Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda (born
February 23,
1940) is an
American actor. More than any other actor, Fonda is associated with Western
counterculture of the 1960s.
Early life
Fonda was born in
New York, New York, the son of actor
Henry Fonda, the brother of actress
Jane Fonda, the father of actress
Bridget Fonda, and a distant relative of
NBC evening news anchor
Tom Brokaw. His mother,
Frances Ford Seymour, took her own life in 1950.
Fonda studied acting in
Omaha, Nebraska, which was his father's home town. He began attending the
University of Omaha and joined the
Omaha Community Playhouse, where many actors (including his father and
Marlon Brando) founded their careers. Fonda found work on
Broadway where he achieved notice in
Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, before going to
Hollywood to make
films.
Career
Fonda started his film career in romantic leading roles. He debuted in
Tammy and the Doctor (1963), which he called "Tammy and the Schmuckface." But Fonda's intensity impressed
Robert Rossen, the director of
Lilith (1964). Rossen envisioned a
Jewish actor in the role of Stephen Evshevsky, a mental patient. Fonda earned the role after removing his boss' glasses from his face and putting them on so as to look more "Jewish." He also played the male lead in
The Young Lovers (1964), about out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and
The Victors (1964), an "anti-war war movie."
By the mid-1960s, Peter 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, alienating the "
establishment"
film industry. Desirable acting work became scarce.
Through his friendships with members of the
Byrds, Fonda visited
The Beatles in their rented house in
Benedict Canyon in
Los Angeles in August, 1965. While
John Lennon,
Ringo Starr and
George Harrison were under the influence of
LSD, Lennon heard Fonda say, "I know what it's like to be dead." This phrase became the tag line for their song "
She Said, She Said", which appeared in their groundbreaking
Revolver (1966) album. In 1966, Fonda was
arrested in the
anti-war Sunset Strip riot which the
Los Angeles Police Department ended forcefully. The band
Buffalo Springfield protested the department's handling of the incident in their song "
For What it's Worth."
Fonda's first counterculture-oriented film role was the lead character Heavenly Blues, a
Hells Angels chapter president, in the
Roger Corman-directed film
The Wild Angels (1966).
The Wild Angels is still remembered for Fonda's "eulogy" delivered at the fiasco of a fallen Angel's funeral service, which was sampled in the
Primal Scream recording "Loaded" (1991), and in other rock songs. Then Fonda played the male lead character in Corman's film
The Trip (1967), a
television commercial director experiencing the ambivalence and turmoil of
divorce.
In 1968 Fonda produced
Easy Rider, the classic film for which he is best known.
Easy Rider is about two long-haired
bikers traveling through the southwest and southern
United States in a world of
intolerance and
violence. The Fonda character was the charismatic, laconic "Captain America"/Wyatt whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back.
Dennis Hopper played the garrulous "Billy." Jack Nicholson was nominated for an
Academy Award (TM) for
Best Supporting Actor for his turn as George Hanson, an
alcoholic civil rights lawyer who rides along. Fonda co-wrote
Easy Rider with
Terry Southern and Hopper, who directed.
Hopper filmed the cross-country road trip depicted in
Easy Rider almost entirely on location, spending US $375,000.00, and released the film in 1969 to massive success. Robbie Robertson 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 refused, using the Byrds' song "Ballad of Easy Rider," Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" sung by the Byrds'
Roger McGuinn. Fonda, Hopper and Southern were nominated for the
Academy Award (TM) for
Best Original Screenplay.
Fonda received critical recognition for his part in
Ulee's Gold (1997). Fonda portrayed a stoic north Florida
beekeeper who, in spite of his tumultuous family life, imparts a sense of integrity to his wayward convict son, and takes risks in acting protectively toward his drug-abusing daughter-in-law. Fonda's performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination (TM) for
Best Actor.
Fonda's choices of film roles are notable for extreme contrasts in type: The
introverted and
drug-dealing (and perhaps
amoral)
rebel biker in
Easy Rider is a world apart from the war-
veteran father in
Ulee's Gold, a man whose strength is in his benevolence.
He also had a part in the video game
grand theft auto: San Andreas as the aged hippy, Truth.
Peter Fonda will appear in the 2007 film
Ghost Rider as
Mephisto, one of the rulers of one of
Marvel Comics various realms of
Hell.
*
Cobrador (2005) (filming) .... X
*
Ghost Rider (2006) (post-production) .... Mephisto
*
Japan (2006) (post-production) .... Alfred
*
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) .... The Truth (voice)
*
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) .... Grandfather
*
The Laramie Project (2002) .... Doctor Cantway
*
Wooly Boys (2001) .... Stoney
*
Second Skin (2000/I) .... Merv Gutman
*
Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000) .... Grandpa Burnett Stone
*
South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000) .... Shoshonee Bill
*
The Limey (1999) .... Terry Valentine
*
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) .... Frank
*
Painted Hero (1997) .... Ray the Cook
*
Ulee's Gold (1997) .... Ulysses 'Ulee' Jackson
*
Grace of My Heart (1996) .... Guru Dave
*
Escape from L.A. (1996) .... Pipeline
*
Nadja (1994) .... Dracula/
Dr. Van Helsing*
Love and a .45 (1994) .... Vergil Cheatham
*
Molly & Gina (1994) .... Larry Stanton...
*
Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993) .... Motorcycle Rider
*
Deadfall (1993) .... Pete
*
Family Express (1992) .... Nick
*
South Beach (1992) .... Jake
*
Fatal Mission (1990) .... Ken Andrews
*
The Rose Garden (1989) .... Herbert Schluter
*
Mercenary Fighters (1988) .... Virelli
*
Hawken's Breed (1987)
*
Certain Fury (1985) .... Rodney
*
Spasms (1983) .... Dr. Tom Brasilian
*
Daijôbu, mai furendo (1983) .... Gonzy Traumerai
*
Dance of the Dwarfs (1983) .... Harry Bediker
*
Peppermint-Frieden (1983) .... Mr. Freedom
*
Split Image (1982) .... Kirklander
*
Cannonball Run (1981) .... Chief Biker (
cameo appearance)
*
Wanda Nevada (1979) .... Beaudray Demerille
*
High-Ballin' (1978) .... Rane
*
Outlaw Blues (1977) .... Bobby Ogden
*
Fighting Mad (1976) .... Tom Hunter
*
Futureworld (1976) .... Chuck Browning
*
Killer Force (1976) .... Bradley
*
92 in the Shade (1975) .... Skelton
*
Race with the Devil (1975) .... Roger March
*
Open Season (1974 film) (1974) .... Ken
*
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) .... Larry Rayder
*
Two People (1973) .... Evan Bonner
*
The Last Movie (1971) .... Young sheriff
*
The Hired Hand (1971) .... Harry Collings
*
Easy Rider (1969) .... Wyatt
*
Histoires extraordinaires (1968) .... Baron Wilhelm (segment "Metzengerstein")
*
The Trip (1967/II) .... Paul Groves
*
The Wild Angels (1966) .... Heavenly Blues
*
The Young Lovers (1964) .... Eddie Slocum
*
Lilith (1964) .... Stephen Evshevsky
*
The Victors (film) (1963) .... Weaver
*
Tammy and the Doctor (1963) .... Dr. Mark Cheswick
*Fonda, Peter,
"Don't Tell Dad," Hyperion Books (April, 1998).
Playboy, "Playboy Interview: Peter Fonda," HMH Publishing Co., Inc., pp. 85-108, 278-79 (September, 1970).
*Filmography:
The Internet Movie Database.
*
Fonda Family Genealogy
