Biography for
Jane Fonda More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

21 December 1937, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda

Nickname

Lady Jane (childhood)

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda was born on December 21, 1937 in New York City to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour. It was the second marriage for both her parents; Henry was divorced from actress Margaret Sullavan and Frances was the widow of a wealthy industrialist, George Tuttle Brokaw. In addition to her younger brother Peter Fonda, Jane had a half-sister, Frances "Pan" de Villers Brokaw (1931-2008), from her mother's first marriage. When Jane was twelve, Henry Fonda left Frances for a younger woman (21-year-old Susan Blanchard, who became his third wife). Devastated, Frances checked herself into a sanitarium and committed suicide there on April 14, 1950 by slitting her throat with a razor that she'd hidden in a framed photograph of her children. Jane was told that her mother died of a heart failure, but learned the truth months later while leafing through a movie magazine. She eventually obtained her mother's medical records and learned that Frances had been sexually abused, which may have been the reason for the emotional problems that had plagued her throughout adulthood.

Jane first became interested in acting in 1954, when she was prompted by director Joshua Logan to appear in an Omaha Community Theatre production of "The Country Girl" with Dorothy McGuire. She graduated from the all-girls Emma Willard boarding school in 1955, then enrolled at the women's-only Vassar College, where she rebelled by ditching classes, drinking, and living it up at nearby men's universities. Jane dropped out of Vassar after finishing her sophomore year, then went to Paris to study painting. When that did not work out, Jane returned to New York and got a job as a secretary, but was soon fired. Jane ultimately decided to pursue a film career and was accepted into the Actor's Studio, where she received her training from Lee Strasberg. She did some modeling to pay for the acting classes, and was prominently featured in many major magazines in the late 1950s, including Vogue, Life, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar and Ladies' Home Journal.

Extraordinary talent, a famous last name, and a lot of exposure generated from her modeling career helped Jane land the lead role in Tall Story (1960), a romantic comedy directed by Logan and co-starring Anthony Perkins. Even though it was her first film, Jane received above-the-title billing in the opening credits and was played up as a major new star. However, Jane hated the experience and couldn't stand her character, a girl-next-door cheerleader who goes to college for the sole purpose of finding a husband. She decided that she never wanted to make another movie again and spent the next two years doing a series of plays on Broadway, including "There Was a Little Girl" (1960) which earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 1961, Jane was named Woman of the Year by the Hasty Pudding Theatrical Society. She came back to Hollywood only when she was offered a role that was the complete opposite of the one she had played in "Tall Story," that of prostitute-turned-heroine Kitty Twist in Walk on the Wild Side (1962). The film co-starred Laurence Harvey, Capucine, and Barbara Stanwyck, but it was Jane's beauty that carried the day. Her next two films, both released in the fall of 1962, were met with widely varying degrees of success. The Chapman Report (1962), which had her playing a frigid young widow, was slammed by critics and earned her that year's "Worst Actress" award from the Harvard Lampoon organization. In contrast, Period of Adjustment (1962) was a critical and commercial hit for Jane and her up-and-coming co-star, Jim Hutton. She received her first Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress.

In 1963, Jane starred opposite Peter Finch in the formulaic melodrama In the Cool of the Day (1963), followed by the innocuously fun romantic comedy Sunday in New York (1963) with Rod Taylor. In the summer of that year, Jane went to France to start shooting the crime thriller Joy House (1964) with Alain Delon. While in France, Jane also starred in the erotic drama Circle of Love (1964), in which she broke ground by becoming the first major American actress to do a nude scene in a foreign film. The film was directed by Roger Vadim, who at 35 was twice divorced from actresses Brigitte Bardot and Annette Stroyberg, and had recently sired an illegitimate son with his 19-year-old protégé, Catherine Deneuve. Initially, Jane had reservations about Vadim because of his frowned-upon past, but couldn't resist his charm. They fell in love and soon moved in together, eventually marrying on August 14, 1965. Back in Hollywood, Jane played the title role in the smash hit western satire Cat Ballou (1965), proving her a big box office draw. The next year, she starred opposite Marlon Brando and Robert Redford in The Chase (1966), generated further controversy with her nude scenes in The Game Is Over (1966) directed by Vadim, and played a frustrated spinster torn between Jason Robards and Dean Jones in the comedy Any Wednesday (1966), which earned her another Golden Globe nomination. Jane's success continued with roles in Otto Preminger's Hurry Sundown (1967) opposite Michael Caine and the hit adaptation of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Redford.

