Peter Fonda

Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, director, and screenwriter.

He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a part of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Easy Rider (1969), and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Ulee's Gold(1997). For the latter, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. Fonda also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999).

Early life

Fonda was born on February 23, 1940, in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda (1905–1982) and his wife Frances Ford Seymour (1908–1950); his sister was actress Jane Fonda (born 1937).[4][5] He and Jane had a half-sister, Frances de Villers Brokaw (1931–2008), from their mother's first marriage. Their mother committed suicide in a mental hospital when Peter, her youngest, was ten, although he did not discover the circumstances or location of her death until he was 15 years old.

On his eleventh birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the abdomen and nearly died. He went to Nainital and stayed for a few months for recovery. Years later, he referred to this incident while with John Lennon and George Harrison while taking LSD. He said, "I know what it's like to be dead." This inspired The Beatles' song "She Said She Said".

Early on, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's home town. While attending the University of Nebraska Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse, where many actors (including his father and Marlon Brando) began their careers. Before he attended the University of Nebraska Omaha, Peter attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts and was a member of the class of 1954. He then matriculated to Westminster School, a Connecticut boarding school in Simsbury where he graduated in 1958.

Career

Early years and film work

Fonda performed at the Cecilwood Theatre in New York in 1960.

Fonda found work on Broadway and gained notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, written by James and William Goldman, which ran for 84 performances in 1961.

Fonda began guest starring on television shows like Naked City, The New Breed, Wagon Train, and The Defenders.

Fonda's first film came when producer Ross Hunter was looking for a new male actor to romance Sandra Dee in Tammy and the Doctor (1963). Fonda was cast in the role, in what was a minor hit.

He followed this with a support part in The Victors (1963), a bleak look at American soldiers in World War II, directed by Carl Foreman. Fonda's performance won him a Golden Globe Award for most promising newcomer.

Fonda continued to work in television, guest starring in Channing, Arrest and Trial, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and 12 O'Clock High. He also tested for the role of John F. Kennedyin PT-109.

Fonda impressed Robert Rossen, who directed the Oscar winner All the King's Men. He cast Fonda in what would be Rossen's last movie, Lilith (1964), alongside Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg and Gene Hackman. Fonda's performance was well reviewed. Shortly before dying, Rossen signed Fonda to a seven-film contract which was to start with an adaptation of Bang the Drum Slowly.

Fonda graduated to a starring role in The Young Lovers (1964), about out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the sole directorial effort of Samuel Goldwyn Jr..

Counterculture figure and Roger Corman

By the mid-1960s, Fonda was not a conventional "leading man" in Hollywood. As Playboy magazine reported, Fonda had established a "solid reputation as a dropout". He had become outwardly nonconformist and grew his hair long and took LSD regularly, alienating the "establishment" film industry. Desirable acting work became scarce.

Through his friendships with members of the band The Byrds, Fonda visited The Beatles in their rented house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in August 1965. While John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Fonda were under the influence of LSD, Lennon heard Fonda say, "I know what it's like to be dead." Lennon used this phrase as the tag line for his song, "She Said She Said", which was included on the Revolver (1966) album.

In 1966, Fonda was arrested in the Sunset Strip riot, which the police ended forcefully. The band Buffalo Springfield protested the department's handling of the incident in their song "For What It's Worth". Fonda sang some and in 1968 recorded "November Night", a 45-rpm single written by Gram Parsons for the Chisa label, backed with "Catch the Wind" by Donovansong, produced by Hugh Masekela.

Fonda's first counterculture-oriented film role was as a biker in Roger Corman's B movie, The Wild Angels (1966). Fonda originally was to support George Chakiris, but graduated to the lead when Chakiris revealed he could not ride a motorcycle, Fonda helped name his character "Heavenly Blues", with Bruce Dern, Nancy Sinatra and Diane Ladd also appearing in the film. In the film, Fonda delivered a "eulogy" at a fallen Angel's funeral service. This was sampled by Psychic TVon their 1988 LP recording, "Jack the TAB". It was later sampled in the Primal Scream recording "Loaded" (1991), and in other rock songs. The movie was a big hit at the box office, screened at the Venice Film Festival, launched the biker movie genre, and established Peter Fonda as a movie name.

Fonda made a television pilot, High Noon: The Clock Strikes Noon Again, filmed in December 1965. It was based on the 1952 film High Noon, starring Gary Cooper, with Fonda in the role that Cooper played. However, it did not become a series.

Fonda next played the male lead in Corman's popular 1967 film The Trip, a take on the experience and "consequences" of consuming LSD, which was written by Jack Nicholson. His co stars included Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper. The movie was another big hit.

Fonda then travelled to France to appear in the portmanteau horror movie Spirits of the Dead (1968). His segment co-starred Fonda's sister Jane and was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim.

For American television he appeared in a movie, Certain Honorable Men (1968) alongside Van Heflin, written by Rod Serling.

