Why was Jean Seberg Blacklisted but Not Jane Fonda?

Jane Fonda waited until the blacklist was history.

Tits.

What R1 said.

Family connections and talent. Jane had the illustrious family name with well-placed friends in the industry, Jean did not. Jane had the immense talent and bankability to buffer the criticism, Jean did not (Jean was a fine actress, but not in Jane's league).

R1 I'm Not talking about the blacklist in the 50s against the communists!! Jane activism was at its peak during Vietnam war and Nixon, and she was involved with Black panther movement as well like Seberg. It was the SAME period of Jean Seberg activism.

The real black list was in the 40s to late 50s.

There is evidence that the FBI put pressure on Hollywood and enacted smear campaigns against both Seberg AND Fonda. It just wasn't as powerful as it had been.

R4 I think it's the family connection and well placed friends in the industry. probably it's the reason of protecting Jane against the merciless smear campaign that Seberg was subjected to.

Jane got "AN" Oscar?

It's interesting because i was reading about Marlon Brando heavy involvement with the American Indians during the 70s and how he basically helped a convicted one escape and hid him in his house and then helped him escape to his island in Tahiti, and when the police searched Marlon's house, they found guns, bombs and multiple illegal things this American Indian guy left behind and they didn't do anything to Marlon and didn't charge him with helping a convicted one to escape or possessing illegal weapons in his house, NOTHING.. I think Power and connection is the answer.

Seberg seemed to be pretty much nuts, in a way that Fonda wasn't.

Because the gorgeous Jean was ALLEGEDLY doing Black man. Sakes alive Miss Scarlett, the 60's unrest, commie pink-o's, civil rights and Black Panther movements had conservatives in hissy fit hysteria. Old white guys came undone. And Seberg, apparently was quite outspoken and unapologetic about it. Better ask the gorgeous Kim Novak and other chocolate conosseurs of the time what J. Edgar, Reagan and Nixon would do to your career and reputation. Oh my...

R10 If she was nuts, they made her that way after the relentless smear harassment campaign. I think Jean unfortunately had no support system around her like Jane Fonda.

You lose when the public knows you like big black cock.

What R11 said. Her involvement with black radicals

I doubt her dating a black man in the 70s had the same effect like it had in the 50s

Seberg was a screen goddess in a way Fonda is not.

Even in a potboiler like Airport she is incandescent.

Also not only was Fonda well connected but there is this obliviousness and dimness about her which gives confidence and strength.

R4 Jane Fonda (By her own admission) didn't have telnet in the 60s, i think her talent gradually rose as time went on starting from the 70s.

R1 OP doesn't mean the Hollywood blacklist in the late 40s, early 50s. During that time Jean Seberg and Jane Fonds were just kids!

R4 laid it out correctly. Henry Fonda was, literally, Hollywood royalty.

Paint. Your. Wagon. Megaflop.

Seberg got involved with black radicals and was fucking one! she stepped over the line. Fonda was a radical but came from The Fonda clan and was fucking the fugly but hung Vadim. Then came Tom Hayden who was a liberal but was a white one.

Amazingly Talented, Warm-Hearted, Exceptionally Intelligent and Witty, Phenomenally Gorgeous. Jean Seberg was a truly miraculous human being who was blacklisted by Hollywood and tortured to madness by the FBI for her personal convictions and support of unpopular movements.

Her supposedly affair with a black panther radical was a false story planted by FBI

"In 1970, the FBI created the false story, from a San Francisco-based informant, that the child Seberg was carrying was not fathered by her husband Romain Gary but by Raymond Hewitt, a member of the Black Panther Party. The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times, and was also printed by Newsweek magazine. Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a 4 lb (1.8 kg) baby girl. The child died two days later. She held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin, which disproved the rumors. Seberg and Gary later sued Newsweek for libel and defamation and asked for US$200,000 in damages. Seberg contended she became so upset after reading the story, that she went into premature labor, which resulted in the death of her daughter. A Paris court ordered Newsweek to pay the couple US$10,800 in damages and also ordered Newsweek to print the judgment in their publication, plus eight other newspapers.

FBI COINTELPRO investigation

"During the late 1960s, Seberg provided financial support to various groups supporting civil rights, such as the NAACP as well as Native American school groups such as the Meskwaki Bucks at the Tama settlement near her home town of Marshalltown, for whom she purchased US$500 worth of basketball uniforms. The FBI was upset about several gifts to the Black Panther Party, totalling US$10,500 (estimated) in contributions; these were noted among a list of other celebrities in FBI internal documents later declassified and released to the public under FOIA requests. The financial support and alleged interracial love affairs or friendships are thought to have been triggers to a large-scale FBI program deployment in her direction.

