Peter Fonda
Birthday:
Birthplace:
New York, New York, USA
Known in turn as Henry Fonda's son, Jane Fonda's brother, counter-culture icon Captain America, and Bridget Fonda's father, Peter Fonda finally got his due as an actor for his superb performance as a Florida beekeeper in Ulee's Gold (1997). Snaring an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for his work, Fonda was finally able to step out of his celebrated family's shadow, earning recognition for something besides his title as the black sheep of the Fonda clan.Born in New York City on February 23, 1940, Fonda, by his own accounts, grew up trying to live up to his famous father's expectations. An exceptionally bright young man, he entered the University of Omaha as a sophomore at the age of seventeen, without even finishing high school. In Omaha, he broke into acting, appearing in the Omaha Playhouse's production of Harvey. He then went to New York to pursue his acting career, first working with the Cecilwood Theatre and then debuting on Broadway at the age of twenty-one in a production of Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. His early career took shape under the specter of his famous father, with the young actor incurring comparisons to the elder Fonda with everything he did. His onstage success led to a Hollywood screen test for the part of John F. Kennedy in PT 109. The role in the 1963 film ultimately went to Cliff Robertson, but Fonda made his film debut that same year in the Sandra Dee vehicle Tammy and the Doctor.Fonda continued to be consigned to romantic leads until he appeared in Roger Corman's The Wild Angels in 1966. A motorcycle enthusiast whom Corman cast after the film's original star, George Maharis, demanded a stunt double, Fonda seemed a natural for the role of a motorcycle gang leader. The film, which cast actual Hell's Angels and co-starred Bruce Dern, was a violent, drug-addled affair that catalyzed Fonda's reputation as his father's delinquent spawn and direct antithesis. This reputation was furthered by his starring role in Corman's The Trip, a 1967 film about the healing powers of LSD. Co-starring Dern and featuring a screenplay written by Jack Nicholson, The Trip, with its emphasis on sex, drugs, and societal estrangement, provided a preview of the film that would give Fonda both fame and notoriety.In 1969, Fonda starred in Easy Rider, a film that he also produced. Directed by Dennis Hopper, it starred Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson as freewheeling, pot-smoking adventurers who find their counter-culture lifestyle threatened by the encroaching confines of the Establishment. One of the cultural landmarks of the late 1960s, tt was also an unexpected commercial success, grossing over $19 million at the box office, earning Fonda an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, and contributing to Hollywood's new interest in young audiences and socially relevant movies.Following the film's success, Fonda, now both a cult hero and a millionaire, went on to collaborate with Hopper again on 1971's The Last Movie. The film didn't enjoy the acclaim of their previous collaboration, and Fonda's subsequent efforts of that decade also failed to live up to the stature of Easy Rider. One possible exception was the 1974 sleeper Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, a film in which Fonda appeared to finance his directorial projects, one of which was Wanda Nevada, a 1979 film that featured his father. Increasingly, Fonda became better-known for his activities off-screen than on: his status as an anti-Establishment figurehead was enhanced when John Lennon wrote the song "She Said She Said" about him. Reportedly, it was inspired by a bad acid trip the musician had taken, during which Fonda repeatedly told him, "I know what it's like to be dead, man."Fonda's screen career continued its downward spiral during the 1980s, and towards the end of that decade it was once again overshadowed by that of a family member, in this case his daughter, Bridget. Fonda, who had exiled himself from L.A. in 1969 to live in Montana, seemed more aware of this than anyone: in an
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
60% | The Last Full Measure |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | Limites |
|
— | 2018 |
49% | Boundaries |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | You Can't Say No |
|
— | 2018 |
79% | The Ballad of Lefty Brown |
|
— | 2017 |
36% | The Most Hated Woman In America |
|
— | 2017 |
24% | The Runner |
|
— | 2015 |
72% | The Harvest |
|
— | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Jesse James: Lawman |
|
— | 2015 |
18% | The Ultimate Life |
|
$1.4M | 2013 |
21% | Copperhead |
|
$0.2M | 2013 |
14% | As Cool As I Am |
|
— | 2013 |
No Score Yet | House Of Bodies |
|
— | 2013 |
No Score Yet | Peppermint-Frieden |
|
— | 2013 |
63% | Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story |
|
— | 2013 |
33% | The Trouble with Bliss |
|
$11.4k | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Sunset Strip |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Harodim |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Smitty |
|
— | 2012 |
92% | Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel |
|
$7.5k | 2011 |
86% | The Big Fix |
|
— | 2011 |
0% | The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | Freedom |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James |
|
— | 2010 |
23% | The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day |
|
$10.2M | 2009 |
No Score Yet | Revolution |
|
— | 2009 |
No Score Yet | Journey to the Center of the Earth |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | Becoming John Ford |
|
— | 2008 |
No Score Yet | El Cobrador: In God We Trust |
|
— | 2007 |
89% | 3:10 to Yuma |
|
$53.6M | 2007 |
14% | Wild Hogs |
|
$168.3M | 2007 |
26% | Ghost Rider |
|
$115.9M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Japan |
|
— | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Supernova |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Enemy |
|
— | 2005 |
