Profile of Jane Fonda on Famous Like Me

Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actress, model, writer, producer, and political activist.

Fonda, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, describes herself as a liberal and a "feminist Christian".

Early years

Jane Fonda was born in New York City. She is the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour (later Brokaw.) She was named after Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII of England.

Fonda's mother, Frances, was the second of Henry Fonda's five wives, and was formerly married to millionaire George Brokaw, the onetime husband of writer Clare Boothe Luce. Frances committed suicide in October 1950, when her daughter was only 12 years old, after voluntarily seeking treatment at a mental health facility.

Acting career

Fonda first became interested in acting in 1954 while appearing with her father in a charity performance of The Country Girl, at the Omaha Community Theatre. After attending Vassar College in New York, she was introduced to Lee Strasberg by her father in 1958, and joined his Actors Studio.

Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for an impressive film career that began in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with Tall Story, with Fonda recreating one of her Broadway roles — a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. Period of Adjustment and Walk on the Wild Side (1962) were followed by Sunday in New York a year later. Critics began to take notice. Walk on the Wild Side, in which Fonda played a prostitute, earned her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

While Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses", she also had her detractors: in 1963, the Harvard Lampoon named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's big-screen breakthrough came in Cat Ballou (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. The comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It brought Fonda stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After Any Wednesday (1966) and Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Robert Redford, came the dazzling Barbarella (1968), which established Fonda as a leading sex symbol. In contrast, the tragic They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) won her critical acclaim, and earned her the first of what would ultimately amount to seven Oscar nominations. She won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971 for Klute, and a second in 1978 for Coming Home.

After her role in The Blue Bird, Fonda staged a comeback with the 1976 comedy Fun With Dick and Jane. 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. Her career soon revived with popular and successful films such as The China Syndrome (1979), about a concealed accident in a nuclear power plant, and 9 to 5 (1980), in which she played a meek divorcée re-entering the workforce. Although Fonda was cast as a supporting actress to Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond (1982) brought her a degree of success and personal satisfaction. She had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their sometimes-strained relationship. On Golden Pond brought Henry Fonda his first Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and homebound. He died several months later.

In the early 1980s, she reinvented herself as a fitness guru, setting up the Jane Fonda Workout studio in Beverly Hills and creating best-selling books and tapes. Her exercise video, "Jane Fonda's Workout", became one of the best-selling videos of all time. Leading the aerobics craze, she was particularly noted for popularizing the phrase "go for the burn". Fonda continued to make sporadic film appearances until April 1991, when she announced her official retirement.

In early 2004, Fonda announced her return to acting after a fourteen-year absence in Monster-in-Law, a comedy in which she plays the prospective mother-in-law of Jennifer Lopez. The film was released in May 2005 and debuted at #1 in the American box office, taking over $23 million in its opening weekend. In the same month, there were reports that Fonda was in talks to film a sequel to 9 to 5.

Political activism

Fonda became involved in political activism during the 1960s, which saw protests against the Vietnam War and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. She was strongly engaged in activism and strongly supported opposition to the Vietnam War.

Fonda and other celebrities 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 that: "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. We must support them with love, money, propaganda and risk."

Opposition to the Vietnam War

Main article: Opposition to the Vietnam War

In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed *FTA* ("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 that contained 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. (pdf) 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.

Sixteen months later, Fonda went on a trip to Hanoi.

"Hanoi Jane"

Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. She is credited with publicly exposing the strategy of bombing the dikes in Vietnam. At the time, she was called a liar by the then UN ambassador George H. W. Bush.

In Vietnam, Fonda was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery used against American pilots. She also participated in several radio broadcasts on behalf of the Communist regime, asking US pilots 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 picture. She apologized for the photograph sixteen years later, amidst continued hostility shown towards her by many Americans. Her apology was directed at the soldiers who served their country in Vietnam.

She also visited American prisoners of war, who assured her they had been neither tortured nor brainwashed. Fonda advanced these claims and relayed them to the American public. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs liars. She also added, with regard to the POWs she met, "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."

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, some characterizing it as treason. At other times, Fonda had expressed a partisanship for the opposing side in the war.

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") were never confirmed.

Her detractors labeled her Hanoi Jane, comparing her to war propagandists Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hannah. 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 terminated his contract with her, even though he was a close friend of her father, and the Fonda children considered him an uncle.

