Elder gays, tell me about Jane Fonda's stardom and popularity in 60s and 70s

How could she become* to be.

Jane never had the box office and popularity much less pull with studios of those two women. I lover her though.

She manage her comeback in the mid-1970s with Fun with Dick and Jane which was a hit and then became a producer to create some of her own projects. I think Barbra was the big and only female box office star in the early 1970s but Jane overtook when Barbra started to work less in movies.

Kate, Audrey, Bette, Joan, Julia, Liz, Marilyn re the box office queens. Jane is a great actor and modestly big in her own right. Not like those others in terms of true box office.

I think she took on projects like Dick and Jane to try and soften her image. Also she was kind of vindicated in her vehement dislike for Nixon when watergate happened.

She appeared in a number of well-known popular films that were considerable BO successes in the 60s/70s/80s Cat Ballou (1965) Barefoot in the Park, Barbarella, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Klute, Coming Home, California Suite, The Electric Horseman, The China Syndrome, 9 to 5, On Golden Pond (1981) My parents went out to the movies a few times a year and they saw China Syndrome, 9 to 5, California Suite and On Golden Pond. Between 1969 and 1986 she won 2 Oscars and was nominated 7 times. Other notable films include The Chapman Report, Julia, The Morning After, Agnes of God.

Hon I like her too but do you think she was ever as a big of a star as the ladies mentioned before. You're not wrong but she was never a matinee idol where you go see her movie. There's not a lot of those. Much less women. It was always a man's world.

Strange times. Jon Voight was a liberal. From her Hanoi Jane days, she was too controversial to have Julia Roberts' popularity. She was seen as a versatile actress who got great rolesl, and like Jamie Leigh Curtis, had a great body. She opened workout studios, sold a manual treadmill, did a workout book and videos, popularized legwarmers and wormed her way back into the hearts of America's fraus. She also seemed like someone who couldn't exist for five minutes without a man and turned herself into whatever the man of the hour wanted her to be.

You need to update your list to more recent times, r4.

No actress was ever more famous than Elizabeth Taylor. Fonda was very popular and notorious. For her to win an Oscar for Klute when she was so controversial really speaks to the power of that performance, which is one of the all-time greats.

Mel MooCarthy is now a top female star? Ok she farted, and shit and burped her way into some hit movies but Adam Sandler is no Rock Hudson.

Elder gay answering the call and have lived a few generations. Marylin Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Julia Roberts were the most popular actresses of all time in terms of sustained public adoration to watch them and know bout them. Other actresses have moments but those those were the ones in their own time I've seen in my lifetime that they were no different than any man in terms of fame of popularity and universally beloved at their peak..

I said “recent times,” r11, not “current times.” R4’s list stopped at the 90s.

" If conservatives still don't forgive her today how could she became to be massively beloved ? "

One more time, "conservatives" are NOT the majority of people. Jane is a good actress and an outrageously beautiful woman. I crossed paths with Jane during her 10 years as "Mrs. Turner" in Atlanta many times. She is warm, friendly, well read and dedicated to the causes she takes on, but the one thing I'll never forget is how absolutely stunning she is in person. When they talked about "it" and "star quality" I was never sure what they meant until I met Jane Fonda and then Elizabeth Taylor. Both women were in their 50s (Jane) and 60s (Elizabeth Taylor) when I met them and I can only imagine what they looked like earlier in their careers

[quote] She is … well read

What does she read?

She and De Niro deserve to be shot and have their SAG cards revoked for that sappy piece of shit called Stanley and Iris. And isn't she in some movie now where she looks like a pickled cabbage trying to seduce a pickled onion played by Bob Redford?

Could never stand this fake, privileged bitch pretending to have suffered and worked for her success when the truth was that she was a big beneficiary of nepotism.

"What does she read? "

The subjects she feels passionate about. Many times people take on causes without really understanding what it is they're promoting, Jane seems to understand the issues she takes on. Although, sometimes I sense that Jane is just regurgitating information she has consumed, at least she takes the time time to absorb the information

She worked with a remarkable number of famous actors/leading men: Robert Redford, Jon Voight, Kris Kristofferson, James Caan, George Segal, Michael Sarrazin, Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin, Jeff Bridges, Michael Douglas, Michael Caine, Jason Robards, Jack Lemon, Donald Sutherland, Gregory Peck, Robert De Niro, Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Alan Alda, Anthony Perkins, Peter Finch, Laurence Harvey, James Fox.

Streisand also worked with Bridges, Redford, Caan, Montand, Segal, Sarrazin and Kristofferson

I always thought our beloved Faye would have been terrific in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", sensational in "Klute" and magnificent in "The China Syndrome". They were often considered for each other's roles.

Jane's the better actress, r19.