1968 saw the release of two movies in which Jane was directed by her husband. The first was Spirits of the Dead (1968), in which Jane and her brother Peter played out an incestuous theme. Then, she played the title role in the notorious sci-fi sex farce Barbarella (1968). Jane's feelings about the film have changed over time from proud to embarrassed to indifferent, and she now accepts "Barbarella" for what it is: a charming camp classic that, for better or worse, has become the film that she is best known for. On September 28, 1968, Jane and Vadim had a daughter, Vanessa Vadim. Jane didn't take much time off for motherhood, returning to work three months later to start shooting her next film. The film was They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), a haunting, powerful period piece depicting the desperation of the Depression Era. The film was a big hit at the box office, and Jane's lacerating turn as the cynical malcontent Gloria electrified critics. Giving the performance of her life, Jane received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Unfortunately, she lost the award to Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). Nonetheless, Jane was now the most in-demand actress in the world and could have her pick of any role she wanted. She did exactly that, and her follow-up to "Horses" was a stunner. In 1971, Jane played a sexy hooker being targeted by a serial killer in New York City in the hit thriller Klute (1971), and was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. This time, she won.

In the midst of all this success, Jane experienced an early midlife crisis. Unhappy with her "permissive, indolent life," she left the unfaithful, carefree Vadim (whom she'd been supporting financially since their courtship) and threw herself into politics as the Vietnam War reached its height. She also became a radical activist for almost any leftist cause, including desegregation, women's rights and environmental issues, and supported the Black Panther Party and the Red Power movement. Jane rallied all over the nation, which prompted the F.B.I. to closely monitor her. In November 1970, while returning to the U.S. after giving a speech at a college in Canada, Jane was arrested at Cleveland Airport for drug smuggling. She had no drugs, and the pills she was arrested for carrying turned out to be vitamins (she got out of jail almost immediately). In July 1972, just months after winning the Oscar for "Klute," Jane took a two-week tour of North Vietnam and visited the capital city of Hanoi. She made a public service announcement to American bomber pilots and was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery, appearing as if she were shooting at incoming American planes. The photograph was seen around the world, and what actually happened has often been wildly exaggerated. (One of the most popular myths was that she turned smuggled messages from American soldiers in POW camps over to their captors, and the men were tortured to death because of her actions.) Jane was branded a traitor and given the nickname "Hanoi Jane." Decades later, she is still despised by many.

In the fall of 1972, Jane became pregnant with her second child by fellow antiwar activist Tom Hayden. Vadim was also expecting a baby with his latest girlfriend, heiress Catherine Schneider, but he and Jane had put off filing for divorce. On January 16, 1973, Jane and Vadim finally divorced, and she married Hayden three days later. On July 7, 1973, Jane gave birth to a son, Troy Garity. He was given his paternal grandmother's surname because the names "Fonda and Hayden carried too much baggage." Meanwhile, Jane's career had taken a setback as a result of the scandal she caused with her trip to Hanoi. Despite having recently won an Oscar, Jane claimed she was "greylisted" because President Richard Nixon had conservative state legislators introduce measures that would condemn or ban her films. Conservative theater owners went along, and studio executives didn't want to take a chance on her. Indeed, Jane's next three films had received scant distribution and went virtually unnoticed. Both Tout va bien (1972), a French picture she made with Yves Montand, and Steelyard Blues (1973), a comedy with previous co-star Donald Sutherland, barely opened in brief limited releases, while her adaptation of A Doll's House (1973/II) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival but subsequently went straight to television. Jane took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she formed her own production company, IPC films, to produce vehicles she hoped would return her to star status. 1977 was Jane's comeback year. She starred with George Segal in the hit comedy Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) and portrayed author Lillian Hellman in the superb drama Julia (1977), which earned her a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and another Oscar nomination. Jane then produced and starred in Coming Home (1978), as a Marine officer's wife who volunteers at a Vietnam veterans' hospital and has an affair with an amputee played by Jon Voight. The film was another hit for Jane and she won her second Oscar. She followed with two other successful films released the same year: the western Comes a Horseman (1978) with James Caan and the comedy California Suite (1978) with Alan Alda. Jane was on a roll, and 1979 proved to be an even more successful year for her. She received a fifth Oscar nomination for her role as an ambitious reporter who witnesses a cover-up of an accident in a nuclear power plant in The China Syndrome (1979) with Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, and reunited with Robert Redford for the romantic adventure The Electric Horseman (1979), her seventh hit in a row. Jane was at the peak of her career, and American audiences had clearly forgiven her. She even won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actress. Still, the hatred of many Vietnam War veterans would never cease.

