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Looking Back at Jane Fonda's Illustrious Career in Photos

Looking Back at Jane Fonda's Illustrious Career in Photos

The actress and recipient of the 2021 Cecil B. DeMille Award has been a celebrated figure in Hollywood for more than 60 years

By Diane J. Cho

February 23, 2021 10:00 AM

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Jane Fonda, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda, began her career as a comedic actress and grew to take on serious roles that would earn her Academy Awards. The young model living in New York City, who studied acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, went on to have a six-decade-long career and will be recognized at the 2021 Golden Globes for her outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

Here she is as June Ryder in her first feature film, Tall Story, in 1959. She won a Golden Globe Award for the role and has since been nominated 14 more times, winning seven statuettes total.

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She tackled the role of Isabel Haverstick, alongside Anthony Franciosa, in the film Period of Adjustment in 1962.

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Fonda, as Eileen Tyler, is scooped up by Robert Culp in Sunday in New York in 1963.

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Fonda played Catherine "Cat" Ballou, who returns to her homeland with Clay Boone (Michael Callan) after her father is killed for refusing to sell his ranch to a corporation, in the 1965 Western Cat Ballou.

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During her early success, Fonda married French movie producer and director Roger Vadim on Aug. 14, 1965, in Las Vegas. They were together until 1973 and in that time, welcomed a daughter named Vanessa.

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The star played a charming astronaut in Barbarella, a film directed by then-husband Vadim, in 1967.

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Hollywood icons Robert Redford and Fonda on the set of Barefoot in the Park, directed by Gene Saks, in 1967.

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The actress in bed with a young Donald Sutherland in their film Klute in 1971.

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Fonda's role as Bree Daniels in Klute won her an Oscar for Best Actress in 1972.

Here she is, standing proudly next to Philip D' Antoni and Gene Hackman, who both won that night as well for their film, The French Connection.

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Jane Harper (Fonda) realizes it's over for her and her husband's lavish life in Fun with Dick and Jane, which was released in 1977.

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After her eight-year marriage to Roger Vadim, the actress married activist Tom Hayden in 1973, and the two had a son, Troy Garity (left, with half-sister Vanessa). The pair remained husband and wife for 17 years.

One year after their split, in 1991, Fonda married Ted Turner, the founder of CNN. They were together 10 years.

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Fonda sported short curly hair to play Sally Hyde alongside a young Jon Voight in 1978's Coming Home. The role earned her a second Oscar win; she's been nominated seven times.

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Off-screen, the actress has always been known for her activism. She was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement and openly backed the Black Panthers. Later, she drew criticism for her own criticism of the Vietnam War, a move that affected her career for some time.

More recently, she began "Fire Drill Fridays" in Washington, D.C., bringing attention to climate change and other social issues weekly during former president Donald Trump's tenure (and before the COVID-19 pandemic hit).

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The ultimate A-list threesome, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Fonda, turn the tables on their awful boss in the 1980 film Nine to Five.

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In 1981, Fonda starred in On Golden Pond alongside her father, Henry, and actress Katharine Hepburn. The actress opened up to The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 about the memorable experience.

"Producing On Golden Pond and giving the Oscar to my father five months before he died was very special," she said.

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In addition to her burgeoning acting career, Fonda took over fitness in the 1980s once she released Jane Fonda's Workout on VHS. It went on to sell more than 17 million copies, one of the highest-selling tapes of all time.

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The actress unofficially retired in the early 1990s, but made a return to film in 2005's Monster-in-Law opposite Jennifer Lopez, going on to appear in a string of films and TV shows, including an Emmy-nominated guest spot on The Newsroom.

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Credit: Melissa Moseley/Netflix

These days, you can watch Fonda in the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie, alongside Sam Waterson, Lily Tomlin and Martin Sheen. She's received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and one Emmy nomination for her work on the series.

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