane Fonda back in the seventies', this has me scratching my head: And that would be?"
Through her production company Indo-China Peace Campaign (IPC), she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy film Fun With Dick and Jane is generally considered her 'comeback' picture. She also received very positive reviews and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of playwright Lillian Hellman in the 1977 film, Julia. During this period Fonda announced that she would only make films that focused on important issues, and she generally stuck to her word. She turned down An Unmarried Woman because she felt the part was not relevant. She followed with popular and successful films such as The China Syndrome (1979), about a cover up of an accident in a nuclear power plant; and The Electric Horseman (1979) with her previous co-star, Robert Redford.
She had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship. She achieved this goal when she was cast as a supporting actress alongside Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond (1981). This film brought Henry Fonda his first Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and home bound. He died five months later.
Fonda continued appearing in feature films throughout the 1980s.
In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, titled Jane Fonda Workout, which sold 17 million copies, the most of any home video of all time. The video's release led many people to buy VCRs in order to watch the video while performing the workout. Fonda subsequently released 23 more workout videos, five workout books, and thirteen audio tapes. Her most recent workout video was released in 1995.
Fonda is known to have popularized the phrase "go for the burn". However, she has been criticized as "hypocritical" by many fitness professionals for improving her figure by means of plastic surgery.
In July 2005, the British tabloid The Sun reported that when Fonda was asked if she would appear in a sequel to her 1980 hit Nine to Five, she replied "I'd love to."Simon Thompson. Fonda: 9 To 5 sequel?. The Sun. Retrieved 2 April 2006.
Fonda's next project is the Garry Marshall-directed, Georgia Rule, which began shooting in July 2006. Fonda stars along with Felicity Huffman, and Lindsay Lohan.
In the course of her career, Fonda has received seven Oscar nominations and two Oscars.
Along with other celebrities, she supported the Alcatraz Island occupation in 1969, which was intended to call attention to Native American issues. (In the 1990s, she was criticized by Native American activists for doing the perceived racist celebration "The Tomahawk Chop" at Atlanta Braves baseball games with her then-husband, Ted Turner.)
She likewise supported Huey Newton and the Black Panthers in the early 1970s, stating "Revolution is an act of love; we are the children of revolution, born to be rebels. It runs in our blood." She called the Black Panthers "our revolutionary vanguard", and said "we must support them with love, money, propaganda and risk."
Fonda has also been involved in the feminist movement since the 1970s, which dovetails with her activism in support of civil rights.
In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed the FTA tour ("Free The Army", a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army"), an anti-war road show designed as an answer to Bob Hope's USO tour. The tour, referred to as "political vaudeville" by Fonda, visited military towns along the West Coast, with the goal of establishing a dialogue with soldiers about their upcoming deployments to Vietnam. The dialogue was made into a movie (F.T.A.) that contained strong, frank criticism of the war by service men and women. It was released in 1972.Rotten Tomatoes - F.T.A. (1972). Retrieved 2 April 2006.
In the same year, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and, for her efforts, was rewarded with the title of Honorary National Coordinator.* (PDF file). Retrieved 2 April 2005. On November 3, 1970, Fonda started a tour of college campuses on which she raised funds for the organization. As noted by the New York Times, Fonda was a "major patron" of the VVAW.
In March 1971, Fonda traveled to Paris to meet with National Liberation Front (NLF) foreign minister Madam Nguyen Thi Binh. According to a transcript that was translated into Vietnamese and back to English, Fonda told Binh at one point: "Many of us have seen evidence proving the Nixon administration has escalated the war, causing death and destruction, perhaps as serious as the bombing of Hiroshima." Afterwards, Fonda traveled to London, where she again came under fire for making a speech that discussed the use of torture by US troops in Vietnam. Her financial support to VVAW at this time was apparently not significant, as the organization ran out of money within a month, and one of its prominent leaders, John Kerry, was called upon to raise the necessary funds.
Recently, Vietnamese historians have suggested that after the Tet Offensive, which ended with a superior and devastating victory against the Viet Cong forces, Fonda's and other activists' anti-war efforts literally turned the tide back against the American forces. The North Vietnamese realized that, while they were losing the war on the battlefield, they had the potential to achieve victory in the political arena within the United States itself. Thus, Fonda's trip to Hanoi is seen by many veterans of the Vietnam War as emblematic of the internal defeat experienced by the American pro-war factions. The American casualties during Fonda's activist period exceeded 20,000 deaths.
In Vietnam, Fonda was photographed multiple times seated on an anti-aircraft battery used against American aircrews.Jane Fonda, AKA Hanoi Jane. Retrieved 2 April 2006. She also participated in several radio broadcasts on behalf of the Communist regime, asking US aircrews to turn around without dropping their bombs. In her 2005 autobiography, she states that she was manipulated into sitting on the battery, and claims to have been immediately horrified at the implications of the pictures. She expressed regret for her actions sixteen years later, though there is continued hostility shown towards her by many Americans.
She also visited American prisoners of war (POWs), who she claims were neither tortured nor brainwashed. Fonda relayed these claims to the American public. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars" (Andersen, p. 266) She added, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed." On the subject of torture in general, Fonda told the New York Times in 1973, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie." Several American POWs and other eyewitnesses, including former POW and current US Senator John McCain, disagree with this sentiment.
