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Jane Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, with interruptions, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. She initially announced her retirement from acting in 1991, and said for many years that she would never act again, but she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law, and later Georgia Rule, released in 2007.
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Jane Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, with interruptions, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. She initially announced her retirement from acting in 1991, and said for many years that she would never act again, but she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law, and later Georgia Rule, released in 2007. She also produced and starred in several exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995.
Fonda has served as an activist for many political causes, one of the most notable and controversial of which was her opposition to the Vietnam War. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. Since 2001, Fonda has been a Christian. She published an autobiography in 2005 and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Background
Fonda was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour, and named Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda. Henry Fonda had distant Dutch ancestry, and the surname Fonda originates from Eagum, also spelled Augum or Agum, a village in the heart of Friesland, a northern province of the Netherlands. The "Lady" part of Jane Fonda's name was apparently inspired by Lady Jane Seymour, to whom she is distantly related on her mother's side. Her brother, Peter Fonda (born 1940), and her niece Bridget Fonda (born 1964), are also actors.
When Fonda was 12 years old, her mother committed suicide after voluntarily seeking treatment at a psychiatric hospital. After Seymour's suicide, Henry Fonda married Susan Blanchard;
this marriage ended in divorce. At 15 she taught dance at Fire Island Pines, New York.
Fonda attended Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Acting career
Before starting her acting career, Fonda was a fashion model, gracing the cover of Vogue twice. Fonda became interested in acting in 1954, while appearing with her father in a charity performance of The Country Girl, at the Omaha Community Theatre. She attended The Emma Willard School in Troy, New York and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, where she was an undistinguished student. She was introduced by her father to renowned drama teacher Lee Strasberg in 1958, and subsequently joined his Actors Studio.
1960s
Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with Tall Story, in which she recreated one of her Broadway roles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. Period of Adjustment and Walk on the Wild Side followed in 1962. In A Walk on the Wild Side, Fonda played a prostitute, and earned a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.
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.
1970s
Fonda won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971, again playing a prostitute, the gamine Bree Daniel, in the murder mystery Klute. She won her second Oscar in 1978 for Coming Home, the story of a disabled Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life.
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 appeared in films such as A Doll's House (1973), Steelyard Blues 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." 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." From her own point of view, 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 what would that be...?"
In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongside Yves Montand in Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film Just Great. The film's directors then made Letter to Jane, in which the two spend nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda.
Through her production company, IPC Films, 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 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 make films only 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.
1980s
In 1980, Fonda starred in Nine to Five with Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was one of Fonda's greatest commercial successes.
Fonda had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship. She achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to the play On Golden Pond specifically for her father and herself. The film, which also starred Katharine Hepburn, brought Henry Fonda his only 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, most notably her role of Dr. Martha Livingston in Agnes of God. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of an alcoholic murder suspect in the 1986 thriller The Morning After. She finished off the decade by appearing in Old Gringo, for which she received a worst actress Razzie nomination.
Exercise videos
For many years, Fonda was a ballet enthusiast, but after fracturing her foot while filming The China Syndrome, she was no longer able to participate. To compensate, she began actively participating in aerobics and strengthening exercises under the direction of Leni Cazden. The Leni Workout became the Jane Fonda Workout and thus a second career for her, which continued for many years. This was considered one of the influences that started the fitness craze among baby boomers that were approaching middle-age at the time.
In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, titled Jane Fonda's Workout, inspired by her best-selling book, Jane Fonda's Workout Book. The Jane Fonda's Workout video eventually sold 17 million copies, the most of any home video ever. The video's release led many people to buy the then-new VCR, in order to watch and perform the workout in the privacy and convenience of their own homes. Fonda subsequently released 23 workout videos, five workout books, and thirteen audio programs. Her most recent original workout video was released in 1995.