The FBI operation against Seberg used COINTELPRO program techniques to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit Seberg. The FBI's stated goal was an unspecified "neutralization" of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to "cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public", while taking the "usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau". FBI strategy and modalities can be found in FBI inter-office memos.

In 1970, the FBI created the false story, from a San Francisco-based informant, that the child Seberg was carrying was not fathered by her husband Romain Gary but by Raymond Hewitt, a member of the Black Panther Party.[23][24] The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times,[25] and was also printed by Newsweek magazine. Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a 4 lb (1.8 kg) baby girl. The child died two days later. She held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin, which disproved the rumors. Seberg and Gary later sued Newsweek for libel and defamation and asked for US$200,000 in damages. Seberg contended she became so upset after reading the story, that she went into premature labor, which resulted in the death of her daughter. A Paris court ordered Newsweek to pay the couple US$10,800 in damages and also ordered Newsweek to print the judgment in their publication, plus eight other newspapers.

The investigation of Seberg went far beyond the publishing of defamatory articles. According to her friends interviewed after her death, Seberg experienced years of aggressive in-person surveillance (constant stalking), as well as break-ins and other intimidation-oriented activity. These newspaper reports make clear that Seberg was well aware of the surveillance. FBI files show that she was wiretapped, and in 1980, the Los Angeles Times published logs of her Swiss wiretapped phone calls. U.S. surveillance was deployed while she was residing in France and while travelling in Switzerland and Italy. Per FBI files the FBI cross-contacted the "FBI Legat" (legal attachés) in U.S. Embassies in Paris and Rome and provided files on Seberg to the CIA, U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Military intelligence to assist monitoring while she was abroad.

FBI records show that J. Edgar Hoover kept U.S. President Richard Nixon informed of FBI activities related to the Jean Seberg case via President Nixon's domestic affairs chief John Ehrlichman. John Mitchell, then Attorney General, and Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst were also kept informed of FBI activities related to Seberg.

Wow. Her life story was so tragic. I wonder how many other lives the FBI destroyed

Jean Seberg death (suicide) :

"On the night of August 30, 1979, Seberg mysteriously disappeared. Her partner Ahmed Hasni told police that they had gone to a movie that night and when he awoke the next morning, Seberg was gone. After Seberg went missing, Hasni told police that he had known she was suicidal for some time. He claimed that she had attempted suicide in July 1979 by jumping in front of a Paris subway train.

On September 8, nine days after her disappearance, her decomposing body was found wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of her Renault, parked close to her Paris apartment in the 16th arrondissement. Police found a bottle of barbiturates, an empty mineral water bottle and a note written in French from Seberg addressed to her son. It read, in part, "Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves." Her death was ruled a suicide by the police.

Romain Gary, Seberg's second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death where he publicly blamed the FBI's campaign against Seberg for her deteriorating mental health. Gary claimed that Seberg "became psychotic" after the media reported a false story that the FBI planted about her becoming pregnant with a Black Panther's child in 1970. Gary stated that Seberg had repeatedly attempted suicide on the anniversary of the child's death, August 25."

Just Tragic, A truly wasted life!

"Her partner Ahmed Hasni..."

mm-hmmm

It sounds like her partner might have been involved in her suicide

An early interview of Jean

Aftermath

"Six days after the discovery of Seberg's body, the FBI released documents under FOIA admitting the defamation of Seberg,[44][45] while making statements attempting to distance themselves from practices of the Hoover era. The FBI's campaign against Seberg was further explored at this time by Time magazine in a front page article, "The FBI vs. Jean Seberg".

Media attention surrounding the abuse Seberg had undergone at FBI hands led to examination of the case by the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a.k.a. "the Church Committee", which noted that notwithstanding FBI claims of reform, "COINTELPRO activities may continue today under the rubric of investigation".

In his autobiography, Los Angeles Times editor Jim Bellows described events leading up to the Seberg articles, in which he expressed regret that he had not vetted the Seberg articles sufficiently.[48] He echoed this sentiment in subsequent interviews.

The Seberg case remains a hallmark case, examined to this day, vis-à-vis U.S. intelligence abuses directed towards U.S. citizens.

In June 1980, Paris police filed charges against "persons unknown" in connection with Seberg's death. Police stated that Seberg had such a high amount of alcohol in her system at the time of her death, that it would have rendered her comatose and unable to get into her car without assistance. Police noted there was no alcohol in the car where Seberg's body was found. Police theorized that someone was present at the time of her death and failed to get her medical care.

In December 1980, Seberg's former husband Romain Gary committed suicide. Gary's suicide note, which was addressed to his publisher, indicated that he had not killed himself over the loss of Seberg but over the fact that he felt he could no longer produce literary works.