No Score Yet | John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning... The Man and His Movies |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Back When We Were Grownups |
|
— | 2004 |
41% | The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Thief of Time |
|
— | 2004 |
No Score Yet | Wooly Boys |
|
— | 2004 |
100% | Easy Riders---Raging Bulls |
|
— | 2003 |
92% | The Laramie Project |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | The Maldonado Miracle |
|
— | 2002 |
No Score Yet | Made in the USA: Born to Ride |
|
— | 2002 |
14% | South of Heaven, West of Hell |
|
— | 2000 |
21% | Thomas and the Magic Railroad |
|
$2.1M | 2000 |
17% | Second Skin |
|
— | 2000 |
83% | The Passion of Ayn Rand |
|
— | 1999 |
92% | The Limey |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Hog Heaven: The Story of the Harley Davidson Empire |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Tempest |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Independent's Day |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | The Tempest |
|
— | 1998 |
No Score Yet | Painted Hero |
|
— | 1997 |
94% | Ulee's Gold |
|
— | 1997 |
76% | Grace of My Heart |
|
— | 1996 |
53% | John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. |
|
— | 1996 |
60% | Nadja |
|
— | 1995 |
83% | Love and a .45 |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | Molly & Gina |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | South Beach |
|
— | 1993 |
0% | Deadfall |
|
— | 1993 |
53% | Bodies, Rest & Motion |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | Harley-Davidson: The American Motorcycle |
|
— | 1993 |
No Score Yet | Fonda on Fonda |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | Blue Water Hunters |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | Flashing on the Sixties |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Enemy |
|
— | 1990 |
No Score Yet | The Rosegarden |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | The Rose Garden |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | Fatal Mission |
|
— | 1989 |
No Score Yet | Mercenary Fighters |
|
— | 1988 |
No Score Yet | Hollywood Uncensored |
|
— | 1987 |
No Score Yet | Hawken's Breed |
|
— | 1987 |
No Score Yet | Certain Fury |
|
— | 1985 |
No Score Yet | Signatures of the Soul |
|
— | 1984 |
No Score Yet | Spasms |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | Dance of the Dwarfs |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | Split Image |
|
— | 1982 |
30% | The Cannonball Run |
|
— | 1981 |
No Score Yet | Wanda Nevada |
|
— | 1979 |
No Score Yet | High-Ballin' (Death Toll) |
|
— | 1978 |
No Score Yet | Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel |
|
— | 1978 |
No Score Yet | The AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards: Henry Fonda |
|
— | 1978 |
No Score Yet | Outlaw Blues |
|
— | 1977 |
No Score Yet | Fighting Mad |
|
— | 1976 |
36% | Futureworld |
|
— | 1976 |
No Score Yet | Killer Force (The Diamond Mercenaries) |
|
— | 1976 |
No Score Yet | 92 in the Shade |
|
— | 1975 |
64% | Race with the Devil |
|
— | 1975 |
47% | Dirty Mary Crazy Larry |
|
— | 1974 |
No Score Yet | Idaho Transfer |
|
— | 1973 |
No Score Yet | Two People |
|
— | 1973 |
50% | The Last Movie |
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— | 1971 |
81% | The Hired Hand |
|
— | 1971 |
88% | Five Easy Pieces |
|
— | 1970 |
86% | Spirits of the Dead |
|
— | 1969 |
83% | Easy Rider |
|
— | 1969 |
39% | The Trip |
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— | 1967 |
63% | The Wild Angels |
|
— | 1966 |
No Score Yet | Carol for Another Christmas |
|
— | 1964 |
86% | Lilith |
|
— | 1964 |
20% | The Victors |
|
— | 1963 |
No Score Yet | Tammy and the Doctor |
|
— | 1963 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
Ride With Norman Reedus
2016
|
|
|
78% |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
CSI: NY
2004-2013
|
|
|
57% |
Californication
2007-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
ER
1994-2009
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
2008
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
In the Heat of the Night
1988-1995
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962-1965
|
|
|
Quotes from Peter Fonda's Characters
Valentine: | Have you ever dreamed about a place you never recalled being to before? Maybe it only exists in your imagination, someplace far away, half remembered. When you were there though, you knew the language, you knew your way around. That was the sixties. |
Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider: | I'm going to own this curse. And I'm going to use it against you. Whenever innocent blood is spilled, it'll be my father's blood. And you'll find me there, a spirit of vengeance, fighting fire with fire. |
Mephistopheles: | I will make you pay for this. |
Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider: | You can't live in fear. |
Frank O'Connor: | Cock-a-doodle-doo. Nobody here but us chickens. |
Ulee Jackson: | Maybe you can be too close. I'll always wonder if she was really happy. |
Ulee Jackson: | Do you like sad? |
Penny Jackson: | No, but sometimes, inside, it makes you quiet. |
Ulee Jackson: | The bees and I have an understanding. |
Burnett Stone: | Well, my lady, the lights are all green for you now. |
Burnett Stone: | Well, Lady, this is your shining time, too. |
Patch: | (examines Lady) I guessed there was something mysterious about this mountain. |
Patch: | [examines Lady] I guessed there was something mysterious about this mountain. |
Burnett Stone: | Yeah. All mountains have their secrets, Patch. Shouldn't surprise a kid like you. |
Seymour Bliss: | I'm not running a hot-sheet hotel here you know! Is this where all my money's been going? |
Seymour Bliss: | When I was 35 I had a son, a job, an apartment of my own. See what I'm saying? |
Morris Bliss: | Not really. |
August West: | It's America. Check it out! |
Rane: | Here's the keys, now don't try it until you can pick it up yourself. |
Wyatt (Captain America): | You know, Billy. We blew it. |