LAST LOOKS With Myke The Makeupguy: BEAUTY ICON OF THE WEEK: JANE FONDA

BEAUTY ICON OF THE WEEK: JANE FONDA

Jane Fonda (born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda, December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awardsand received several other awards and nominations. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law followed by Georgia Rule two years later. She also produced and starred in over 20 exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995, and once again in 2010.

Fonda has been an activist for many political causes, one of the most notable and controversial of which was her opposition to the Vietnam War. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. In 2005, Fonda worked alongside Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. Fonda currently serves on the board of the organizati

FAMILY

Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw. The Fondas had distant Dutch ancestry. She was named after the third wife of English king Henry VIII, Lady Jane Seymour, to whom she is distantly related on her mother's side. Her brother Peter Fonda (born 1940), and his daughter Bridget Fonda, are also actors. Fonda had a half sister, Frances, who died in 2008.

In 1950, when Fonda was 12, her mother committed suicide, while under treatment at a psychiatric hospital. Later that year, Fonda's father married Susan Blanchard; this marriage ended in divorce.

At 15, Fonda taught dance at Fire Island Pines, New York. She attended The Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, but dropped out to become a fashion model, appearing twice on the cover of Vogue.

ACTING

Fonda became interested in acting in 1954, while appearing with her father in a charity performance of The Country Girl, at the Omaha Community Playhouse.^[7] She recalled that at the age of five, she and her brother Peter acted out Western stories similar to those their father played in the movies. While at Vassar she went to Paris for two years to study art. Upon returning, she met Lee Strasberg and the meeting changed the course of her life, Fonda saying, "I went to the Actors Studio and Lee Strasberg told me I had talent. Real talent. It was the first time that anyone, except my father—who had to say so—told me I was good. At anything. It was a turning point in my life. I went to bed thinking about acting. I woke up thinking about acting. It was like the roof had come off my life!"

THE 60'S

Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with Tall Story, in which she recreated one of her Broadway roles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. Period of Adjustment and Walk on the Wild Side followed in 1962. In Walk on the Wild Side, Fonda played a prostitute, and earned a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1963, she appeared in Sunday in New York. Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses". However, she also had her detractors—in the same year, the Harvard Lampoon named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's career breakthrough came with Cat Ballou (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. This comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda to stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After this came the comedies Any Wednesday (1966) and Barefoot in the Park (1967), the latter co-starring Robert Redford.

In 1968, she played the lead role in the science fiction spoof Barbarella, directed by her French film director husband Roger Vadim, which established her status as a sex symbol. In contrast, the tragedy They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) won her critical acclaim, and she earned her first Oscar nomination for the role. Fonda was very selective by the end of the 1960s, turning down lead roles in Rosemary's Baby and Bonnie and Clyde.

THE 70'S

Fonda won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971, again playing a prostitute, the gamine Bree Daniels, in the murder mystery Klute. She won her second Oscar in 1978 forComing Home, the story of a disabled Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life.

Between Klute in 1971 and Fun With Dick and Jane in 1977, Fonda did not have a major film success, even though she appeared in films such as A Doll's House (1973), Steelyard Blues and The Blue Bird (1976). From comments ascribed to her in interviews, some have inferred that she personally blamed the situation on anger at her outspoken political views – "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted." However, in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far

In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongside Yves Montand in Jean-Luc Godard's and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film Tout va bien. The film's directors then made Letter to Jane, in which the two spent nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda.

Through her production company, IPC Films, she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy film Fun With Dick and Jane is generally considered her "comeback" picture. She also received positive reviews, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress, and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of playwright Lillian Hellman in the 1977 film Julia.^[9] During this period, Fonda announced that she would make films only that focused on important issues, and she generally stuck to her word. She turned down An Unmarried Woman because she felt the part was not relevant. She followed with popular and successful films such as The China Syndrome (1979), about a cover-up of an accident in anuclear power plant; and The Electric Horseman (1979) with her previous co-star, Robert Redford.

THE 80'S

In 1980, Fonda starred in Nine to Five with Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was a critical and box office success. Fonda had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship. She achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to the play On Golden Pond specifically for her father and herself. On Golden Pond, which also starred Katharine Hepburn, brought Henry Fonda his only Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and home bound. He died five months later.

Fonda continued appearing in feature films throughout the 1980s, most notably in the role of Dr. Martha Livingston in Agnes of God. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of an alcoholic murder suspect in the 1986 thriller The Morning After. She ended the decade by appearing in Old Gringo. This was followed by the romantic drama Stanley & Iris (1990), which would be her final film for 15 years.

FITNESS

For many years, Fonda was a ballet enthusiast, but after fracturing her foot while filming The China Syndrome she was no longer able to participate. To compensate, she began actively participating in aerobics and strengthening exercises under the direction of Leni Cazden. The Leni Workout became the Jane Fonda Workout and thus began a second career for her, which continued for many years. This was considered one of the influences that started the fitness craze among baby boomers who were then approaching middle age.

In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, titled Jane Fonda's Workout, inspired by her best-selling book, Jane Fonda's Workout Book. The Jane Fonda's Workout video eventually sold 17 million copies: more than any other home video. The video's release led many people to buy the then-new VCR in order to watch and perform the workout in the privacy and convenience of their own homes. Fonda subsequently released 23 workout videos, five workout books and thirteen audio programs, through 1995. After a fifteen year hiatus, she released two new fitness videos on DVD in 2010, aiming at an older audience.]

Retirement and return

In 1991, after three decades in film, Fonda announced her retirement from the film industry. In May 2005, she returned to the screen with the box office success Monster-in-Law.^[9] In July 2005, the British tabloid The Sun reported that when asked if she would appear in a sequel to her 1980 hit Nine to Five, Fonda replied "I'd love to". Fonda appeared in the 2007Garry Marshall-directed Georgia Rule, starring along with Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan.