In 1980, Jane starred alongside Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton in Nine to Five (1980). The zany comedy about three secretaries who turn the tables on their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical boss was a surprise box office smash, becoming the second highest-grossing film of that year. Jane had long wanted to work with her father in hopes of repairing their strained relationship, and achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to On Golden Pond (1981) specifically for her father and her to star in with Katharine Hepburn. The film was an outstanding success, and won Henry Fonda his only Academy Award for Best Actor. He was too ill to attend the ceremony, so Jane accepted the award on his behalf; he died five months later. Jane's other 1981 release, Rollover (1981), was a rare commercial failure. Now in her mid-40s, Jane would act less and less as fewer plum film roles came her way. During this time, husband Tom Hayden was elected to the California State Assembly, but not without Jane's help (she donated over $1 million to his campaign, a staggering price for state-level election). In 1982, Jane released her first exercise video, "The Jane Fonda Workout," which sold over 17 million copies on its way to becoming the best-selling home video ever, and further contributed to her wealth. After three years away from acting, Jane won an Emmy Award for a rare television role in The Dollmaker (1984) (TV). In 1985, Jane gave a tour-de-force performance as psychiatrist Dr. Martha Livingston in Norman Jewison's religious thriller Agnes of God (1985). The next year, she received her final Oscar nomination to date for her portrayal of an alcoholic murder suspect in The Morning After (1986) opposite Jeff Bridges. Jane retained her status as an A-list actress, but only made two more films before the close of the decade: Old Gringo (1989) with Gregory Peck and Stanley & Iris (1989) with Robert De Niro, both of which failed to find an audience.

On Jane's 51st birthday in 1988, Tom Hayden told her that he was in love with another woman. The woman was Vicky Rideout, a political speechwriter 20 years Jane's junior. Jane became deeply depressed and went on to lose an estimated $30 million in the acrimonious divorce (Hayden was worth a mere $50,000 before they married and had refused to sign a pre-nup). Meanwhile, twice-divorced cable tycoon Ted Turner called Jane up and asked her out on a date. As it turned out, the pair had a lot in common (Turner also lost a parent to suicide) and a romance blossomed. Jane announced her retirement from acting after 30 years as a movie star, and married Turner on her birthday in 1991. She happily undertook conventional wifely duties for the first time in her life and no longer took high-profile ideological stands, although she remained active in philanthropy and founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention in 1995. Jane and Turner were regarded as a power couple, and even though she caught him cheating on her just one month after their wedding, the marriage lasted eight years until they amicably separated in 1999. Their divorce was finalized in 2001, and Jane received a "generous" financial settlement from Turner and got to keep their ranch in New Mexico. In 2001, Jane was honored with a career retrospective by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. She spent the following years writing her memoirs and spending quality time with her family, which now included two grandchildren, Malcom and Viva.