Exercise videos in chronological order:
- 1982: Jane Fonda's Workout (aka Workout Starring Jane Fonda)
- 1983: Jane Fonda's Pregnancy, Birth and Recovery Workout
- 1983: Jane Fonda's Workout Challenge
- 1984: Jane Fonda's Prime Time Workout (re-released as Jane Fonda's Easy Going Workout)
- 1985: Jane Fonda's New Workout
- 1986: Jane Fonda's Low Impact Aerobic Workout
- 1987: Jane Fonda's Start Up (aka Start Up with Jane Fonda)
- 1987: Jane Fonda's Sports Aid
- 1987: Jane Fonda's Workout with Weights (re-released as Jane Fonda's Toning and Shaping)
- 1988: Jane Fonda's Complete Workout
- 1989: Jane Fonda's Light Aerobics and Stress Reduction Program (re-released as Jane Fonda's Stress Reduction Program)
- 1990: Jane Fonda's Lean Routine Workout
- 1990: Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Swamp Stomp
- 1990: Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Fun House Funk
- 1991: Jane Fonda's Lower Body Solution
- 1992: Jane Fonda's Step Aerobic and Abdominal Workout
- 1993: Jane Fonda's Favorite Fat Burners
- 1993: Jane Fonda's Yoga Exercise Workout
- 1994: Jane Fonda's Step and Stretch Workout
- 1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Low Impact Aerobics & Stretch
- 1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Total Body Sculpting
- 1995: Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Abs, Buns & Thighs
In 2005, some of Fonda's popular programs were re-released on DVD. One included her Complete Workout from 1988 and her Stress Reduction Program from 1989, a second DVD included her 1991 Fun House Fitness series, and a third DVD included her 1995 Personal Trainer Series.
Fonda has been credited with popularizing the phrase "go for the burn".
Retirement and return
In April 1991, after three decades in film, Fonda announced her retirement from the film industry. In May 2005, however, she returned to the screen with the box office success Monster-in-Law. In July 2005, the British tabloid The Sun reported that when asked if she would appear in a sequel to her 1980 hit Nine to Five, Fonda replied "I'd love to". Fonda then appeared in the 2007 Garry Marshall-directed Georgia Rule, starring along with Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan.
In 2009, Fonda will return to theater with her first Broadway performance since the 1963 play, Strange Interlude. This winter, Fonda will play Katherine Brandt in Moises Kaufman's 33 Variations.
Political activism
During the 1960s, Fonda engaged in political activism in support of the Civil Rights Movement and in opposition to the Vietnam War.
Along with celebrities, she supported the Alcatraz Island occupation in 1969, which was intended to call attention to Native American issues.
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.
Controversy
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.
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. 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 a 1970 address at Michigan State University Fonda gave a speech saying; "I would think that if you understood what Communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communists."
In March 1971, Fonda traveled to Paris to meet with National Liberation Front (NLF) foreign minister 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.
"Hanoi Jane"
Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. Among other statements, she repeated the North Vietnamese claim that the United States had been deliberately targeting the dike system along the Red River stating that “I believe in my heart, profoundly, that the dikes are being bombed on purpose”. Columnist Joseph Kraft who was also touring North Vietnam, believed that the damage to the dikes was incidental and was being used as propaganda by Hanoi, and that if the U.S. Air Force were "truly going after the dikes, it would do so in a methodical, not a harum-scarum way."
In North Vietnam, Fonda was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery. She also participated in several radio broadcasts on behalf of the Communist regime, asking US aircrews to consider the consequences of their actions. 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.
During this visit she also visited American prisoners of war (POWs), and brought back messages from them to their families. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars." 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."
The POW camp visits also led to persistent stories—decades later circulated widely on the Internet and via email—that the POWs she met had spat on her, or attempted to sneak notes to her which she had then reported to the North Vietnamese, leading to further abuse. However, a study by Snopes.com, which interviewed many of the alleged victims, found these allegations to be false.
Although Fonda's actions in July 1972 did not receive widespread coverage at the time (The New York Times, for example, ran only a brief UPI story and no photograph), her trip was perceived by many as an unpatriotic display of aid and comfort to the enemy, with some characterizing it as treason; the Nixon Administration, however, dismissed calls for legal action against her. Years later, she was labeled as Hanoi Jane by her critics and compared to war propagandists Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hannah.
In 1972, Fonda funded and organized the Indochina Peace Campaign. It continued to mobilize antiwar activists across the nation after the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement, when most other antiwar organizations closed down.
Fonda's regrets
In 1988, Fonda admitted to former American POWs and their families that she had some regrets, stating:
"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..."
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."
Feminist causes
Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, of which she is an honorary chairperson. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women oppressed by the Taliban, and a Kenyan activist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation.
In 2001, 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 through training and program development.
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.
