Henry Fonda and his second wife, New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw (formerly Mrs. George Tuttle Brokaw), who committed suicide by cutting her throat in 1950, when Jane was 12.
In 1954, Jane Fonda joined her father on stage with the Omaha Community Theatre in a production of The Country Girl. She met Lee Strasberg in 1958, and joined his Actors Studio. Fonda's screen debut in the frivolous Tall Story in 1960 did not presage the more serious work that would become her trademark. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home, and was nominated five more times.
She has been married three times. Her first husband (1965-73) was French film director Roger Vadim (1928-2000) with whom she had a daughter, Vanessa, named for Vanessa Redgrave. Her second husband (1973-1990) was author and politician Tom Hayden, by whom she has a son, Troy Garity, and an adopted daughter. Her third husband (1991-2001) was American cable-television tycoon Ted Turner.
She became involved in political activity during the time of the Vietnam War, and became the target of hatred from many Americans for her visit to Hanoi in which she advocated opposition to the war. During this visit she acquired the nickname Hanoi Jane. During the 1980s, she reinvented herself in a series of workout videos.
Academy Awards and Nominations
1987 Nominated The Morning After
1982 Nominated Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress On Golden Pond
1980 Nominated The China Syndrome
1979 Won Coming Home
1978 Nominated Julia
1972 Won Klute
1970 Nominated They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Filmography
- Stanley & Iris
- Old Gringo
The Morning After
Agnes of God
The Dollmaker
Lily, Sold Out
Rollover
On Golden Pond
The Ten Thousand Day War
No Nukes
Nine to Five
The Electric Horseman
The China Syndrome
Comes a Horseman
California Suite
Coming Home
Julia
Fun with Dick and Jane
The Blue Bird
A Doll's House
Steelyard Blues
F.T.A
Tout va bien
Klute
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Spirits of the Dead
Barbarella
Barefoot in the Park
Hurry Sundown
Any Wednesday
La Cur?
The Chase
Cat Ballou
La Ronde (1964)
Les F?ins
In the Cool of the Day
Sunday in New York
Period of Adjustment
The Chapman Report
Walk on the Wild Side
Tall Story
Little Buddha
This Jane Fonda Biography Page is Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Chuck Ayoub