Mary R16 needs to take her meds.

Once agin no one cares who worked with. That only lessons her case of what the OP is asking. Was she ever a box office start like Liz, Kate, Marylin and Julia? The answer is no. Bust she is a better actor.

I will oh dear myself for my phone.

I think she was a box office draw in the late 70s/early 80s granted most of her hits had other stars in them but she brought a prestige to them.

She did lose a lot of years post-Klute Oscar where she might have done some good films. (That was when she sat in the gun thing in Vietnam and got some people really mad.)

there's like five or six year where she was at peak age for an actress that she didn't do any major films.

Miss Dunaway could have been a contender!

Faye would have been exceptional in Klute too.

I think she was the next choice for ".. Shoot Horses"

I like the Jane of the 1960s when she was young and funny in films like Barefoot in the Park and Sunday in New York.

Did Jane ever show tits or ass?

She had a body double for the sex scene in Coming Home.

Why, what's wrong with her own tittage?

tittage

Vadim sold her as the second Bardot.

R19 Jane passed on Chinatown and Bonne and Clyde and I think Faye was a better fit for those roles, but I can't imagine Faye in Klute, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? or The China Syndrome.

Fonda was more of a cultural figure than true box office draw. But she had some hits too. Plus, HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY.

Elizabeth Taylor? HA HA. NO.

Jane became really popular in the later 1970s with those exercise videos. She was Oscared and known for being a good actress, and box office draw - to a point. She was not "the rage" or the most popular anything, which is probably a better place than flavor of the month-woman of the year. .

Streisand was generally considered the most bankable female star during the 70s yet, For Pete's Sake, Up the Sandbox, The Main Event, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, The Way We Were, Funny Lady, A Star is Born, What's Up Doc? and The Owl and the Pussycat are meh! at best while Fonda during that same period received 4 Oscar nominations and won for Klute.

Jane Fonda was a sexy little kitten back then.

She was 100 percent correct about the Vietnam War.

She was 100% right about the message, but some of her actions were sloppy and misguided. And she won't come out and say that the Vietnamese deliberately tricked her into that aircraft photo op, even though she implies it heavily in her first book.

Country Joe McDonald, who has always been a huge liberal/anti war supporter himself and who worked with Fonda on the movement, has always maintained that he stopped working with her because of disparaging remarks she made about the soldiers. He admits her heart was in the right place, but she was incredibly naïve at the time, and she was being used by others around her because of her celebrity.

Fonda has apologized and said that she was very influenced politically by her husband or bf at the time. Tom somethingorother.

Jane and Barbra should do a remake of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. That would be amazing.

Outside of aerobics, I don't think Jane Fonda was poular.

She just appeared in some popular movies, which were popular because they were good.

She committed treason, which was slightly controversial at the time.

R27 She did in the films she did with Vadim: The Game is Over and Barbarella.

"She committed treason"

Yeah, a lot of that going around

Jane was very powerful in the late 1970s. She had the ability to get movies greenlit and produced, hence Nine to Five.

This has nothing to do with her acting, but I love her because she puts her money and protests where Susan Sarandon's mouth is.

she got peter mcenery

and john phillip law

9 to 5 is still hilarous.

She has said that she was never offered Chinatown.

I think that was in that Sue Mengers play with Bette Midler.

Menger just used the prospect of Fonda signing as a way to force them to sign Dunaway's deal. It was something like that. I've got it a bit confused probably.

Taylor, Roberts and Fonda are apples to oragnes to Kiw. Taylor grew-up in the old studio system and was propelled forward by that. She made mostly horrible movies after "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf" but could command a large salary. She was actually a good actress, although without a huge range or the technical skill of people who came after her. Ultimately, she was more a star and celeb than an actress--more of a legend than anything.

Fonda had nepostism on her side and got better with age as an actress. Her controversies kept her from becoming a bigger star but she was able to keep her career going much more than Taylor. She made money off the exercise stuff and was able to transition to more "mature" roles. Her daddy issues and what not probably have given her an ability to show vulnerability that Taylor didn't have and that Roberts certainly lacks.

Roberts is more a star than an actress, but without the kind of patina that came from the old studio world. Michelle Pfeiffer who came along around the same time has at least tried to be an actress, even if the results have been uneven, whereas ROberts always seems pretty much the same. I think of Roberts as being somewhat akin to George Clooney in terms of fame and position, except I think Clooney is in on the joke of being a movie star acknowledges his mix of showbiz and white trash (his words) roots and tatses.

Michelle Pfeiffer came along much earlier than Julia Roberts and is of a different generation.

just 6 years r52

Pfeiffer hit with Grease 2 in 1982

Roberts in Mystic Pizza in 1988

Pfeiffer is a decade older.

