Goodbye, Peter Fonda

Terry Alexander

PETER WAS BORN IN New York City to Henry Fonda and Francis Ford Seymour on February 23rd, 1940. He is the younger brother of Jane and the father of Bridget and Justin.

His first western role was in an episode of Wagon Train in 1962, “The Orly French Story.” The entry starred John McIntire and Denny Miller and guest starred veteran actor John Doucette as Marshall Jason Hartman. He was escorting Orly French (Fonda) back to Dubuque for trial for bank robbery.

In December 1965 he filmed a pilot for a western series, “High Noon: The Clock Strikes Noon Again.” Unfortunately, the show was not picked up. In 1969, he appeared in his most famous role in Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper

He directed and starred in his first western feature in 1972, The Hired Hand which co-starred Warren Oates and Verna Bloom. In the film. Harry Collings returns home after drifting with his friend Abe (Oates) for many years. Hannah (Bloom) allows him to stay at her ranch as the hired hand. Harry thought things were going his way until he has to make a difficult decision.

MOVIE POSTER FOR THE HIRED HAND.

WHILE ACHIEVING SUPERSTARDOM FOR HIS ICONIC ROLE IN 1969’S EASY RIDER, 1972’S THE HIRED HAND WAS FONDA’S FIRST WESTERN PICTURE. HE CO-STARRED WITH SCREEN VETERAN WARREN OATES.

In 1979, he directed and starred in the western comedy Wanda Nevada with Brooke Shields. This film marked the only time he appeared in a movie with his father Henry. The film is a semi-modern take on westerns, it took place in the 1950’s. Drifter and gambler Beaudray Demerille (Fonda) won Wanda Nevada (Shields) in a poker game. She ran away and witnessed two men kill an old miner who was bragging about having a gold mine in the Grand Canyon. She retrieved a bag that the old man dropped and found his treasure map, the two then ventured into the Grand Canyon in search of gold.

MOVIE POSTER FOR THE WESTERN COMEDY WANDA NEVADA, STARRING FONDA AND BROOKE SHIELDS.

Hawken’s Breed came to the movie screen in 1987. It’s generally considered one of the worst westerns ever made. The film co-starred Jack Elam and Sue Ann Langdon. In Tennessee, in 1840, a rugged drifter (Fonda) helped a young Shawnee woman, saving her from a rogue band of Shawnee.

After a long absence, Peter returned to the western genre in the film South of Heaven, West of Hell. He played the character of Shoshone Bill. The movie starred Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thornton, Vince Vaughn, Bridget Fonda and Paul Reubens. Fonda was a support player in this film. Valentine Casey, a US Marshal in Tuscon, Arizona, was surprised on Christmas Eve in 1900 when his outlaw family paid him a disturbing visit.

He made Wooly Boys with Kris Kristofferson and Keith Carradine in 2001. A modern day western of sorts about sheep ranchers in the badlands of North Dakota. The sheep rancher and his teenaged grandson visited the big city for a mischievous adventure.

In 2007, he played opposite Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the remake of the classic 3:10 To Yuma. He played the character of Bryon McElroy. A small-time rancher agreed to escort a captured outlaw to a waiting train for court. Russell Crowe threw him off a mountain trail to his death in the movie.

American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James, was released in 2010. Jesse James was wounded in the chest during a robbery and his brother Frank ordered the gang to split up and meet again in the deserted town of Gila Wells. Fonda is the committed lawman pursuing Jesse James.

Another sort of western is the 2013 movie The Copperhead. The movie took place in upstate New York during the Civil War. Several farmers are against the war with the south for religious reasons and are given the nickname Copperheads.

In 2015, Jesse James, Lawman was released. The movie co-starred Kevin Sorbo. The mayor (Fonda) of a small town learned that a gang of outlaws planned to rob his town and hired Jesse James to join the gang and stop the robbery.

Peter’s final western was 2017’s The Ballad of Lefty Brown. The movie starred Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker and Jim Caviezel. Lefty Brown witnessed the murder of his longtime partner and chased after the killers. After he was wounded, he returned home only to be accused of the crime.

SILVER SCREEN ICON PETER FONDA.

At age eleven, Fonda accidently shot himself in the stomach and nearly died. Years later he would tell John Lennon and George Harrison the story, stating that he knew what it was like to die. When he was fifteen, Peter discovered that his mother, Frances Ford Seymour, had killed herself in a mental institution, when he was ten.

He was never a conventional leading man. By the mid-sixties he was a leader in the counter-culture movement, and the more desirable roles became scarce. He won a Golden Globe in 1963 for Most Promising Newcomer for the movie, The Victors. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay for Easy Rider in 1969, and Best Actor for the movie Ulee’s Gold in 1997. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for Ulee’s Gold, and another for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand. Peter had a long and varied career.

—Terry Alexander is a western, science fiction and horror writer with a vast number of publishing credits to his name. He’s also a connoisseur of all things related to the Hollywood Western. He and his wife, Phyllis, live on a small farm near Porum, Oklahoma.