In 2005, after more than 15 years away from acting, Jane was back on the big screen with a hilarious performance in Monster-in-Law (2005) opposite Jennifer Lopez. Though dismissed by critics, the film was a box office hit and introduced her to a whole new generation of audiences. That same year, she published her autobiography, "My Life So Far," which frankly detailed her eating disorders and prescription drug addictions in the past, as well as her contentious relationship with her father and her lifelong propensity to reshape herself to suit the men in her life. Jane also devoted 150 pages of the book to the Vietnam War, and apologized for the hurt she caused American soldiers. Jane's book reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. In 2007, she starred in Georgia Rule (2007), a comedy-drama that had her playing mother to Felicity Huffman and grandmother to Lindsay Lohan. Jane said that she's not looking to start a new career, but that her return to acting has been merely for the fun of it. In 2009, Jane went back on the Broadway stage to star in the original play "33 Variations," which earned her a Tony Award nomination. Most recently, she released a new exercise video called "Prime Time," aiming at older audiences.

Now in her 70s, Jane Fonda is vital as ever and positively thriving. Revered by the film community and a worldwide following of fans, she is a peerless living legend with a dynamic body of work unmatched by any other Hollywood actress.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Laura Roby

Spouse

Ted Turner	(21 December 1991 - 22 May 2001) (divorced)
Tom Hayden	(19 January 1973 - 10 June 1989) (divorced) 1 child
Roger Vadim	(14 August 1965 - 16 January 1973) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Frequently plays single women, often due to problematic relationships

Blonde hair and blue eyes

Voluptuous figure

Deep sultry voice

Trivia

Chosen as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars (#21) in film history by Empire magazine (1995).

Attended Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. Her roommate was Lara Parker. Parker later co-starred with Jane's brother Peter Fonda in the film Race with the Devil (1975).

Is the subject of an erroneous urban legend. When Vassar was a women's college, the story goes, Jane Fonda refused to wear the elegant white gloves and pearls that were the attire for the daily Tea in the Rose Parlor. When confronted, Fonda returned to the parlor wearing the gloves and the pearls, and nothing else.

Ranked #83 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).

Announced her retirement from acting in 1990 but returned to the screen 15 years later in Monster-in-Law (2005).

Married Ted Turner on her 54th birthday in 1991.

Daughter of Henry Fonda and Frances Ford Seymour (14 April 1908 - 14 April 1950).

Older sister of Peter Fonda. Younger half-sister of Frances de Villers Brokaw.

Aunt of Bridget Fonda and Justin Fonda

Her birth was the cause of some interruptions during her father's filming of Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis.

She was, and still is, an exercise maven.

Fonda was arrested in 1970 after allegedly kicking a cop when she was found carrying a large amount of what appeared to be pills. All charges were dropped after the pills were identified as vitamins.

Atttended Emma Willard School in Troy, New York.

Announced her separation from husband Ted Turner (January 2000).

Was offered the role of Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973).

Jane now openly admits that she suffered from bulimia from age 13 to age 37. While modeling, she said she lived on cigarettes, coffee, speed, and strawberry yogurt.

Ex-sister-in-law of Susan Brewer.

Born at 9:14 AM EST

Shortly after her divorce from Ted Turner, she announced she had become a born-again Christian. Speculations are that this may have played a part in their seperation, since Ted Turner has expressed highly critical opinions on religion in general.

The suicide of her socialite mother Frances Seymour Brokaw was kept from her as a teenager, and she was told that she'd died of heart failure. Household newspaper and magazine subscriptions were canceled, and the staff and student body of Fonda's high school were instructed not to discuss the incident. Fonda learned the truth months later while leafing through a movie magazine in art class.

Her out-of-retirement movie, Monster-in-Law (2005) came out the same time as her autobiography, "My Life So Far" and the same time her workouts are re-released to DVD format in stores.

Protested alongside fellow actresses Sally Field and Christine Lahti, and playwright Eve Ensler urging the Mexican government to re-investigate the slayings of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexico-Texas border (February 2004).

In addition to her late maternal half-sister Frances, she has an (adopted) half-sister, Amy, and a former stepsister, Pam.

She was voted the 51st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "There Was a Little Girl."

Premiere Magazine ranked her as #32 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Born on the same day Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) premiered.