In the days before the Swedish election on September 17, 2006, Fonda came to Sweden to support the new political party Feministiskt initiativ in their election campaign.
In My Life So Far, Fonda says that she considers patriarchy to be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men". She states that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.
Native Americans
Fonda came to Seattle in 1970 to plead the case of Native Americans led by Bernie Whitebear, who had invaded and occupied part of the grounds of Fort Lawton, intending to secure a land base to serve Indians in Seattle, Washington which had the largest "urban Indian" population in the Northwest. Urban Indians are those who left the reservations in search of jobs in cities but remained in poverty since they could not get federal benefits off-reservation. Fort Lawton was in the process of being surplussed by the Army and turned into a park by the city of Seattle, and Fonda came to Seattle to help Whitebear argue "Indians had a right to part of the land that was originally all theirs." Ultimately Whitebear and Fonda were successful, leading to the construction of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle's Discovery Park.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Fonda continued to participate in political activism, particularly in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During a trip to Jerusalem in 2002 (billed as a promotion of "world peace"), Fonda was criticized by right wing Israelis, and heckled as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists. Three hecklers, members of Women for Israel's Tomorrow, criticized her controversial stance during the Vietnam War, her stance toward Israel, and said that she "came to Israel as a guest of Peace Now".
Opposition to the Iraq War
- See also: Opposition to the Iraq War
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.
In September 2005, Fonda and George Galloway postponed their anti-war bus tour due to the slow start of relief operations in the Gulf Coast, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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. She remains opposed to the Iraq War and to the administration of President George W. Bush in general.
On January 27, 2007, Fonda participated in an anti-war rally held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., declaring that "silence is no longer an option."
Members of the conservative organization Free Republic staged a counter-protest which included a life-sized effigy of Fonda with a sign reading "Jane Fonda; American Traitor; Bitch."
Anti-Fonda protests
In the 2004 presidential election, 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. A faked composite photograph, which gave the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform, was also circulated.
Christianity
In 2001, Fonda publicly announced that she had become a born again Christian. She stated that she strongly opposed bigotry, discrimination and dogma, which she believes are promoted by a small minority of Christians. Her announcement came shortly after her divorce from Ted Turner. Fonda stated publicly on Charlie Rose in April 2006 that her Christianity may have played a part in the divorce, as Turner was known to be critical of religion.
Autobiography
On April 5, 2005, Random House released Fonda's autobiography My Life So Far. The book describes her life as a series of three acts, each thirty years long, and declares that her third "act" will be her most significant, due in part to her commitment to the Christian religion, and that it will determine the things she will be remembered for. Fonda also claims that her autobiography shows that "she is so much more than what we as America knows her as".
Fonda's autobiography was praised by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and several other newspapers. Fonda has held book-signing events all over the United States since publishing her book.
Awards
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced on May 28, 2008 that Fonda will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony will take place on December 15 and she will be inducted alongside 11 other legendary Californians.
Filmography
Works cited
Bibliography
- Andersen, Christopher. Citizen Jane. 1990: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-0959-0.* Davidson, Bill. Jane Fonda: An Intimate Biography. 1991: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-17028-8.
- Fine, Carla and Jane Fonda. Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life. 2001: Collins. ISBN 0-06-019771-4.
- Fonda, Jane. . 2005: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50710-8.
- Fonda, Jane. Jane Fonda's Workout Book. 1986: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-40908-9.
- Fonda, Jane, with Mignon McCarthy. Women Coming of Age. 1987: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 5-550-36643-6.
- Fox, Mary Virginia and Mary Molina. Jane Fonda: Something to Fight for. 1980: Dillon Press. ISBN 0-87518-189-9.
- Freedland, Michael. Jane Fonda: The Many Lives of One of Hollywood's Greatest Stars. 1989: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-637390-9.
- French, Sean. Jane Fonda: A Biography. 1998: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 1-85793-658-2.
- Gilmore, John. Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip. Amok Books, 1997. ISBN 1-878923-08-0.
- Hershberger, Mary. Peace work, war myths: Jane Fonda and the antiwar movement. Peace & Change, Vol. 29, No. 3&4, July 2004.
- Hershberger, Mary. Jane Fonda's War: A Political Biography of an Antiwar Icon. 2005: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-988-4.
- Kiernan, Thomas. Jane: an intimate biography of Jane Fonda. 1973: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11207-3.
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