Easy Rider

In 1968, Fonda produced, co-wrote and starred in Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper. Easy Rider is about two long-haired bikers traveling through the southwesternand southern United States where they encounter intolerance and violence. Fonda played "Captain America", a charismatic, laconic man whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back. Dennis Hopper played the garrulous "Billy". Jack Nicholson played George Hanson, an alcoholic civil rights lawyer who rides along with them. Fonda co-wrote the screenplay with Terry Southern and Hopper.

Fonda tried to secure financing from Roger Corman and AIP, with whom he had made The Wild Angels and The Trip, but they were reluctant to finance a film directed by Hopper. They succeeded getting money from Columbia Pictures. Hopper filmed the cross-country road trip depicted almost entirely on location. Fonda had secured funding of around $360,000, largely based on the fact he knew that it was the budget Roger Corman needed to make The Wild Angels.

The guitarist and composer Robbie Robertson, of The Band, was so moved by an advance screening that he approached Fonda and tried to convince him to let him write a complete score, even though the film was nearly due for wide release. Fonda declined the offer, instead using Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" sung by The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, and Robertson's own composition "The Weight", performed by The Band, among many other tracks.

The film was released in 1969 to international success. Jack Nicholson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Fonda, Hopper and Southern were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film grossed over $40 million.

Director

After the success of Easy Rider, both Hopper and Fonda were sought for film projects. Hopper made the drug-addled jungle epic The Last Movie (in which Fonda co-starred along with singer Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas).

Fonda directed and starred in the 1971 Western film, The Hired Hand. He took the lead role in a cast that also featured Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and Beat Generation poet Michael McClure. The film received mixed reviews and failed commercially upon its initial release, but many years later, in 2001, a fully-restored version was shown at various film festivals, gaining critical praise, and was re-released by the Sundance Channel on DVD that same year.

Fonda later directed the 1973 science fiction film Idaho Transfer. He did not appear in the film, and the film received mixed reviews upon its limited release. It has since become a cult classic with science fiction fans. That same year he co-starred with Lindsay Wagner in Two People for director Robert Wise, in which he portrayed a Vietnam War deserter.

Action star

In 1974, Fonda starred alongside Susan George in the film Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), a film about two NASCAR hopefuls who execute a supermarket heist to finance their jump into big-time auto racing. The film was a notable box-office hit that year, and it would go on to become a cult classic.

It led to Fonda making a series of action movies: Open Season (1974), with William Holden; Race with the Devil (1975), fleeing devil worshippers with Warren Oates (another hit); 92 in the Shade (1975), again with Oates, for writer-director Thomas McGuane; Killer Force (1976) for director Val Guest; Futureworld (1976), a sequel to Westworld (1973), financed by AIP;  Fighting Mad (1976), a reuniting with Roger Corman, directed by Jonathan Demme.

Outlaw Blues (1977) was a drama, with Fonda playing a musician opposite Susan Saint James.

After some more action with High-Ballin' (1978), Fonda returned to directing, with the controversial drama Wanda Nevada(1979), wherein the 39-year-old Fonda starred as the "love" interest of the then 13-year-old Brooke Shields. His father, Henry Fonda, made a brief appearance as well, and it is the only film in which they performed together.

1980s

Fonda was top billed in The Hostage Tower (1980), a television movie based on a story by Alistair MacLean.

Fonda appeared in the 1981 hit film, The Cannonball Run, as the "chief biker" that was a tongue-in-cheek nod to his earlier motorcycle films, and the film was a huge box office success that year with a large ensemble cast.

He also played a charismatic cult leader in Split Image (1982), a film that also starred James Woods, Karen Allen and Brian Dennehy. Despite the strong cast and positive reviews, the film failed to find an audience.

Fonda later appeared in a series of films in the 1980s of varying genres — Daijōbu, My Friend (1983), shot in Japan; Dance of the Dwarfs (1983); Peppermint-Frieden (1983), shot in Germany; Spasms (1983), a Canadian horror film with Oliver Reed; A Reason to Live (1985), a TV movie; Certain Fury (1985), with Tatum O'Neal; Mercenary Fighters (1988); Hawken's Breed(1988), a Western; Sound (1988); Gli indifferenti (1989) with Liv Ullmann; and The Rose Garden (1989).

1990s

In the early 1990s Fonda also contributed to the script of Enemy (1990), in which he starred.

He had the lead in Family Express (1991) and South Beach (1993), but then drifted into supporting roles in many "independent" films: Deadfall (1993), directed by Christopher Coppola; Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), starring his daughter Bridget; Molly & Gina (1994); Love and a .45 (1994) with Renée Zellweger; Nadja (1994), produced by David Lynch. He had a good supporting role in Escape from L.A. (1996) from John Carpenter and was in Don't Look Back (1996). He also guest starred on In the Heat of the Night.

Ulee's Gold

After years of films of varying success, Fonda received high-profile critical recognition and universal praise for his performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). He portrayed a stoic North Florida beekeeper who tries to save his son and granddaughter from a life of drug abuse. For his performance, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

He had the lead in Painted Hero (1997).