They had heydays in the 90s and were part of a Hollywood that wanted "stars" more than actresses. Whatever--Pfeiffer has made an effort that Roberts never really has. Roberts' crazy brother has tried to test his limits more than her.

Yes, R33.

Fonda's charms are invisible to non-Americans. Her father was a national symbol

OP's set up is so fucking phony and cheesy. Why reward this?

[quote]Streisand was generally considered the most bankable female star during the 70s

The movies that made Streisand (who was already a big star before being in movies, youngins) in the 1970s were Funny Girl (still in release and re-released), What's up Doc, The Way Were Were, and somehow, A Star is Born. All the other stuff was dreck and not nearly as popular at the box office - what the bankable lists are based on. Fonda, on the other hand, made her share of shit and silly comedies (though not nearly as bad as For Pete's Sake and The Main Event), but she also was in several very good films and was very good in them. There's really no comparison. Five years younger Streisand hit her peak in the early 1970s; Fonda not until she turned 40 in the late 1970s. It was probably good that Fonda was sidelined for a while because of her political activities - the late 1970s were HER TIME.

It's funny that during the 1970s everyone kept complaining how there weren't good roles for actresses. In retrospect, there were plenty of good roles for actress. It's just that, like the men's, the roles were different. And there were good actresses giving fine performances like Fonda, Glenda Jackson, Ellen Burstyn, Jill Clayburgh, Streep, early Dunaway, Diane Keaton, Gena Rowlands, even Karen Black!

And btw, no one under 50 paid much attention tp Henry Fonda in the1970s even though he was hawking GAF and appearing in a very short lived TV sitcom.

I remember she peaked in the late 70’s and early 80’s and then quickly went out of fashion in the 80’s. She told Streep during the filming of Julia that she was upset about getting older, when she wasn’t even that old. She was very charismatic. I do think she over did the plastic surgery. It gives her a weird look. She seems vain and insecure despite all her achievements.

Fonda aged out after Nine to Five (1980) and On Golden Pond (1981), R59. It happens to everyone. Jane was lucky she got such good material in her early 40s before those movies. Of course this is much easier to see from the outside than from the inside.

There also was a nice moment when Fonda gave Streep a People’s Choice award for favorite film actress, and Streep took the time on stage to thank Jane for helping her with her career. They are both very magnanimous.

Henry Fonda was symbol of the nation.

He starred in all those westerns and pioneer movies and in The Grape of Wrath.

I was born in 1954, R62. I missed The GRAPES of Wrath (1940), it was not on the 4:30 movie in the 1970s. It wasn't even on the Million Dollar Movie on channel 9.

R50 Bob Evans Paramount's studio chief wanted Fonda but, Menger's pushed for her client Dunaway.

R63 He was vaguely attractive with a good jawline and often played passive characters.

R65, I know who Henry Fonda was, I was pointing out that in the 1970s, younger people hardly knew him and weren't much interested. When they said "Jane Fonda is Henry Fonda's daughter," it didn't mean anything to most people under 40.

Now that I've seen The Grapes of Wrath, The Lady Eve, 12 Angry Men, Jezebel among others, I can say I appreciate many of Henry Fonda's performances, but I am not a fan. He and James Stewart were interchangeable, sort of the Tom Hanks of their day.

In the documentary Jane Fonda in Five Acts (or something like that) on HBO Jane is pretty honest about taking on the personality and likes of whatever man she was with at the time. It's a good documentary.

Jane should have done more theatre

R66 I'm a Brit so I consider both Fonda and his daughter as lame. He had a thin crackly voice and she had an abrasive whiney voice (Barefoot in the Park is agony to watch).

They needed a really strong director to get anything out of them.

[quote] Jane should have done more theatre

What sort of theatre?

Would it have improved her?

Angela Lansbury poo-pooed her method acting after they did a movie in the 60s. They got along well until Jane thought it would damage her performance (their characters were meant to dislike each other) so cold-shouldered Angie

R66: Young people in the 70s knew who Henry Fonda was. His classic films played on tv all the time and he even had a short-lived dramedy series.

Thank you, r72, I thought that was ridiculous of r66 to write.

R10 It also speaks to how lackluster her all English competition was

Glenda Jackson Sunday Bloody Sunday, Julie Christie McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Janet Suzman Nicholas and Alexandra, Vanessa Redgrave Mary, Queen of Scots.

Fonda swept all the awards that year.

R71 Something big happened behind the scenes on that movie. Fonda told Andy Cohen in 2018 that it was the worst film she'd ever made and she wished it had never been filmed; it was so bad, in fact, she wasn't even certain if it had been released.

