Tyronne
Tash Jayasinghe
Cibbuano
Jane Fonda
February 17th 2008 05:02
Jane Fonda
She was born in New York City on December 21, 1937, the daughter of Henry Fonda, Hollywood Royalty. Her parents named her Lady Jane Seymour Fonda, because of her mother's distant ancestor,
Lady Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry the Eighth, King of England. Internetmoviedatabase
Her childhood, though priviledged, was not ideal. Her mother committed suicide when Jane was twelve. She did not learn how her mother died until a year later, when reading a magazine. Her father, Henry, was an actor of world renown, but distant. She has said she spent much of her early life wanting to be a boy, so that she could be like him. But, he was so distant, loving but distant.
In the February 16, 1970 issue of Time Magazine , in a cover story about Henry, Jane, and Peter (who had just broken all movie rules and roles with Easy Rider), the article states, in part,
“Peter may have been a hellion, but Jane was a well-behaved, red-haired stick figure at the Brentwood Town and Country School. Her class was filled with other kids as plain as Jane: Gary Cooper's and Claude Rains' daughters, Laurence Olivier's son. A classmate recalls a bit of the Fonda home life down on the farm. “We were all afraid of Jane's father in those days. We always felt he was a time bomb ready to explode. But it was years later when we actually saw him lose his temper over some forgotten trivia. He was booming, purple-faced, with veins sticking out on his temples. It was the only time I was ever privileded to see what may have been a constant for Lady Jane.”
In less than 12 months Henry re-married.
Peter, who was only ten years old at the time, took a gun, pointed it at himself, and fired. The bullet passed through his liver.
No, it was not an ideal childhood.
She began working in movies in 1960, in a cute, slight movie called “Tall Story”. She was adorable in “Cat Ballou”, five years later, with Lee Marvin (who won his only Oscar that year, 1965)
And then she began the rebellion that has characterized her life.
Barbarella
Jane subsequently said, “I did two things. I had a baby and I made Horses (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?). I went into pregnancy at 31. It felt like I could be destroyed. I was afraid. When Vanessa started growing in me, I got hooked. I'm a late starter. It has taken me a long time to get it together.”
After her divorce from Roger Vadim she married Tom Hayden, one of the co-founders of the Students for a Democratic Society and one of the members of the Chicago 7. Tom Hayden
Her activism against the Viet Nam war went far beyond peace protests, and she was called Hanoi Jane.
The controversy over Jane's form of protest continues today, though she has said she regretted her actions, though not her views.
“I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Viet Nam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their familes....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.”(source:wikipedi a)
While married to Tom Hayden she became one of the most popular video personal trainers in the United States, and used much of the money to fund her husband's and her own political projects. However, Mr. Hayden apparently had an affair, and the marriage ended in divorce.
Ted Turner pursued her immediately after the end of her marriage, and she explained to him that she was not ready for another relationship so soon.
He continued to keep in contact, and they married, and divorced.
In September of 2007, the authors of “Freakonomics” talked about The Jane Fonda Effect. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt wrote about the social effect of the movie she starred in, “The China Syndrome”, a movie made in 1979, where Jane portrayed a television reporter who just happens to be filming at a nuclear power plant when an “incident” occurrs. NYTimes FreakonomicsTwelve days after the movie opened there was the real life Three Mile Island incident.
“What it did produce, stoked by “The China Syndrome”, was a widespread panic. The nuclear industry,
already foundering as a result of economic, regulatory and public pressures, halted plans for further
expansion. And so, instead of becoming a nation with clean and cheap nuclear energy, as once seemed
inevitable, the United States kept building power plants that burned coal and other fossil fuels. Today
such plants account for 40 percent of the country's energy-related carbon-dioxide emissions. Anyone
hunting for a global-warning villian can't help blaming those power plants – and can't help wondering
too about the unintended consequences of Jane Fonda.”
In 2005 she said, “People are suspicious because I change. God help me if I didn't!”
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Comment by Luke
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Cane Toad Warrior
Also, had to laugh when I read yesterday that Jane Fonda dropped the c-bomb on live television in the states.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Tracy
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Comment by Theresa
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Penny Smart
I don't know what Peter was thinking, but, you are right, most everything you read does say he was playing around...yet, when he was 29 he told Time Mag, “I don't know if I was trying to commit suicide or not. Since then, the idea has occurred to me many times to do my self up, but righteously.”(1970).
Nowadays he seems much happier, living with his family in Montana, and steadily making movies...
Hi Cibby,
You haven't seen it ??? sigh, it's one of those cult things now, but I remember when I was a kid the movie played forever in the exciting town of Torrance, California. Week in and week out. I wasn't allowed to see it then....
Comment by Theresa
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I'm glad you enjoyed it
Yes, an awful way to discover what happened, but apparently, the family didn't want the kids to be shocked by how she passed, so Henry told them it was a heart attack.
I don't generally agree with lying to kids, but, with something like that....pretty rough.
Comment by Tracy
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Yes, I can imagine it would be hard for the family to know what is the best way to deal with that information. It was quite a sad childhood.
