Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Peter Fonda(1940-2019)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000
Peter Fonda
Tim Kash and Kerri Doherty of "The IMDb Show" caught up with two-time Oscar nominee Peter Fonda, who takes us back to the making of his classic film 'Easy Rider.'
Play interview1:10
Peter Fonda Reflects on Legacy of 'Easy Rider'
38 Videos
99+ Photos
Peter Henry Fonda was born in New York City, to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and Ontario-born New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw. He is the brother of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actress Bridget Fonda. Fonda made his professional stage debut on Broadway in 1961 in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, for which he received rave reviews from the New York Critics, and won the Daniel Blum Theater World Award and the New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Actor. He began his feature film career in 1963, playing the romantic lead in Tammy and the Doctor and joined the ensemble cast of the World War II saga The Victors. Shortly thereafter, Fonda began what would become a famous association with Roger Corman, starring in Wild Angels, as the ultra-cool, iron-fisted leader of a violent biker gang, opposite Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. Fonda also starred in Corman's 1967 psychedelic film The Trip, also starring Dern and Susan Strasberg.

Fonda's next project was the seminal 1969 anti-establishment film Easy Rider which he produced and co-scripted, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Fonda's acting credits also included the feature films Outlaw Blues, an expose of the country music business; Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry; Race with the Devil; Robert Rossen's Lilith; Split Image; Robert Wise's Two People; and the cult films Love and a .45 and Nadja. He appeared in Grace of My Heart, directed by Alison Anders, and John Carpenter's Escape from L.A., starring Kurt Russell. He also made a cameo appearance in Bodies, Heat & Motion, which starred his daughter Bridget Fonda.

Fonda wowed audiences and won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ulee Jackson, the taciturn beekeeper in the 1997 film Ulee's Gold, earning him both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the New York Film Critics Award, as well as an Oscar nomination. Following this, he published his autobiography, Don't Tell Dad, and was then seen in the NBC movie The Tempest, for which he had been nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. Fonda then appeared with Helen Mirren in the Showtime telefilm The Passion of Ayn Rand, where he won the Golden Globe for outstanding supporting actor in a mini-series or movie made for television and was nominated for both an Emmy and SAG Award.

Fonda co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's 1997 film The Limey, which also starred Terrnce Stamp and Lesley Ann Warren. Following this he appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad for director Britt Allcroft, starring Alec Baldwin.

Fonda directed his first feature film, The Hired Hand, in 1971. A critically acclaimed western in which he also starred, the film debuted with a restored version at the 2001 Venice Film Festival; it then screened at the Toronto Film Festival before reopening in theaters in 2003. Other directing credits include the science fiction feature Idaho Transfer, starring Keith Carradine and Wanda Nevada in which he starred as a gambler who wins Brooke Shields in a poker game.

Fonda co-starred in HBO's The Laramie Project, based on the true story of openly gay college student Matthew Shepard, killed in an act of senseless violence and cruelty, which attracted national attention. Fonda starred in The Maldonado Miracle directed by Salma Hayek for Showtime Networks, and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his role. Fonda also starred opposite Kris Kristofferson in Wooly Boys, which was released in March 2004, and the television drama Back When We Were Grownups, opposite Blythe Danner and Faye Dunaway. Fonda was seen in Soderbergh's Ocean's Twelve and appeared in Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider, opposite Nicolas Cage.

Fonda's last projects included director Ron Maxwell's Civil War-era drama Copperhead, alongside Billy Campbell and Angus MacFadyen, The Ultimate Gift directed by Michael Landon Jr., and John McNaughton's The Harvest, with Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon.

Peter Fonda died on August 16, 2019, in Los Angeles.
BornFebruary 23, 1940
DiedAugust 16, 2019(79)
BornFebruary 23, 1940
DiedAugust 16, 2019(79)
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000
  • Nominated for 2 Oscars

In Memoriam: Peter Fonda (1940 to 2019)

In Memoriam: Peter Fonda (1940 to 2019)

Bid farewell to screen legend Peter Fonda with our favorite photos of the Easy Rider actor, and see the 2018 Oscars interview where he described what it feels like to be nominated.
View the gallery
View image
Image caption not available

Photos361

Peter Fonda
Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, and Richard Perry
Tom Hanks, Peter Fonda, Martin Short, and Larry David
Peter Fonda at an event for Black Swan (2010)
Peter Fonda at an event for IMDb at the Oscars (2017)
Peter Fonda and Sidney Poitier
Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969)
Peter Fonda in Remembering 2019: In Memoriam (2019)
Peter Fonda in Remembering 2019: In Memoriam (2019)
Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969)
Peter Fonda in 17 August 2019: Evening Bulletin (2019)
Peter Fonda and Lucrezia Millarini in 17 August 2019: Evening Bulletin (2019)

Known for

Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969)
Easy Rider
7.3
  • Wyatt
  • 1969
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
3:10 to Yuma
7.7
  • Byron McElroy
  • 2007
Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold (1997)
Ulee's Gold
7.0
  • Ulee Jackson
  • 1997
John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen, and Martin Lawrence in Wild Hogs (2007)
Wild Hogs
5.8
  • Damien Blade
  • 2007

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Jeremy Irvine in The Last Full Measure (2019)
    The Last Full Measure
  • The Magic Hours (2019)
    The Magic Hours
  • Milo Murphy's Law (2016)
    Milo Murphy's Law
    • (voice)
  • Christopher Plummer and Vera Farmiga in Boundaries (2018)
    Boundaries
  • You Can't Say No (2018)
    You Can't Say No
  • Borderland (2017)
    Borderland
  • Melissa Leo and Andy Walken in The Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
    The Most Hated Woman in America
  • Bill Pullman in The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)
    The Ballad of Lefty Brown
  • Max
  • Fred Armisen and Bill Hader in Documentary Now! (2015)
    Documentary Now!
  • Peter Fonda and Terrence Howard in House of Bodies (2016)
    House of Bodies
  • Nicolas Cage in The Runner (2015)
    The Runner
  • Peter Fonda and Kevin Sorbo in Jesse James: Lawman (2015)
    Jesse James: Lawman
  • HR
  • The Blacklist (2013)
    The Blacklist

Director

  • Brooke Shields and Peter Fonda in Wanda Nevada (1979)
    Wanda Nevada
  • Idaho Transfer (1973)
    Idaho Transfer
  • The Hired Hand (1971)
    The Hired Hand

Writer

  • Enemy (1990)
    Enemy
  • Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969)
    Easy Rider

Videos39

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
Clip 2:27
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
Peter Fonda Reflects on Legacy of 'Easy Rider'
Interview 1:10
Peter Fonda Reflects on Legacy of 'Easy Rider'
Trailer
Trailer 1:57
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:29
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:36
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:55
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:04
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:37
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:32
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:23
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:41
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:46
Official Trailer

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Facebook Fan Page
    • Instagram
    • February 23, 1940
    • Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • August 16, 2019
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(lung cancer)
    • June 19, 2011 - August 16, 2019 (his death)
    • Justin Fonda
    • Henry Fonda
    • Jane Fonda(Sibling)
  • Other works
    TV commercial: Diet Pepsi (archive footage from Easy Rider (1969))
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 5 Interviews
    • 12 Articles
    • 4 Pictorials
    • 3 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    He broke his back while attending boarding school at age 6, and accidentally shot himself in the stomach at age 10.
  • Quotes
    I dig my father. I wish he could open his eyes and dig me.
    • Always seen wearing sunglasses
    • The Wild Angels
      (1966)
      $10,000

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.