In 1982, she accepted the Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" on behalf of her father Henry Fonda, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony

Of the Oscar-winning father-daughter couples, she and her father are one of two couples (the other is Hayley Mills/John Mills) where the daughter won an Academy award before the father did. Hayley Mills' Oscar was an honorary award for Pollyanna (1960), "...[T]he most outstanding juvenile performance during 1960". Juveniles were not allowed to compete for Oscars until the late 1960s, when the juvenile award was abandoned.

She and her father were the first father-daughter couple to be Oscar-nominated the same year (1982).

She and The China Syndrome (1979) co-stars Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas have all won Oscars for Leading Roles. Fonda won for Klute (1971), Lemmon won for Save the Tiger (1973), and Douglas won for Wall Street (1987).

Her father was of Italian and Dutch descent and her mother was of Irish and German descent.

Stepdaughter of Shirlee Fonda

Is fluent in French.

Passed on the title role in Norma Rae (1979), which won a Best Actress Oscar for its eventual star Sally Field.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Monster-in-Law (2005). She failed to receive a nomination, however. (Had she gotten the nomination, it would have been her first Razzie nomination in 16 years. She was previously nominated for Worst Actress at the 1990 Razzie Awards for her performance in the film Old Gringo (1989).)

In her modeling days after college, she was twice on the cover of Vogue magazine.

Her performance as Bree Daniels in Klute (1971) is ranked #91 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Jane was mentioned on Sir Mix a Lot's 1992 hit single, "Baby Got Back".

She and Tom Hayden gave their son Troy Garity his paternal grandmother's last name for the sake of anonymity

She and her father Henry Fonda are the only father-daughter couple to receive Oscars for leading roles.

A 1972 visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam war where Fonda campaigned in favor of the communist regime and the subsequent release of several photographs of her atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used against American air crews earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane." As a result of her visit to Hanoi and the accompanying photographs, many Americans continue to regard Fonda with general resentment and hostility to this day.

Visited Sweden in September 2006 to support political party FI (Feministic Initiative) in the national election. FI focuses on issues that will benefit women and is led by the previous leader of Sweden's communist party. Coincidentally, "fi" is also the Swedish military abbreviation for "enemy".

Turned down Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) and Chinatown (1974).

Was born double-jointed.

Turned down the role of Bonnie Parker, then played by Faye Dunaway, in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Living in France at the time, she did not want to relocate to the United States for the part.

In 1984, her wealth, generated from acting, producing, and fitness videos was estimated at $50 million.

Her aerobics video "Jane Fonda's Workout" sold 17 million copies, making it the bestselling home video ever and her an icon of this form of exercises (1982).

Considers They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) as a turning point in her career.

Danced ballet until she broke her foot in her 40s.

She was a close friend of Gregory Peck, and he frequently attended political rallies with her.

Was amongst those considered for the role of Lara Antipova in Doctor Zhivago (1965), but the part ultimately went to Julie Christie.

Nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Play for "33 Variations".

Was offered the role of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), but she turned it down. Louise Fletcher, who went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, was cast instead.

Recovering from left knee replacement surgery [June 17, 2009].

She remains very close to her former stepdaughter, Nathalie Vadim.

Claimed, after the Oscar ceremony on April 9th, 1979, that the film The Deer Hunter (1978) was a racist film and that it presented the official version of the war in Vietnam.

Jane and her half-sister, Frances de Villers Brokaw, became estranged after their mother's suicide when Jane was 12 and Frances was 18. They remained estranged until Frances' death in 2008.

Was one of the first actresses to produce her own films and star as the romantic lead into her 50s.

Was considered for the roles played by Vera Miles in The FBI Story (1959), Leslie Caron in Fanny (1961), and Carol Lynley in Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965).

Had hip and knee replacements. It is a genetic condition. Both her father and brother also had replacements.

In 1994, Fonda founded G-CAPP, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. The foundation advocates for safe-sex education, provides teens with support personnel before, during, and after childbirth, and runs a network of "Second Chance Homes" that help teenage mothers become self-sufficient by striving to reduce repeat teen pregnancies and providing teen mothers with a safe living environment, support for long-term economic independence, and child development, parenting and life skills.