Tracy
Comment by Raoul Duke
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Comment by Theresa
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I can't imagine anyone else playing Barbarella.
Moment by moment, in turns - naive, innocent, seductive - an early Lara Croft in terms of being a warrior?
Theresa
Comment by Lilla
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A lovely post ... and about one of the first warriors to influence me with the rebellion. Unlike others. with a cause, especially in her finest role as Hanoi Jane.
I hope this is not an Eulogy for her demise? ... I've been on tour and out of the news-loop for a few days?
Lilla ...
Comment by Theresa
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No, no not a eulogy, for a very long time I hope.
No, the most recent news on Jane has been where she was doing an interview, as Luke noted
Only, Jane actually said it. On national television. In the morning. Across America.
Darlin' Jane....sigh.
She just can't help being a rebel.
Theresa
Comment by Raoul Duke
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Comment by Luke
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Cane Toad Warrior
My favourite Fonda film is probably 'Klute', she's awesome in that and rightfully won the Best Actress oscar. She's good in 'Coming Home' too but it's Jon Voight that really steals that movie. She's cute as a button in 'Cat Ballou'.
Comment by Theresa
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I can't think of a better current director to film a remake. I hadn't heard about this....
From Dusk to Dawn, Spykids, Grindhouse...incredible.
Theresa
Comment by Theresa
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That's probably it. Peter just talking... Wasn't it Peter that gave John Lennon the idea for the line, "I know what it's like to be dead" in that song?
Jane was amazing in Klute. There are actually movies I have resisted seeing, though hardly anyone who knows me believes that
I know one Vet who says Platoon was what it was like for him, but, that one didn't do it for me, either. Of course, I was not in Nam...I was here, sending 'care' packages, phonographs (battery operated), food, whatever...taking breakfast upstairs to Vets who passed through our house in the Bay Area on their way back home. They'd be between flights & processing, I guess. A long time ago.
Theresa
Comment by Luke
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Like 'Apocalypse Now', they're probably better enjoyed as anti-war films rather than films specifically about Vietnam. I'm not sure how relevant the issue of 'realism' is if they happen to be good films in their own right, dealing with important issues and themes all the same.
I'm sure Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai aren't exactly faithful to the real events they're based on, or at least a realistic depiction of said events, but that doesn't stop them from being excellent films.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Have to chime in with support for Klute as the finest moment of Jane's career.
She is a great actress and interesting persona, strange childhood arc she went through.
"Barbarella" is pure geek chic, love it.
"Coming Home" is quite excellent, but Luke is right "The Deer Hunter" is superior.
I really liked Arthur Penn's "The Chase" too and Jane Fonda opposite Brando and Redford just makes her look even better.
Dont let the title of "They Shoot Horses Dont They?" put you off it's a very thoughtful film. same with "Electric Cowboy."
"California Suite" is another great Neil Simon work and Fonda makes the most of delivery the witty dialogue.
"Fun with Dick and Jane" has dated a little but still makes me smile.
Great post.
Comment by Theresa
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Apocalypse Now (Original, Director's Cut, Redux
It did capture much of the feel of those times.
As for realism, you are probably right about Laurence of Arabia and Bridge, though the rhythm of language and gesture for the times felt right to me.
I've thought now of a few movies about the Sixties that did feel right, though they weren't about Viet Nam necessarily: Forrest Gump, Almost Famous, and Apollo 13.
During Apollo I was grinning at the scens of a party early in the movie, from the clothes and hairstyles, to the language, to the furniture – all very familiar, right down to Tom Hanks telling his short-haired son that it was time to get a hair-cut. Could have been folks I knew...
So, reality vs. themes and issues.
For whatever reason, it appears that for me to value or respect a movie, first, the director and actors of that movie have to convinece me that they know those times, thoroughly.
Some movies just make me wince, because of my perception of the unreality of the times they are supposed to portray.
Michael Bey's Pearl Harbor felt so off, so wrong on the language of the people, and style, I was wincing. And wondering while watching the movie if I wanted to bother finish watching it. I did watch, and the ending (?) battle scenes were profound.
Would I watch it again? No.
Saving Private Ryan was, WWII vets here said, so accurate that it shook a lot of folks who went to see it. I thought it was a great film, and I've seen it several times.
Maybe I dread the lecture I anticipate (right or wrong) that I'll get from the two movies I haven't seen. Not sure.
But, o.k., between you and John Doe, I'll give Coming Home & The Deerhunter a try
Comment by Theresa
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Agreed
They Shoot Horses... very good, but so sad... I have not seen The Electric Cowboy. I did see a picture of Robert Redford seemingly dressed in white Christmas tree lights and I think that put me off.
Though no one says it was great, and why should they, I did enjoy Jane in Monster-In-Law. I get shouted down when I say that was funny, but it was...
Theresa
Comment by Bryn
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What about The Morning After ...?
Comment by Theresa
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Yeah, we had just moved on to Viet Nam, and movies about it ... (we keep things so light here
From Barbarella to war.
I haven't seen The Morning After. Some reviews say it's like afilm noir...sounds pretty good.
Theresa