Jamie Fonda by Horst P. Horst, 1959
The daughter of the actor Henry Fonda, one of the most famous actors of his generation, Jane was born in 1937. Her mother was the Canadian socialite Frances Ford Seymour and it was the second marriage for them both. Jane Fonda’s childhood, although socially privileged and never for want of money, was nonetheless far from easy. When Jane was just twelve her mother killed herself while in a psychiatric hospital. Jane was never told the truth about what happened and only found out when reading a movie magazine. Fonda would later say that her mother’s medical records revealed that she had been a victim of repeated sexual abuse as a child.
After acting on Broadway with some success her film career began in 1960 with Tall Story. Playing opposite Anthony Perkins Fonda recreated her broadway role as a college cheerleader. Robert Redford also made his debut in the same film. Playing a prostitute in Walk on the Wild Side made in 1962 earned Fonda a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.
In 1965 Fonda married, at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, her first husband, French film director Roger Vadim. In 1968 they had a daughter named after the actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave. In the same year Fonda played the title role in the science fiction spoof Barbarella, which which made her famous throughout the world. The following year, in a more serious role, she received her first
nomination for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). Around this time she turned town lead roles in Rosemary’s Baby and Bonnie and Clyde.
While Fonda was living in France with Vadim she went to her first anti-war protest. when she attended her first antiwar rally although she was initially shocked with the anti-Americanism: “It was all about how horrible America was,” Fonda once explained to the New Yorker. Looking back on her life she felt that at the time she thought women were unable to change anything but started to change her mind after watching French television news showing the damage American bombers were doing to Vietnamese schools, hospitals, and churches.
Her political involvement continued with fellow activist and husband Tom Hayden in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the 1980s she started the aerobic exercise craze with the publication of the “Jane Fonda’s Workout Book”. She and Hayden divorced, and she married broadcasting mogul Ted Turner in 1991.
Jane Fonda who starred in “Barbarella.” Rome September 1967 by David Hurn
Jane Fonda carring a Louis Vuitton bag as she walks through the street. (Photo by Bill Ray)
Jane Fonda wearing a yellow and white striped jersey, circa 1970.
Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda working on movie “Barbarella” near Rome 1967 photo Carlo Bavagnoli
Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda working on movie “Barbarella” near Rome 1967 photo Carlo Bavagnoli
Jane Fonda Photo Allan Grant
Jane Fonda
Fondas, Jane and Henry
Jane Fonda, American actress and peace activist, addresses media 20 December 1972 in Stockholm
Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim at their wedding in Las Vegas, 1964
Jane Fonda (with bow & arrow), Malibu, 1965 – photo by Dennis Hopper
Jane Fonda joins an exercise class at her Jane Fonda Workout Studio in Beverly Hills, Calif., April 26, 1984. Miss Fonda will make a television dramatic appearance as a plain Kentucky woman in the ABC movie, “The Dollmaker.” (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Jane Fonda London activist
Jane Fonda c.1972
Bob Willoughby, Jane Fonda on the set of Klute directed by Alan J. Pakula, 1970
Jane Fonda and Robert Redford on the set of Barefoot in the Park
Jane Fonda, circa 1965.
Jane Fonda with Peter McEnery on the set of “The Game Is Over.”
Jane Fonda at High School
The Fonda family
ITALY. Rome. Jane Fonda who starred in “Barbarella.” September 1967.
Jane Fonda who starred in “Barbarella.” Rome September 1967 by David Hurn
Jane Fonda who starred in “Barbarella.” Rome September 1967 by David Hurn
Jane Fonda and Alain Delon, 1964
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on July 27, 1972, after her “fact-finding” trip to Hanoi. (Marty Lederhandler)
Jane Fonda, best known anti-war protester of the Vietnam War.
Audrey Hepburn and Jane Fonda at the Oscars in 1965
Jane Fonda in Klute, 1971
Jane Fonda filming Barefoot in the Park
Lobby card for Sunday in New York
Sunday in New York
Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim, 1967
Jane Fonda, 1965 by Milton H. Greene
Jane Fonda’s 1972 trip to North Vietnam earned her the nickname ‘Hanoi Jane’
Rome. Jane Fonda who starred in “Barbarella.” September 1967 by David Hurn
13th October 1965: American actress Jane Fonda with her husband, French film director Roger Vadim (1928 – 2000), at London Airport. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)
Jane Fonda sits terror-stricken in a cage where a swarm of about 2,000 wrens rip off her clothes in a scene from futuristic space adventure film, “Barbarella,” in 1967 at the Dino Di Laurentis Studios in Rome, Italy. Directed by Roger Vadim, “Barbarella” is a satire and commentary on politics, sex and society in the year 40,000 as told through the eyes of a beautiful earth girl Barbarella traveling through space in her rocket ship.
Jane Fonda auctions off a book by Caesar Chavez in New York City. c 1976.
Jane Fonda, Tall Story, 1960
Jane Fonda and Anthony Perkins, Tall Story 1960
Jane Fonda in Tall Story 1960
Jane Fonda / production still from Roger Vadim’s La ronde [English title- Circle of Love]
Jane Fonda and Alain Delon in Joy House (1964)
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