Jane Fonda has spent more than six decades in the public eye, and the photographs from her early years offer a glimpse of the woman before the legend fully took shape.
Born in New York City on December 21, 1937, she grew up with Hollywood royalty in her bloodline and a restless ambition that would eventually carry her far beyond anything her famous father had imagined for her.
Henry Fonda’s daughter did not take the obvious path. After leaving Vassar College before completing her degree, she moved through New York’s creative circles, working as a model and sharpening her craft at the Actors Studio under the guidance of Lee Strasberg.
That training planted the roots of a career that would prove far more durable than most of her contemporaries.
Her debut came on Broadway in 1960 with There Was a Little Girl, followed the same year by her first film, Tall Story.
The early 1960s brought a string of charming comedic roles, including the beloved Cat Ballou in 1965 and Barefoot in the Park in 1967, films that cemented her reputation as one of Hollywood’s most watchable young stars.
The shift into more serious territory arrived with force toward the end of that decade. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in 1969 signaled that Fonda was after something more demanding than light comedy.
Klute followed in 1971, earning her a first Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a call girl caught in a dangerous web.
Coming Home in 1978, in which she played the wife of a Vietnam War veteran, brought a second Oscar. Few actors of her generation can claim that kind of recognition across such different material.
The 1980s kept her busy across several fronts. Nine to Five in 1980, alongside Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin, became a cultural touchstone, a sharp workplace comedy about three women retaliating against a tyrannical boss.
The following year she appeared in On Golden Pond with her father Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, a film that carried genuine emotional weight given the complicated relationship between the two Fondas in real life.
Agnes of God and The Morning After rounded out the decade on screen.
Off screen, Fonda’s story grew considerably more complicated. From the 1970s onward she was a vocal presence in left-wing political causes, most notably her opposition to the Vietnam War.
Her 1972 trip to Hanoi, during which she was photographed seated at a North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun, generated controversy that followed her for decades.
The nickname “Hanoi Jane” attached itself to her public identity in a way that no amount of film work could fully overshadow.
In 1988 she addressed the matter directly in a televised interview with Barbara Walters, acknowledging that parts of her conduct during that trip had been thoughtless.
Her activism extended well beyond the war. The fitness empire she built in the 1980s was not simply a commercial venture.
The proceeds funded the Campaign for Economic Democracy, an organization tied to her then-husband, politician Tom Hayden, to whom she was married from 1973 to 1990.
She also championed women’s rights throughout her career and in 2005 co-founded the Women’s Media Center.
As a child, Fonda suffered from a poor self-image and lacked confidence in her appearance, an issue exacerbated by her father Henry Fonda.
About that, Fonda said: I was raised in the ’50s. I was taught by my father [actor Henry Fonda] that how I looked was all that mattered, frankly.
He was a good man, and I was mad for him, but he sent messages to me that fathers should not send: Unless you look perfect, you’re not going to be loved.
In another interview with Oprah Winfrey, Fonda confessed, after years of struggling with her self-image, “It took me a long long time to realize we’re not meant to be perfect, we’re meant to be whole.”
In adulthood, Fonda developed bulimia, which took a toll on her quality of life for many years, an issue that also affected her mother Frances Ford Seymour, who died by suicide when Fonda was 12.
On the subject of her recovery from bulimia, Fonda said: It was in my 40s, and if you suffer from bulimia, the older you get, the worse it gets. It takes longer to recover from a bout …
I had a career, I was winning awards, I was supporting nonprofits, I had a family. I had to make a choice: I live or I die.
Jane Fonda, photo by Leonard McCombe, 1960.
Jane Fonda wearing ruby and diamond necklace by Cartier, photo by Howell Conant, 1960.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1960.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1960.
Jane Fonda at Café de Flore, Paris, photo by Willy Rizzo, 1961.
Jane Fonda, photo by Allan Grant, 1961.
Jane Fonda, photo by Allan Grant, 1961.
Jane Fonda, photo by Allan Grant, 1961.
Jane Fonda, photo by Willy Rizzo, 1961.
Jane Fonda in the movie “The Chapman Report” directed by George Cukor, 1962.
Jane Fonda, 1962.
Jane Fonda, photo by Sam Lévin, 1962.
Jane Fonda, photo by Willy Rizzo, Paris, 1962.
Jane Fonda, Venice Beach, California, photo by Willy Rizzo, 1962.
Jane Fonda in Paris, photo by Francois Pages, 1963.
Jane Fonda taking notes during a break in filming at Auberge de la Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, photo by Francois Pages, 1963.
Jane Fonda, photo by Chiara Samugheo, 1963.
Jane Fonda, photo by Francois Pages, 1963.
Jane Fonda at home in Fontaine-Richard, France, photo by Philippe Le Tellier, 1964.
Jane Fonda in ensemble by Chanel, photo by Willy Rizzo, 1964.
Jane Fonda at the home that she shares with husband Roger Vadim in Saint-Ouen-Marchefroy, France, photo by David Hurn, 1967.
Jane Fonda in corduroy cap, photo by David Hurn, Brittany, France, 1967.
Jane Fonda wearing Pucci blouse, photo by Carlo Bavagnoli, 1967.
Jane Fonda, photo by Carlo Bavagnoli, 1967.
Jane Fonda, photo by David Hurn, Brittany, France, 1967.
Jane Fonda, photo by David Hurn, Brittany, France, 1967.
Jane Fonda, photo by David Hurn, France, 1967.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda, photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1968.
Jane Fonda in New York, photo by Paul Slade, 1969.
Jane Fonda, photo Rex Features, circa 1960s.
(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / Flickr).