In 2009, Fonda returned to theater with her first Broadway performance since the 1963 play, Strange Interlude, playing Katherine Brandt in Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations. The role earned her a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

She will star alongside Catherine Keener in the upcoming indie film, Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding, expected to be released in 2011.She also made a return to French cinema, shooting Et Si On Vivait Tous Ensemble (And If We All Lived Together) mid-2010.

Feminist causes

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, of which she is an honorary chairperson. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women oppressed by the Taliban, and a Kenyanactivist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation.

On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.In 2001, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the goal of the center is to prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.

Fonda strongly feels that many gender stereotypes are damaging to individuals of both genders and thus, in 2004, she served as a mentor to the first ever all-transsexual cast of The Vagina Monologues.

In the days before the Swedish election on September 17, 2006, Fonda went to Sweden to support the new political party Feministiskt initiativin their election campaign.

In My Life So Far, Fonda says that she considers patriarchy to be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men". She states that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.

Religion

In 2001, Fonda publicly announced that she had become a Christian. She stated that she strongly opposed bigotry, discrimination and dogma, which she believes are promoted by a small minority of Christians. Her announcement came shortly after her divorce from Ted Turner. Fonda stated publicly on Charlie Rose in April 2006 that her Christianity may have played a part in the divorce, as Turner was known to be critical of religion.

Fonda has in the past practiced Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and more recently has engaged in meditation at the Upaya Institute and Zen Center.

Trivia

Mother of Vanessa Vadim with Roger Vadim and Troy Garity with Tom Hayden.

Attended Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY. Her roommate was Lara Parker.

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.

Retired from acting in 1991, but returned to the screen fourteen years later.

Married Ted Turner on her 54th birthday in 1991.

Daughter of Henry Fonda.

Older sister of Peter Fonda.

Aunt of Bridget Fonda and Justin Fonda

Arrested and charged with drug smuggling (November 1970).

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.

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.

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 & 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)

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

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.

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).

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 the role that went to Natalie Wood in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).

Producer Robert Evans wanted Fonda play female lead in 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 U.S. for the part.

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

Announced that she became a Christian (2001).

Was also romantically linked to Sandy Whitelaw, Donald Sutherland and hairdresser Barry Matalon.

Her aerobics video "Jane Fonda's Workout" sold 17 million copies, making it the best-selling 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].

Is very close to her former stepdaughter Nathalie Vadim, whose own mother, Annette Vadim, died in 2005.

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.

Is widely considered to be one of the first women to frequently play romantic leads in films after 40.

Turned down roles that went to 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.

Has two grandchildren, Malcom and Vivienne, by her daughter Vanessa Vadim. She also has several step-grandchildren from her marriages toTed Turner and the late Roger Vadim who she is close with.

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).

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 Fonda's 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.

Mykie's Note:

What more I say about Jane Fonda That you haven't already read above you. Why is this amazing woman one of my Beauty Icon's? Well, it's for many reasons and I wont go on to long about her, i think this posting is already very long and your all very sweet if your still reading this far down the page. Jane Fonda is someone I want to have tea with, you know and just chat and discuss life and the ups and the downs of it all. I have felt at an early age that if I could just meet her that we would become fast friends. The oldest recollection i have of watching Jane on film was when I was actually rather young, its was a Sunday afternoon and channel 5 used to play these old movies, great ones, kinda like get your family around and spend time together hour, kinda thing and its was 1967's BAREFOOT IN THE PARK with Robert Redford, i can still remember my mother saying, "hum, He so handsome that Mr.Redford is," to myself I was thinking, he's OK, see at the time I was about 11 and even then I wasn't into Blonds . Then in 1979, my mom and sister and I would go see a movie once a week, just the 3 of us and each week we would each get to pick the movie, well it happened that week that THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN opened in the theaters. Wow, Funny Robert Redford was in both of those films. To this day THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN is one of my favorite film to be watched at least once a year and with mo mom usually.

If you notice I really didn't add to much about the Vietnam controversy and the whole Hanoi Jane saga, I just think at this point in the world and with all that she has done and continues to do with her life and for others with the vast amounts of charity she does, it seemed rather useless and just a waste of energy and Who cares, if your still seeing red over her involvement in the Vietnam war or what you think she was involved with, then I'm sorry to say that your the one that needs to sit back and think about all the time and hate you have vested in your life.

Not only is she beautiful, i mean come on, she's BARBARELLA! I can't tell you how many times this film and the way she looked in it has come up in reference to makeup and photo shoots that I have done in my many years of painting faces. The body of work this woman has given us it truly amazing , she becomes every person she portrays. Its funny she's an actress but what you see and hear on film is anything but acting, its just grace, breath and truth, she just is that person. A career high for me would be to work with her in any way actually, dang I'll get her coffee if she wants it, i was close once, we actually both worked together on the same project, COMPLICATED WOMAN, for Tuner Classic Movies Channel, but she only lent her voice as narrator, but hey its a start!

So of course with all Beauty Icon postings I select my favorite Films, and I would like to present you with my all time favorite films of Jane Fonda, that move, inspire and just delight me.

SELECTED FILMS OF JANE FONDA

1961- Walk On The Wildside

1962- Period Of Adjustment [Golden Globe :Best Actress]

1963- Sunday In New York

1965- Cat Ballou [Golden Globe: Best Actress]

1966- Any Wednesday

1967- Barefoot In The Park

1968- Barbarella

1969- They Shoot Horses Don't They?

1971- Klute [Acadamy Award: Best Actress & Golden Globe: Best Actress]

1973- Steelyard Blues

A Doll's House