Agreed that Fonda was protected by her famous Father and both her parents stature in Hollywood. Fonda herself was a beloved Sex symbol and I think most Amreican s were slow to realize that "Barbarella" and Broadway actress From "Barefoot in the Park" was performing FTA/Fuck the Army cabarets outside Military Bases encouraging soldiers to go AWOL to avoid dying in the MIlitary Industrial Complex War of Vietnam.

Fonda was also engaged in the same protest activities as were 60% of America's youth and draft age adults.

R27 Thanks for posting this. She was FULL of life and hopes, even when she was a young girl in high school, she was involved in humanitarian work and activities. RIP Jean Seberg

Seberg died. Fonda didn't.

Death can really halt an acting career.

Seberg was never much of an actress.

Fonda was controversial but also giving great performances in Klute and They Shoot Horses.

She did have a slump though from 1971 to about 1976.

A Weary Looking Jean in 1979, shortly before her death

Didn't Seberg also have mental health issues?

(I missed the Marvin Hamlisch musical, remember when Jodie Foster kept trying to play her in a movie? Before she got to lesbianish to pass)

"Jane Fonda (By her own admission) didn't have telnet in the 60s"

Thank goodness. If she had the robots would have taken over by now!

we didn't have telnet in the 60s either r38, we had ATT. There wasn't much choice where we lived.

"The circumstances of Jean’s death have never been satisfactorily explained. Romain declared on September 10 in an anguished press conference that he suspected foul play, and for the first time publicly, denounced the FBI for hounding them for years. Suspicions fell on twenty-nine-year-old Algerian actor Ahmed Hasni, who had become Jean’s consort just before her death. Parisian police admitted to searching for Hasni for almost a year with no result—he had disappeared completely after quickly selling Jean’s apartment, possessions, and diaries (he has never resurfaced). Those close to Jean disliked him and questioned his motives and links to drug trafficking.

Hasni had reported Jean missing ten days before her body was found. Judge Guy Joly noted that when found (oddly in her own unlocked car just around the corner from her apartment, yet unnoticed for over a week), Seberg’s naked corpse had an alcohol content twice the amount that would have rendered her comatose (opening the obvious questions of how she got to the car itself, let alone ingested significant quantities of barbiturates and drove in that state). In some ways, Hasni gives the appearance of being the classic intelligence operative—flamboyant with underworld links and an almost magical ability to disappear when necessary."

[quote] [R1] I'm Not talking about the blacklist in the 50s against the communists!!

Calm down, Mary!!

The pic in R36 link, as well as the mental description, reminds me of Rose McGowan.

Charlize Theron should do a Jean Seberg biopic about the FBI stuff and the later years...

R43 Good choice

Jane Fonda entertained the Israeli troops during the 1982 massacre of the Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila outside Beirut. Is a broad minded Nazi better than a narrow minded one?

Casting couches, that's the difference. Jane's been on all of them.

r9 Yes, you're right, but power and connection is also the answer in everything: politics, religion, corporate America, relationships, upward mobility, etc.

What about Marlon Brando who supported/helped Black panther and American Indians and fucked Black women and men.

Every time I see the aerodynamics of Jean Seberg's upswept bouffant hairdo in "Airport," I want call NASA!

Kristen Stewart to play Jean Seberg

^ ugh

r50 You mean "limited acting range Stewart."

Seberg was also feminine and "soft-looking". Aside from her looking good with short hair, I see no reason for casting Stewart in this.

Not much of an actress? Check out Lilith. Fonda couldn't have done that even after she learned to act. It would have been way too affected.

Sheesh- blacklisting was a product of McCarthyism in the 50s. Jane’s activism was in the late 60s. The FBI did keep and extensive file on her, that she gained access to under the Freedom of Infirmation Act which she used in her bio of about 10 years ago. Despite her stumble in N Vietnam she was spot on about everything and I believe incredibly brave through it all. Read the Pentagon papers sometime if you want to know just how right she was.

Paint your Wagon-Flop

Airport- Blockbuster and commercially one of the most influential films in history. And all lacquered up with old time Ross Hunter glamour Seberg looks fabulous in it.

Jean Seberg was unstable.

There was a film made about 15 or 20 years ago, small, indepedent, starring Mary Beth Hurt as Seberg, I believe it was titled, 'The Jean Seberg Tapes' (am too lazy to look it up). The agressively plain looking Hurt seemed an odd choice to play Seberg, until it was made known that Seberg was her babysitter when she was a child growing up in Iowa. Never saw the film, don't think it had signficant distribution.