Fonda, Jane 1937-

FONDA, JANE 1937-

Actress

Ingenue

Throughout the 1960s Jane Fonda was known primarily as actor Henry Fonda's daughter, as a pretty ingenue in light sex comedies such as Sunday in New York (1963) and as director Roger Vadim's protégé in arty skin flicks such as Barbarella (1968). All that was to change in the decade that followed. As worldwide political situations intensfied, particularly the war in Vietnam, Fonda became increasingly radicalized. A major influence on her in the late 1960s was her friend Vanessa Redgrave, who had often taken strong anti-American political stances. Fonda began to see herself and her role in Hollywood differently. She split with Vadim, then stunned audiences and critics with her portrayal of a bitter, downtrodden marathon dancer in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? After traveling to Europe and India to "search for herself," Fonda returned to the United States with a radically different agenda, declaring, "I've wasted the first 32 years of my life."

Radical

In 1970 Fonda participated in some very public protests on behalf of human rights causes, particularly the downtrodden American Indian. She visited Indian groups after their 1970 takeover of Alcatraz Island and joined another group in a march to reclaim Indian land. Angered over U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Fonda also attempted to organize "enlightenment" talks with soldiers in army bases, leading to several arrests for trespassing on government property. She caused further controversy with her open use of marijuana (Fonda to inter-viewer Rex Reed: "You don't mind if I turn on, do you?"). A search of her luggage for drugs at an Ohio airport led to her arrest for assaulting a police officer. Fonda also publicly supported the Black Panthers' Marxist, revolutionary agenda and in 1971 openly condemned "the system" after Black Panther George Jackson was charged with the murder of a guard in Soledad prison. Fonda also embraced the feminist movement, participating in rallies on behalf of welfare mothers.

Hanoi Jane

Fonda received unprecedented publicity with her 1972 trip to North Vietnam. She had come to believe that the U.S. government was lying to the American people about the extent of its involvement in the war and that hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese were being killed in U.S. bombings. In Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital, Fonda giddily posed for pictures riding a North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun. She also made broadcasts for Radio Hanoi denouncing American soldiers as war criminals and murderers. Her statements were broadcast to army bases throughout Vietnam, allegedly leading to the torture of some American prisoners of war who refused to support Fonda's position. Fonda dismissed such reports, but many outraged U.S. citizens accused her of treason, demanding prosecution or public apology (and even hanging her in effigy).

Graylist

Fonda won an Academy Award for Best Actress early in 1972 for her brilliant portrayal of a high-priced call girl in Klute. Her largely improvised scenes in a psychiatrist's office earned critical raves, but Fonda's political antics, particularly the Hanoi debacle, led to a "graylist" of her in Hollywood. For Oscar night she had planned to make a political speech lambasting the government over Vietnam, but father Henry talked her into saying a simple thank-you. Even so, Fonda was offered few choice roles after Klute and wound up accepting parts in several foreign-produced films. One of these was A Doll's House, based on the Henrik Ibsen play and featuring Fonda as a newly liberated wife. Despite her Hollywood struggles, Fonda continued her high-profile activism and in 1973 married 1960s-radical-turned-politician Tom Hayden.

Comeback

Fun with Dick and Jane, released early in 1977, featured Fonda and George Segal as stylish white-collar criminals on a spree. The film was a hit and proved Fonda could be sexy and funny again. She went on to star in a string of demanding, high-quality roles that earned her three consecutive Oscar nominations, another Oscar, and the respect of the film community and moviegoing public. Most of her late-1970s roles had strong feminist and political overtones. In Julia she was playwright Lillian Hellman, gradually radicalized into anti-Fascist actions by her longtime friend, played by Vanessa Redgrave. In Coming Home her drab military housewife was gradually radicalized by a paraplegic soldier into antiwar activism and personal and sexual liberation. In The China Syndrome her demure, underchallenged reporter was suddenly radicalized into antinuclear action during the near-meltdown of a power plant's reactor core. Other roles included her strong, independent ranch owner in Comes a Horseman (1978) and another feisty reporter in The Electric Horseman (1979). By the end of the 1970s Fonda had become an on-screen role model for the women's movement and for political enlightenment and one of the most admired public figures in the United States.

Image

After The China Syndrome and the real-life near-meltdown at Three Mile Island, she and Hayden organized a fifty-two-city campaign against "corporate power." But as her acting career flourished with films such as the quietly feminist 9 to 5 (1980) and On Golden Pond (1981), Fonda began to change her image again. As the 1980s wore on, she launched a new career as an exercise queen. Her workout videos became huge sellers, their success eclipsing even her best film projects, such as The Morning After (1986) or her quietly feminist 1984 television movie The Dollmaker. Her 1970s radicalism appeared forgotten, at least until 1988. When she tried to make the film Stanley and Iris in a small Connecticut town, long-harbored resentment by the townspeople erupted against her, causing Fonda to state publicly that she had acted rashly in Hanoi and had also been greatly uninformed about many of her 1970s causes. After meeting with local citizens Fonda was able to complete the film. Her public contrition also apparently erased the longtime stigma of "Hanoi Jane." Soon after, she announced her retirement from acting and subsequently married multimillionaire television mogul Ted Turner.

Source:

Christopher Anderson, Citizen Jane: The Turbulent Life of Jane Fonda (New York: Holt, 1990).