Has two grandchildren, Malcom and Viva, by her daughter Vanessa Vadim.

Jane Fonda was the first pick for the role of Evelyn Mulwray in Chinatown (1974), which eventually was played by Faye Dunaway. Fonda was wanted by the film's producer Robert Evans, who was also at the time chief of production at Paramount Pictures, and by director Roman Polanski and Paramount owner Charlie Bluhdorn. After lengthy negotiations, Fonda passed on the role. Evans then contacted Faye Dunaway's agent Sue Mengers and got her for the rock bottom price of $50,000, telling Mengers -- a close friend -- that he wanted Dunaway whereas everyone else wanted Fonda. Saying that he had time to intercede before Fonda signed her contract, Mengers got Dunaway to agree to the insulting offer. (Evans had explained to Mengers that after three flops in a row, Faye was a cold property.) After signing Dunaway, he told Mengers that Fonda had actually passed on the role. Mengers slammed down the phone on him. Polanski had not wanted Dunaway as his female lead due to her reputation for being temperamental, which she lived up to on the "Chinatown shoot. She received an Oscar nomination for the role.

Claimed Michael Jackson visited the set of On Golden Pond (1981) in New Hampshire and went skinny-dipping with her [interview with Jimmy Kimmel on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" (2003) on December 7, 2011].

Ranked #9 in Men's Health 100 Hottest Women of All Time (2011).

Her daughter Vanessa Vadim was delivered via forceps. The traumatic birth then resulted in Fonda being diagnosed with post-partum depression.

In the late 1970s she took in a foster daughter, Mary Luana Williams, who had attended at a camp Fonda ran with then-husband Tom Hayden. Mary was the daughter of members of the Black Panther Party, and later reunited with her biological parents.

Gave birth to her 1st child at age 30, a daughter Vanessa Vadim on September 28, 1968. Child's father is her now ex-1st husband, Roger Vadim.

Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 36, a son Troy O'Donovan Hayden (aka Troy Garity) on July 7, 1973. Child's father is her now ex-2nd husband, Tom Hayden.

Was taught to play guitar by David Crosby.

Made a fortune launching the first exercise video.

Jane's appearance in On Golden Pond (1981) with dad Henry Fonda and son Troy Garity marked the only time three generations of Fondas appeared in the same film.

Jane's appearance with brother Peter Fonda in Spirits of the Dead (1968) marked the only time the siblings worked together in a feature.

Was delivered via Caesarean section.

Returned to work 3 months after giving birth to her daughter Vanessa Vadim in order to begin filming They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969).

Returned to work 2 years after giving birth to her son Troy Garity in order to begin filming Julia (1977).

Personal Quotes

Working in Hollywood does give one a certain expertise in the field of prostitution.

I was terrified when I turned 30. I was pregnant and had the mumps and Faye Dunaway was just coming out in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). I thought, 'Oh my God, I'll never work again. I'm old!'

"Acting with Laurence Harvey is like acting by yourself - only worse" - Jane Fonda on her 1962 film Walk on the Wild Side (1962).

It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanised such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless. [expressing regret at her support for the Viet Cong]

I, a Socialist, think we should strive toward a Socialist society, all the way to Communism.

"If you understood what Communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that one day we would become Communist." (speaking to students at the University of Michigan in 1970)

People think actresses find public speaking easy, and it's not easy at all; we're used to hiding behind masks.

[Accepting her father's Oscar for On Golden Pond (1981)]: "I'll bet when he heard it just now, he said 'Hey ain't I lucky?' As if luck had anything to do with it".

I would have given up acting in a minute. I didn't like how it set me apart from other people.

When I start down a path that I know is the right path, I go with all of me.

I'm a very brave person. I can go to North Vietnam, I can challenge my government, but I can't challenge the man I'm with if means I'm going to end up alone.