Great chunks of the footage shot in Greece were cut. One actor (George Coulouris) was completely removed. This meant there were long slow scenes with Lansbury doing nothing left in the final cut.

Fonda is having an adulterous affair with a dull man 21 years older than her. She wears a wig and she tries to suppress her American twangy accent it’s almost if they want if they don’t want her in the role at all. It was obviously meant for someone like Claire Bloom, Anne Bancroft, Lee Remick, or Patricia Neal, or someone who could actually be an intellectual. Fonda‘s boobs are completely covered and flattened (the Angela Lansbury describes Fonda's character as a 'beanpole. Another character describes her as a 'child woman'.

It's a mess.

Fonda was a top 10 box office star in 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82.

Streisand and Fonda were both top 10 in 78, 79 and 80.

Streisand was also a top 10 box office star in 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75 and 77.

It's a little sad looking at the top 10 box office lists over the years. A number of men (John Wayne, Paul Newman, Gary Cooper, Tom Cruise) are perenially top box office, but very few women get more than 2 or 3 years at the top.

R72, I WAS a young person in the 1970s, and as I said earlier, Fonda was not on the 4:30 movie or even the Million Dollar Movie. I vaguely knew who he was. And believe me, nobody watched that lame "dramedy series" that failed quickly.

R77 I was a teen in the 70s and Henry was in Fail Safe (1964), 12 Angry Men (1958), Mister Roberts (1955), A Big Hand for a Little Lady (1966), The Wrong Man (1958), Madigan (1968), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), The Best Man (1964), The Boston Strangler (1968), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and those movies were very frequently televised on the 4:30 Movie, The Million Dollar and the prime time ABC, CBS and NBC Night at the movies during the 60s and 70s. That's how I saw them. I also saw Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with he and Lucille Ball in a movie theater. He made a lot of films in the 60s including How the West Was Won, The Longest Day, In Harm's Way, Battle of the Bulge, Advise and Consent, Spencer's Mountain.

Don't forget The Rounders, r78, with the hyper-vivacious Miss Sue Ane Langdon!

Fonda is one of the great artists and most powerful women in the history of the entertainment industry. Her obit will be many pages long.

He appeared in all those movies but he could just as well as have been a wax-dummy.

Hitchcock chose him for 'The Wrong Man' because he was just so thoroughly ordinary (and passive).

[quote]The Million Dollar and the prime time ABC, CBS and NBC Night at the movies during the 60s and 70s

Congratulations, R78. The Million Dollar Movie was local New York, channel 9.

Regardless of how you feel about his acting, r81, he *was* a bonafide movie star from the Golden Age.

R82 I remember the Million Dollar Movie very well. They played the same film for a week Monday through Friday from 8-10 pm. I remember watching 1963's The Lord of the Flies several times and was surprised that it featured young boys in the nude. And when I saw a theater revival of Gone with the Wind in the late 60s my friends and I recognized the music that was used as the theme for the Million Dollar Movie

R70 Saw Jane on Broadway in '33 Variations' in 2009 it marked her return to Broadway after 46 years. She was crisp, alert, graceful, but the play was nothing and will never be revived.

^ Rue McClanahan was in the audience the night I saw '33 Variations'

[quote] her return to Broadway after 46 years. She was crisp, alert

Are you telling us nicely that Geriatric Jane isn't yet suffering with dementia?

R87 No. Just that there isn't much to say about her performance since it wasn't a pointless play and she had nothing to work with or do.

Henry Fonda made an effort and did Mr Roberts for a year or something.

But that doesn't stop me from classing him as a 'movie performer' rather than a genuine actor.

I like Jane Fonda, but her constant bitching that her father was cold and distant has always been a bit much. Men of that generation were just like that, they weren't really hands-on with their kids, that was "the mother's job." He was very typical of his era.

I think I can understand why 'In the Cool of the Day' is such a disaster.

John Houseman was a respectable serious producer so he hired Peter Finch as his star to play the respectable serious lead role.

Unfortunately he had a dopy director, a woman's soap-opera plot, and Jane Fonda who was TOTALLY the wrong woman and the wrong age and the wrong intellect.

I'm sure there was major blow-up out on location in Greece.

Jane seems very amateurish in In The Cool Of The Day. She can't hold a candle to Lansbury - who has disparaged her performance in interviews.

You're so right, Angela!

She was clearly the second biggest actress in the 1970s - after Streisand. Which is weird because most wouldn't identify Streisand as an actress nowadays. Goldie was probably number 3 at the time and her peak, in the early '80s, came after Fonda and Streisand's careers cooled.

R92 Angela really knows how to use that chiffon scarf.

She uses it to great effect as she clatters round in stilletos on marble stairs during manic episodes.

Is she selling wigs now?

She wears 'em, might as well sell 'em