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Jane Fonda

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Jane Seymour Fonda is an Academy Award winning American actress, model, writer, producer, activist and philanthropist.

Biography

Born December 21, 1937, in New York City, to actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw. She was named after Lady Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII.

Jane's socialite mother (Henry Fonda's second of five wives), after voluntarily seeking help at an asylum, committed suicide by cutting her throat on October 1950, when Jane was 12 years old. Henry married actress Susan Blanchard (step-daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, and eventual wife of Richard Widmark) eight months later, and throughout their six-year marriage, Blanchard helped to raise Jane and her brother, Peter.

Jane Fonda has been married three times:

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

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: adopted with Tom Hayden
  • Niece: Bridget Fonda, actor; born in 1964; daughter of Peter Fonda

Her nickname as a youth -- Lady Jane, a moniker she reportedly disliked. She traveled to Russia in '64 and was impressed by the people, who welcomed her warmly as Henry's daughter. In the mid-'60s she bought a farm outside of Paris, she renovated it and did the garden herself. She visited Warhol's Factory in '66. About her '71 Oscar triumph, her father Henry said: "How in hell would you like to have been in this business as long as I and have one of your kids win an Oscar before you do?" Jane was on the cover of Life magazine, March 29, 1968. Early in her career she was extremely critical of her father, but in 1980 she bought the play On Golden Pond so that she could get Henry to star in it, hopefully to win the Oscar that had eluded him throughout his career. He won, and when she accepted the Oscar for him she said it was "the happiest night of my life." Director Roger Vadim once said about her: "Living with Jane was difficult in the beginning ... she had so many -- how do you say? -- bachelor habits. Too much organization. Time is her enemy. She cannot relax. Always there is something to do." Vadim also said about her: "There is also in Jane a basic wish to carry things to the limit."

Acting career

While growing up she had no acting ambitions, but she got interested in 1954 when she performed with her dad in a charity performance of The Country Girl, at the Omaha Community Theatre. During that show, she had to cry, and in order to coax the tears she reportedly had a stagehand smack her before she walked on. She attended Vassar College in New York, was introduced to Lee Strasberg by her father in 1958, and joined his Actors Studio. She would later receive an Honorary Degree from Emerson College in May, 2000.

Her stage work in the late '50s led to her impressive film career that only gained momentum after the '60s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in '60 with Tall Story, in which Jane recreated her Broadway role of a cheery college student opposite gangly Tony Perkins. Period of Adjustment, in which she went blonde, and Walk on the Wild Side, with Jane as the young temptress Kitty Twist, came in '62 along with a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer, with Sunday in New York following a year later. Critics were quickly impressed with her: In 1962, Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses." Jane's big-screen breakthrough, of course, was Cat Ballou ('65), in which she played the sweet title role that had been offered to Ann-Margret but rejected. The rootin'-tootin' Western got five Oscar nominations, was one of the year's top-ten moneymakers, and made her a star at age 28. After Any Wednesday in '66 and Barefoot in the Park with Robert Redford in '67 came the dazzling Barbarella in '68, which sent her sexpot image into orbit. By contrast, the grim They Shoot Horses, Don't They? in '69 showcased her serious acting talent, bringing her the first of seven Oscar nominations. One more role for which she was supposedly first choice, but she didn't take -- Rosemary in Rosemary's Baby, the part finally played by Mia Farrow.

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home, and was nominated five more times.

Political activism

Fonda became involved in political activism during the time of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Reforms and significant rebellion against the "Establishment." Her activism and philanthropy in opposition to the Vietnam War, made her infamous among pro-war and pro-military Americans.

Native American movement

Alcatraz Island Occupation - Early in the morning on November 20, 1969, 79 American Indians, including students, married couples and six children, sailed to Alcatraz and began the 19-month occupation of the island. Despite the Coast Guard's attempted blockade, the group disembarked successfully. The government gave them 24 hours to leave, but the occupiers didn't budge. The group's leader Richard Oakes phoned in a message to the San Francisco Department of the Interior office:

"We invite the United States to acknowledge the justice of our claim. The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government - to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit's land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian. We do not fear your threat to charge us with crimes on our land. We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace."

The occupiers had strong support from the entertainment industry. Sports legend Jim Thorpe's (Sac and Fox) daughter Grace, who occupied the island for several months, acted as a liaison to celebrities like Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, Jonathan Winters and Dick Gregory, who visited to show their solidarity with the Indian occupation. (January, 1970)

The Black Panthers

Huey Newton and Black Panthers -- A quote from Jane Fonda in 1970: "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

In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed *FTA* ("Free The Army," a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army"), an antiwar 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 dialog with soldiers to get their thoughts on their upcoming deployments (which were later made into a movie).

Also in 1970, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and was bestowed the title of Honorary National Coordinator for her efforts. Beginning November 3, she toured college campuses and 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 (some claim alone, some claim with an unnamed VVAW representative) to meet with NLF foreign minister Madam Nguyen Thi Binh. According to a transcript in which she was translated to Vietnamese and back to English, she 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, she travelled to London. A speech that she gave in London was criticized for her discussion of the US use of torture in Vietnam. Her financial support to VVAW at this time was apparently not significant, as within a month VVAW was broke and one of its prominent leaders, John Kerry, raised the needed funds.