Although opposition to the war was building in the U.S., Fonda's actions in July 1972 were widely perceived as an unpatriotic display of aid and comfort to the enemy, with some even characterizing it as treason. Her detractors labeled her Hanoi Jane, comparing her to war propagandists Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hannah. Although Internet chain emails have circulated rumors that Fonda handed over information from U.S. prisoners of war to NLF insurgents (better known in the U.S. as the "Viet Cong"), these allegations have been denied by some POWs and dismissed by others as an urban myth."Hanoi'd with Jane" Snopes. Retrieved 2 April 2006. She has often been accused of contributing to a perceived anti-soldier sentiment among Vietnam War protesters, such as spitting on soldiers. Because of her actions, actor John Wayne cut off all contact with her, despite his close ties to her father.
In 1972, Fonda funded and organized the Indochina Peace Campaign.Indochina Peace Campaign. Womankind. November 1972. Retrieved 2 April 2006. It continued to mobilize antiwar activists across the nation after the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement, when most other antiwar organizations closed down.
I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. * I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless.
On the Charlie Rose program, Fonda noted that her regrets were limited to the photo appearance with the anti-aircraft gun, and that she was "proud" of her activism against "the bombing of the dikes".
In a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, Fonda reiterated that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft gun photo. She stated that the incident was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda said, "The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter ... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine." She later distinguished between regret over the use of her image as propaganda and pride for her anti-war activism: "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda... It's not something that I will apologize for." Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war."
In 2002, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the goal of the center is to prevent adolescent pregnancy, and to promote women's reproductive rights.
On February 16 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.
Fonda strongly feels that many gender stereotypes are damaging to individuals of both genders. In 2004, she served as a mentor to the first ever all-transsexual cast of The Vagina Monologues.
Fonda has argued that the military campaign in Iraq will turn people all over the world against America, and has asserted that a global hatred of America will result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. In July 2005, Fonda said that some of the war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against the Iraq War.*. Yahoo! News. July 2005.
In September 2005, Fonda and George Galloway postponed their anti-war bus tour due to the perceived slow start to the relief operation now underway in the Gulf Coast, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.Jack Ryan. Jane Fonda Cancels Vegetable Oil Powered Anti War Bus Tour. The Post Chronicle. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2006. Fonda then planned to take a bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and several families of military veterans but later scrapped her plans, mostly because she felt like she would distract attention from Cindy Sheehan's activism.Roger Friedman. Fonda Puts Brakes on Bus Tour. FOX News. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2006. She remains opposed to the Iraq War and to President George W. Bush in general.
In the U.S. presidential election, 2004, her name was used as a disparaging epithet against John Kerry, the former VVAW leader, who was then the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie called Kerry a "Jane Fonda Democrat". In addition, Kerry's opponents circulated a photograph showing Fonda and Kerry in the same large crowd at a 1970 anti-war rally, although they were sitting several rows apart."John Kerry: Claim: Photograph shows Senator John Kerry at a 1970 anti-war rally." Snopes. Retrieved 2 April 2006. A faked composite photograph, which gave the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform, was also circulated."John Kerry: Claim: Photograph shows Senator John Kerry and Jane Fonda sharing a speaker's platform at an anti-war rally." Snopes. Retrieved 2 April 2006. Fonda appeared on CNN to defend Kerry against these attacks.
In April 2005, a man named Michael A. Smith from Kansas City, Missouri took advantage of one of Jane Fonda's book signings to spit tobacco juice in her face. Minutes later, Smith was caught by police and charged with disorderly conduct. He went to court on May 27, 2005, and stated that he spat in Fonda's face because he believed her to be a "traitor", adding that his actions were "absolutely worth it". Smith disagreed with Fonda's active support of North Vietnam and what he perceived to be a betrayal of American POWs during the Vietnam War. After he was led away, Fonda carried on signing books.
Fonda's autobiography was praised by the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and several other newspapers. Fonda has held book-signing events all over the United States since publishing her book.
In 1973, shortly after her divorce from Vadim, Fonda married author and politician Tom Hayden. Their son, Troy Garity (born 1973) was given his paternal grandmother's surname. With Hayden, she also raised a foster daughter, Mary Luana Williams, who is an activist born to members of the Black Panthers. Fonda and Hayden divorced in 1990.
Fonda's third husband (1991-2001) was cable-television tycoon and CNN founder Ted Turner. In My Life So Far, Fonda states that she "left the father's house" when she divorced Turner. In addition to having become a Christian, Fonda's desire to disassociate herself from patriarchy may have contributed to the divorce.
Fonda has also had romantic relationships with Alexander "Sandy" Whitelaw, a film director, with whom she was involved in 1960; Donald Sutherland, with whom she co-starred in Klute and dated in the 1970s; and Barry Matalon, a hairdresser who she dated in the 1990s.
American film actors | Academy Awards hosts | Best Actress Oscar | Best Actress Academy Award nominees | Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominees | BAFTA winners | Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni | Exercise instructors | Feminist artists | American anti-Vietnam War activists | Born-again Christians | Christian actors | Alumnae of women's colleges | Vietnam War people | Women in war | People from Atlanta | People from New York City | 1937 births | Living people | Film actors
Джейн Фонда | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | ג'יין פונדה | Jane Fonda | ジェーン・フォンダ | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Фонда, Джейн Сеймур | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda | Jane Fonda
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
"Jane Fonda".
Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world