Jane Fonda

• Born: December 21, 1937
• Place of Birth: New York, New York

While Fonda received accolades as an actor, her political activism in opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970s made her a subject of much public controversy. Though she took a break from acting in the last decade of the twentieth century, she continued taking on a variety of film and stage roles in the twenty-first century while remaining a prominent figure in political activism.

Jane Fonda, the daughter of prestigious actor Henry Fonda, was born on December 21, 1937, in New York City. Though at first she was not all that interested in following in her father's acting footsteps, after dropping out of Vassar College, she eventually became friends with Lee Strasberg's daughter. This relationship ultimately led to her involvement with the Actors Studio in the 1950s, during which time she became devoted to studying the craft and proving herself in her own right. Her first performance on the Broadway stage was in There Was a Little Girl in 1960, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. That same year, she appeared on the big screen for the first time as a college student in the comedy Tall Story. She went on to have roles in a number of films in the 1960s, including Walk on the Wild Side (1962), Joy House (1964), Any Wednesday (1966), Barefoot in the Park (1967), and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969).

Fonda became deeply involved in the protest movement against the Vietnam War. In 1972, she visited Hanoi in North Vietnam on a self-described peace mission, enraging public opinion in the United States by posing for photographs that suggested she admired the enemy’s antiaircraft weaponry. While there, she also made radio broadcasts that supported the North Vietnamese government and characterized American military and political leaders as war criminals. She created further controversy when she met with American prisoners of war (POWs) who later said that they had been forced by their captors to denounce the American war effort and to deny that they had been tortured. As a result of this trip, some disapproving Americans compared Fonda to a vilified figure known as Tokyo Rose, convicted of treason for making radio broadcasts supporting the Japanese during World War II. Similarly, Fonda was labeled “Hanoi Jane” by critics, who also accused her of giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States. Fonda nevertheless continued to speak out against the war in the United States in the years immediately following her visit to North Vietnam.

There is no doubt that Fonda’s special invitation to Hanoi was because she was a member of a famous acting family and a movie star in her own right. Her highly regarded film work during the 1970s provided her with a platform for her political activism, and her antiwar activities gave added credibility to her already accomplished screen portrayals of plucky and independent young women. Although Fonda enjoyed much success and popularity in the previous decade, the 1970s saw her at the peak of her creative powers. She starred in such important films as A Doll’s House (1973), Julia (1977), and The China Syndrome (1979), and she won Academy Awards for Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home, a film about Vietnam veterans.

In the 1980s, Fonda remained in demand in Hollywood. She appeared in films such as 1980's box-office hit 9 to 5, On Golden Pond (1981; she starred alongside her father on screen for the first time), and Old Gringo (1989). Though, after playing a lead role in the 1990 film Stanley & Iris, she announced that she was retiring from the industry, she eventually returned to play the titular role in the 2005 film Monster-in-Law. That same year, she published the memoir that she had been working on, titled My Life So Far. In subsequent years, still a versatile actor, she returned to the stage for the first time in decades in the Broadway production 33 Variations (earning a second Tony nomination) in 2009 in addition to taking on parts in Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011), Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013), Fathers & Daughters (2015), and Our Souls at Night (2017). At the same time, from 2015 to 2022, she was a lead part of the ensemble for the show Grace and Frankie, which streamed on Netflix.

Fonda continued to work well into her eighties. In 2018, she starred in the successful flick The Book Club, with Lily Tomlin, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen. The five women also starred in its sequel ,The Book Club: Next Chapter, in 2023. Fonda's movies also included Moving On (2022) in which she starred again with Tomlin, 80 for Brady (2023) in which she starred with Tomlin, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field. Fonda has also spoken out on issues such as women's rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Impact

Throughout the 1970s, opinion was divided about Fonda’s antiwar activities. A significant portion of the public remained convinced that her celebrity gave undue legitimacy to political activities that were dubious if not actually unpatriotic. Many others, however, admired her as a talented actor whose strong convictions made her willing to face public disapproval in support of a cause in which she passionately believed and for which the country itself developed increasing sympathy. Regardless, she has remained a significant figure in the entertainment industry and in the world of activism into the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

Als, Hilton. "Queen Jane, Approximately." The New Yorker, 9 May 2011, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/09/queen-jane-approximately. Accessed 20 May 2024.

Fonda, Jane. My Life So Far. Random House, 2005.

French, Sean. Jane Fonda: A Biography. Trafalgar Square, 1998.

Heawood, Sophie. "Jane Fonda: ‘I’m 80! I Keep Pinching Myself. I Can’t Believe it!’" The Guardian, 27 May 2018, www.theguardian.com/global/2018/may/27/jane-fonda-interview-film-book-club-im-80-i-cant-believe-it-racism-cosmetic-surgery. Accessed 20 May 2024.

Holzer, Henry Mark, and Erika Holzer. “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam. McFarland, 2002.

Jones, Matt. "Jane Fonda Discusses the Link Between Acting and Activism." Bucknell University, 20 Mar. 2024, www.bucknell.edu/news/jane-fonda-discusses-link-between-acting-and-activism. Accessed 20 May 2024.