It's hard to imagine a happy ending to the US-led war in Iraq. What's it going to mean for stability as a nation, for terrorism, for the economy I can't imagine. I think the entire world is going to be united against us.

Ted Turner needs someone to be there 100 percent of the time. He thinks that's love. It's not love. It's babysitting.

I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country. But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage.

When I left the West Coast I was a liberal. When I landed in New York I was a revolutionary.

Oh Henry Fonda's love of the Theater: I'm becoming obsessed with his presence in my head, because my dad adored theater. He didn't talk much, but he would talk about how he loved the immediacy of a live audience. I was never comfortable enough in my own skin 45 years ago to be able to understand it. I just wanted to escape. And now it's like, 'Oh Dad, I wish you were here and alive, so I could say to you: "I get it! I'm finally able to experience what you were talking about."

Why she quit acting while married to Tom Hayden: When I was really, really unhappy with myself and my life, which happened in the second half of my marriage to Tom, I just stopped. Acting became too painful. I just couldn't. All the joy leached out of it.

[Monster-in-Law (2005)] was the single smartest move I ever made

On returning to the stage in 2009: I am not the same person I was. I really am a different person. And I feel now that I could really be better than I have ever been in acting. It felt like something I had left prematurely. I didn't complete it, and I wanted to see if I could find joy in it again. It's been 45, 46 years since I was last on Broadway, and it feels like it too, in the sense of my personal trajectory. I feel that in terms of my personal development there has been at least half a century in there. Thank God.

It's always great to rehearse on a plane because people think you're mad.

Emotionality is really easy for me. My father always said that Fondas can cry at a good steak.

Dating's not something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Nor do I miss it, frankly. I feel 71 years old. I do. I'm really aware of the miles that have been logged and of the life that has gone under the bridge and how it has made me grow. I'm someone who has always tried to think about what it has all meant. I'm a quester. So I feel my age. I feel grown up.

[on her book 'Prime Time'] I actually never lead. There's always something more first, and then I'm the cheerleader. There are many, many books about aging. Mine just covers everything that I wanted to know.

I viewed my mother as a snob. Well she was a snob. Had she lived long enough I probably wouldn't have cared for her very much, frankly. So the way I protected myself from that is, 'Okay, I don't need you'. But of course I blamed myself when she killed herself.

I try to live my third act in such a way that I won't have regrets. You never get there entirely, but you can spend your life working at it.

[on third husband Ted Turner] For his own reasons, Ted moves laterally through life, very fast. Across his millions of acres. I wanted to go vertically. I knew if I stayed with him I'd be safe, I wouldn't need to work, and it would be interesting. But I would never be a whole person, and I wanted to be a whole person.

I took Klute (1971) because, in it, I expose a great deal of the oppression of women in this country - the system which makes women sell themselves for possessions.

Aging is not what we used to think it was, where you peak at middle age. It's ascending a staircase into growth, wisdom, well-being and happiness.

[in 1967] I like this picture (Barbarella (1968)) because it's the kind that Vadim does best. It's absolutely new. I'm sure there's nothing like it.

I have used acupuncture many times in the past - to reduce fever, heal broken bones, relieve pain... it really works if the doctor is skilled. I have felt I needed to have my energy system balanced.

It's never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.

The people who did you wrong or who didn't quite know how to show up, you forgive them. And forgiving them allows you to forgive yourself too.

All my life I had believed that unless I was perfect I would not be loved.

I feel like my honesty gives people the freedom to talk about things they wouldn't otherwise.

If you're ever in a situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you need, just cry.

Salary

Steelyard Blues (1973)	$100,000
Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)	$100,000
Julia (1977)	$500,000
California Suite (1978)	$500,000
The Electric Horseman (1979)	$1,000,000
Nine to Five (1980)	$2,000,000 + profit share

Where Are They Now

(August 2003) Has signed to do a film (main role) with Jennifer Lopez (aka J. Lo) in Monster-in-Law (2005) - filming starts November 2003.

(April 2005) Published her autobiography, My Life So Far.

(March 2009) Currently starring in 'Moises Kaufman''s "33 Variations" on Broadway.