Jane Fonda

“I will not shoot any more movies. I retire without looking back”, with those words the one who was one of the great divas during the 60s and 70s said goodbye to the cinema. Jane Fonda has been perhaps the most rebellious and non-conformist woman in cinema and one more example of her talent was that goodbye to the big screen when he was only 53 years old. And yet, ah, the cinema… how they trap their lights and sets, the intense and fragile tinsel of fame, the magic words –action!– on the dimly lit set… It is not easy to leave that job (let it be say Billy Wilder ‘s Norma Desmond ) and Jane Fonda has given up after 15 years away from the screens. Next year it will openThe Mother of the Groom , a romantic comedy with Jennifer Lopez as the headliner.

Born in New York on December 21, 1937, Jane is the daughter of the legendary Henry Fonda , with whom she never got along very well. Her mother, Frances Seymour, was the fifth wife of her father and she met a tragic end, but her suicide was hushed up and when she found out about it, Jane was shocked. In 1985, she confessed that she had had bulimia and anorexia for more than twenty years: “I loved to eat, but I wanted to be thin. I ate and vomited 15 to 20 times a day. I was able to empty the fridge. This disease not only weakens the body it upsets the psychological balance. Some women suffer from intermittent bulimia. In my case it was chronic.”

Jane began acting in 1954, thanks to Joshua Logan , who hired her for the play The Country Girl . After her experience, she knew that this was her thing and she entered the Actor’s Studio. Her film career began with Tall Story , also by Logan, but she soon stood out for her beauty in movies likeConfidences of a Woman (1962), by George Cukor ; and then the French director Roger Vadim took advantage of his physique in French Love Games (1964),The Hoax (1966) andBarbarella (1968). But in addition, La Fonda had talent and she demonstrated it that way inThe Human Pack (1966), by Arthur Penn ,The Explosive Naive (1965), with Lee Marvin ,Barefoot in the Park (1967), with Redford, orDance, dance, cursed (1968), for which he achieved the first of his seven Oscar nominations. She did not have to wait long: she started the 70s with the precious statuette, thanks toKlute (1971). This is the time when his combative communism caused astonishment in public opinion: he only played roles in accordance with his ideology and his speeches of him encouraging soldiers to desert Vietnam are famous. That political position, which was not well regarded by the “establishment” –“Hanoi Jane”, they called her–, was not an obstacle for her to win her second Oscar thanks to a film about the aftermath of the war, The Return (1978), or to be nominated byJulia (1977) andThe China Syndrome (1979). In the 80s he made a fortune with his famous gym videos, while he excelled in more intimate films, such asIn the golden pond (1981), where he reconciled with his father, then sick with cancer,Old Gringo (1989) orLetters to Iris (1990), his last film so far. In 1991 she married television mogul Ted Turner – she was previously linked to Roger Vadim, with whom she had a daughter, and Tom Hayden – but the union broke up ten years later. Now, the cinema will welcome her with open arms.