In 1998, Fonda starred in a TV movie version of The Tempest, based in part on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was directed by Jack Bender and starred Fonda, John Glover, Harold Perrineau, and Katherine Heigl.[30] Although not available on DVD, it is available on VHS tape.

He was in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1998), then appeared in the crime film The Limey (1999) as Terry Valentine, an aging rock music producer who accidentally kills his younger girlfriend. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh.

2000s

Fonda's work in the 2000s included parts in South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000), Second Skin (2000), Wooly Boys (2001), The Laramie Project (2001), The Maldonado Miracle (2003), Capital City (2004), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), A Thief of Time (2004), Back When We Were Grownups (2004), Supernova (2005), and El cobrador: In God We Trust(2006).

In 2001 a fully restored version of The Hired Hand was exhibited at a number of festivals. Despite generating mixed reviews upon its initial release, in 2001 it gained a generally enthusiastic critical response. The Sundance Channel released a DVD of the film in two separate editions that same year, and the film has since found an audience as a cult Western classic.

In 2002, Fonda was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. He provided the voice-over of the aging hippie, The Truth, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), which was very successful.

In a 2007 interview, Fonda said that riding motorcycles helped him to focus, stating,

I ride an MV Agusta. This is an Italian racing motorcycle. It forces focus. You have to be focused and in my life, in this business, focus is hard to find sometimes. So I need to force focus and that's great. The bike takes you on a free road. There's no fences on the roads I ride and I don't ride freeways. That's as much as I can tell you, because there are more lands waiting for this little Christian boy. That's not true. I'm an atheist, but what the heck.

In 2007, Fonda made a notable return to the big screen as the bounty hunter Byron McElroy in the remake of the 1957 Western, 3:10 to Yuma. He appeared together with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. The film received two Academy Award nominations, and positive reviews from critics. He also appeared in the last scenes of the biker comedy Wild Hogs as Damien Blade, founder of the biker gang Del Fuegos and father of Jack, played by Ray Liotta. Fonda also portrayed Mephistopheles, one of two main villains in the 2007 film Ghost Rider. Although he wanted to play the character in the sequel, he was replaced by Ciarán Hinds.

He appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), Japan (2008), and The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2009).

In 2009, he appeared as "The Roman", the main villain in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the sequel to the cult hit The Boondock Saints. Fonda also appeared on the television series Californication.

Later career

Fonda's later appearances include American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010) for Fred Olen Ray; The Trouble with Bliss(2011); episodes of CSI: NY; Smitty (2012); Harodim (2012); As Cool as I Am (2013); Copperhead (2013); The Ultimate Life(2013); The Harvest (2013); HR (2014); House of Bodies (2014); Jesse James: Lawman (2015); The Runner (2015) with Nicolas Cage; The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017); The Most Hated Woman in America (2017); Borderland (2017); You Can't Say No (2018); and Boundaries (2018) with Christopher Plummer. He was an executive producer of the documentary The Big Fix (2012).

Other work

Fonda wrote an autobiography, Don't Tell Dad (1998).

Honors

In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Personal life

Residence

Fonda had a permanent home in Paradise Valley, Montana since 1975.

Politics

In 2011, Fonda and Tim Robbins produced The Big Fix, a documentary that examined the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its effects on the Gulf of Mexico. At a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Fonda stated that he had written to President Barack Obama about the spill and attacked him as a "fucking traitor" for allowing "foreign boots on our soil telling our military—in this case the Coast Guard—what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do.'"

Twitter controversy

In June 2018, Fonda went on Twitter to criticize President Donald Trump's administration's enforcement of U.S. immigration policy by Jeff Sessions, specifically regarding the separation of children from their parents at the Mexican border, writing that "We should rip Barron Trump from the arms of First Lady Melania Trump and put him in a cage with pedophiles." He also suggested that Americans should seek out names of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to protest outside of their homes and the schools of their children. The Secret Service opened an investigation based on a report from the Trump family. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, whose daughter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was also the object of Fonda's tweets, believes that Fonda's statement about Barron Trump is a violation of federal criminal law. Fonda had also suggested "Maybe we should take her (Sanders) children away..."

In another later deleted tweet, Fonda targeted United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen by calling her a "vulgar" name and calling for Nielsen to be "put in a cage and poked at by passersby ..."

Fonda stated that he deleted his tweet regarding Barron Trump, saying that he "immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused." Backlash to Fonda's tweets resulted in a call for a boycott of his newest film at the time, Boundaries, and other Sony projects. Sony Pictures released Boundaries as planned on June 22, 2018, but released a statement stating that Fonda's comments "are abhorrent, reckless and dangerous, and we condemn them completely."

Death

Fonda died from respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles on August 16, 2019.

His sister Jane Fonda made the following statement:

I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.

Numerous actors and celebrities also paid tribute to him, including Nancy Sinatra, Mia Farrow, Edgar Wright, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rob Reiner, Ava DuVernay, Kathy Griffin, Lawrence O'Donnell, Illeana Douglas, Cary Elwes, Billy Baldwin, Angus Macfadyen, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Norman Reedus, and Diane Ladd.