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.

She added:

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 made the distinction that her apology was limited to the photo appearance with the NVA AA-gun, and that she was "proud" of her activism against "the bombing of the dikes".

When Jane Fonda was honored by Barbara Walters in 1999 as one of the 100 great women of the century, old sentiments regarding Fonda's actions in Vietnam were rekindled.

In 2004, her name was used as a disparaging epithet against 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. Fonda appeared on CNN to defend Kerry against these attacks.

In a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, Jane Fonda revealed that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with one exception: her visit to a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site. She stated that the incident, which brought her the nickname “Hanoi Jane”, was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda was quoted as saying: "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."

Fonda made a distinction between regret over the use of her image as propaganda, and pride for her anti-war activism. She told 60 Minutes:

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.

She also told 60 Minutes that 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.

Anti-Fonda protests

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, Michael 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 was perceived as a betrayal of American POWs during the Vietnam War. After Smith was led away, Fonda carried on signing books.

In May 2005, Kentucky resident Irving Bouthwell announced that his two movie theaters would not show Fonda's new film Monster-in-law. Bouthwell (who had in the past banned other Fonda films as well as Fahrenheit 9/11) hung photos of Fonda clapping with a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft crew outside the theater.

Feminist causes

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women sparked by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women and a Kenyan activist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation.

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.

On 16 February 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murder of hundreds of women in the rough border city.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Fonda continues to participate in peace activism, particularly in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During a trip to Jerusalem (billed as a promotion of "world peace") in 2002, Fonda was criticized by right wing Israelis and heckled as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists. Three hecklers, members of Women in Green, criticized her controversial stance during the Vietnam War and said that she "came to Israel as a guest of Peace Now, Israeli traitors".

Opposition to the Iraq War

Main article: Popular opposition to the 2003 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. (April 11, 2003)

In July 2005, Fonda said that war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against the Iraq War.

On 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 devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Fonda will take the anti-war bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and families of military veterans.

Family members

• Brother: Peter Fonda, actor, director, producer
• Daughter: Vanessa Vadim; born in 1968; father, Roger Vadim; named after Vanessa Redgrave
• Son: Troy Garity, actor; born in 1973; father Tom Hayden; named after a Vietnamese resistance leader and given paternal grandmother's surname
• Daughter: Mary Williams, foster child, raised with Tom Hayden
• Niece: Bridget Fonda, actor; born in 1964; daughter of Peter Fonda

Marriages and relationships

Fonda has been married three times:

• Her first husband (1965-73) was French film director Roger Vadim (1928-2000) with whom she had a daughter, Vanessa. She was named for Vanessa Redgrave, the well-known actor and activist member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party. According to her 2005 memoir, Fonda participated in sexual threesomes at Vadim's insistence.
• Her second husband (1973-1990) was author and politician Tom Hayden. Their son, Troy Garity, was born in July 1973. With Hayden, she also raised a foster daughter, Mary Luana Williams, who is an activist born to members of the Black Panthers.
• She married American cable-television tycoon, CNN founder Ted Turner, on December 21, 1991. They were together almost ten years until their May 2001 divorce.

She has also had romantic relationships with:

• Alexander "Sandy" Whitelaw, director; involved 1960
• Donald Sutherland, actor; costarred in Klute; together 1970s
• Barry Matalon, hairdresser; together 1990s

Film awards and nominations

Academy Awards

• 1970: Academy Award Nomination; Best Actress, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
• 1971: Academy Award; Best Actress, Klute
• 1978: Academy Award Nomination; Best Actress, Julia
• 1979: Academy Award; Best Actress, Coming Home
• 1980: Academy Award Nomination; Best Actress, The China Syndrome
• 1982: Academy Award Nomination; Best Supporting Actress, On Golden Pond
• 1987: Academy Award Nomination; Best Actress, The Morning After

Golden Globes

• 1971: Golden Globe; Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), Klute
• 1972: Golden Globe; World Film Favorite - Female
• 1977: Golden Globe; Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), Julia
• 1978: Golden Globe; World Film Favorite - Female
• 1978: Golden Globe; Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), Coming Home
• 1961: Golden Globe; Most Promising Newcomer - Female

Others

• 1983: Emmy; Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, The Dollmaker

Selected Filmography

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