Sixteen months later, Fonda went on her well-known trip to Hanoi.

"Hanoi Jane"

Although the war was largely protested at home by this time, and many Americans were against the war, her actions in 1972 were widely perceived as over the top. The anti-war movement of the time was not characterized by a single motivation: some, such as Quakers and other traditionally pacifist groups were opposed to war in any circumstances; some felt that the war was not an American responsibility or concern, arguing especially that it was a civil war in which the US was choosing sides; some, such as young men of draft age, their parents and friends, didn't want their lives risked in an unpopular war; but some expressed a partisanship for the opposing side in the war, including Jane Fonda - and this made her a polarizing figure.

She became the target of hatred from many Americans because of her visit to Hanoi, where she advocated opposition to the war. Her detractors labeled her Hanoi Jane, comparing her to war propagandists Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hannah. She has often been associated with contributing to a perceived anti-soldier sentiment among Vietnam War protesters, such as spitting on soldiers. Because of her actions, John Wayne cut off all contact with her, even though he was a close friend of her father's.

When Jane Fonda was honored by Barbara Walters in 1999 as one of the 100 great women of the century, sentiments regarding Fonda's actions in Vietnam were rekindled. Rumors that Fonda handed over information about U.S. soldiers to National Liberation Front (NLF) insurgents (better known in the U.S. as the "Viet Cong") are provably untrue, as are reports that a pilot spat at Fonda and was beaten for it and that one POW was beaten to death for refusing to meet with her. The latter story, though, may be an exaggeration of the true account of Michael Benge, a civilian advisor captured by the NLF in 1968 and held as a POW for 5 years. He wrote "When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I would like to tell her about the real treatment we POWs were receiving, which was far different from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by Jane Fonda, as 'humane and lenient.' Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees with outstretched arms with a piece of steel re-bar placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane every time my arms dipped." [1] [2]

File:Fonda-Hanoi1.jpg
Jane Fonda in Hanoi, 1971

Fonda posed for a picture at an anti-aircraft battery and participated in several radio broadcasts. She also visited American prisoners of war who assured her that they had neither been tortured nor brainwashed. Fonda believed 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 them liars. She also added, concerning 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." Concerning 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.". Her stance has some backing, as former vice presidential candidate and POW James Stockdale wrote that no more than 10% of US pilots in captivity received more than 90% of the torture, usually for acts of resistance. Additionally, John Hubbel's research into the conflict indicates that the majority (but certainly not all) of the torture occurred before 1969 (Fonda's visit was in 1973).

Fonda delivered home letters from many American POWs in Vietnam. She also is often credited with publicly exposing the strategy of bombing the dikes in Vietnam, for which she was at the time called a liar by then-UN ambassador George H. W. Bush. In 1988, Fonda apologized for her actions to the American POWs and their families. She has also stated:

"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 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. [3] Some also circulated a faked composite photograph to give the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform. [4]

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.

Slayings of women in Ciudad Juárez

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

Campaign against genital mutilation

V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, sparked by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, held its first summit Friday, bringing together Fonda, Afghan women and a Kenyan campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation. (September 21, 2002)

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Fonda continues to participate in peace activism, in particular regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Fonda has been attacked by right wing Israelis during a trip to Jerusalem to promote world peace -- the actress and activist was heckled, as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists, for her controversial stance during the Vietnam War; Fonda was dubbed Hanoi Jane for her peace protests during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (December 21, 2002)

Opposition to Iraq War

Fonda fears the military campaign in Iraq will turn people all over the world against America. She is also concerned that a global hatred of America will result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. (April 11, 2003)

Later career

In the early 1980s she reinvented herself as a health guru, setting up the Jane Fonda Workout studio in Beverly Hills and creating best-selling books and tapes (her "Jane Fonda's Workout" is one of the best-selling videos of all time). Leading the aerobics craze, she was particularly noted in this regard for popularising the phrase "go for the burn", for which she was criticised. While retired from acting in the late '90s (she announced that she would never act again in April 2001), her latest endeavors have been philanthropic. She works to prevent adolescent pregnancy, and in July of 2001 this item ran in the L.A. Times:

"Atlanta's Emory University unveiled the Jane Fonda Center Thursday, using a $2-million donation from the actress and former fitness guru to study adolescent reproductive health research, training and program development. Fonda's gift will include an endowment to create a research position specializing in teen sexuality and reproductive health. Earlier this year, Fonda gave $12.5 million to Harvard's Graduate School of Education for a study of gender in education."

As with everything else she's ever done, she continues to pursue her passions with gusto and commitment. In early 2004 she announced she'd return to acting after a fourteen-year absence. The movie, Monster-in-Law, is a comedy in which she plays Jennifer Lopez's prospective mother-in-law.

On March, 31, 2005. Jane Fonda says her 1972 visit to a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site, an incident that brought her the nickname "Hanoi Jane," was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda, in a 60 minutes interview 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."

Film awards and nominations

Filmography

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