Synopses & Reviews
and#8220;An irresistible biography of the accomplished, controversial actress whose roles on screen and off helped define a generation. Whether you love Jane Fonda or abhor her,
Jane Fonda is a detailed and generous exploration not only of the contradictory world Fonda grew up in but of the many people who shaped her.and#8221; and#8212;Jeannette Walls, author of
The Glass CastlePatricia Bosworth has gone beyond the image of an American superwoman to reveal a Jane Fonda more powerful and vulnerable than ever expected. Fonda emerged from a heartbreaking Hollywood family drama to become a and#8217;60s onscreen ingand#233;nue and then an Oscar-winning actress. At the top of her game she risked all, rising up against the Vietnam War and shocking the world with a trip to Hanoi. While becoming one of Hollywoodand#8217;s most committed feminists, she financed her husband Tom Haydenand#8217;s political career in the and#8217;80s with exercise videos that began a fitness craze and brought in millions of dollars. Just as interesting is Fondaand#8217;s next turn, as a Stepford Wife of the Gulfstream set, marrying Ted Turner and seemingly walking away from her ideals and her career. Fondaand#8217;s multilevel story is a blend of the deep insecurity, magnetism, bravery, and determination that has fueled her inspiring and occasionally infuriating public life.
and#8220;The definitive portrait of a woman conflicted, torn between ferocious ambition, family, and feminist causes.and#8221; and#8212;Gail Sheehy, author of Passages
and#8220;The Private Life does Jane Fonda the service of making us remember why she was relevant in the first place: the movies. Bosworthand#8217;s thorough account of this wild, uniquely twentieth-century Hollywood life makes Jane Fonda the actress even more intriguing.and#8221; and#8212;San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Distinguished celebrity biographer and
Vanity Fair contributing editor Bosworth recounds
the life story of an American icon in all its heady--and at times, unabashedly scandalous--glory. With consummate skill and insight, the author follows Fonda...
Bosworth's coverage of Fonda...is as epic as the life that she chronicles. Reading to savor."
-Kirkus, starred "[Bosworth's] remarkable reconstruction of long-ago events has a fly-on-the-wall viewpoint, written with such intimacy that it sometimes generates the strange sensation of being present with Fonda and her friends... Bosworth has succeeded in capturing Fonda's step-by-step transformation from wide-eyed, apolitical ingenue to the poised personality of recent decades."
-Publishers Weekly, starred "Watching Jane Fonda wrestle with her many passions has been one of the most fascinating stories of the past fifty years. Brilliant, beautiful, achingly vulnerable, self-wounding and yet with a Joan of Arc sense of self-determination whenever she steps into the spotlight. Fonda is one of the greatest film stars to ever appear on the screen. Her life deserves to be re-evaluated as it is in Patricia Bosworth's Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman."
and#8212;Alec Baldwin "Patricia Bosworth has written an irresistible biography ofand#160;the accomplished controversial actress whose roles on screen and off helped define a generation. Whether you love Jane Fonda or abhor her, the Private Life ofand#12288;a Public Woman is a detailed and generous exploration not only of the contradictory world Fonda grew up in but of the many people who shaped her."
and#8212;Jeannette Walls "Bosworthand#8217;s expedition into every corner of Fondaand#8217;s life makes for far more than a spellbinding biography. It sweeps the reader into a cultural history of the and#8217;60s, and#8217;70s, and and#8217;80s, when this female icon helped define the causes of the era. The access gained by Bosworth is impressiveand#8212;lovers, stepmothers, and ex-husbands share their secrets, adding to what will certainly become the definitive portrait of a woman conflicted, torn between ferociousand#12288;ambition, family, and feminist causes. Bosworthand#8217;s rendering of Fondaand#8217;s interior chaos becomes a revealing probe into the female psyche."
and#8212;Gail Sheehy, author of Passages
"Patricia Bosworthand#8217;s brilliant detective work has unearthed so much about Jane Fonda that I didnand#8217;t knowand#8212;so much feeling, so much courage, so much hurt. Reading this book, it occurred to me that Fonda, despite her brilliant acting, despite her activism, despite her life led in the headlines, was really the archetypal woman of her generation: a woman torn between love and work, family and accomplishment. Bosworthand#8217;s book is far from another Hollywood biography; it is a human portrait and, at the same time, a major American life. Reading this book, living Janeand#8217;s life along with her, is an adventure and a pleasure."
and#8212;William Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood "Jane Fonda was born with beauty and talent, which broughtand#12288;her fame and wealth. Now she's blessed with a biographer who knowsand#12288;Hollywood and understandsand#12288;the human condition. Nothing about Fonda's life (her obsession with her looks, her loversand#8212;male and femaleand#8212;her husbands, her money, and her elusive father) escapes the keen eye of Patricia Bosworth, who tells the life story ofand#12288;a cinema icon, one of the most intriguing women of our era.and#12288;You will be enthralled from start to finish."
and#8212;Kitty Kelley, author of Oprah:and#12288;A Biography
"Gracefully written and deeply researched, Patricia Bosworth's Jane Fonda is not only a first-class biography but a thoughtful,sympathetic, yet objective, study of a central figure in the preoccupying drama of American celebrity life as it has been played out over the past half century."
and#8212;Richard Schickel, author of Conversations with Scorsese "As an heiress to Hollywood royalty, survivor of childhood trauma, sexpot, movie star, fitness guru, activist, trophy wife, and serial self-reinventor, Jane Fonda has embodied every theme in modern American mythology. And I can't think of anyone better equipped to tell her story than Patricia Bosworth. Her superb reporting, combined with an equally sure understanding of what the details add up to, has produced a clear-sighted but sympathetic and compelling portrait of a woman who really is an emblem of our age."
and#8212;Amanda Vaill, author of Everybody Was so Young
Synopsis
A father who could not show love; a mother who killed herself; stardom; a war that tore her apart; husbands who used her; the transformation that made her, finally, a heroine. No one has taken us so far inside the public dramas that made Jane Fonda part of history or the private ones that left scars. Her own best-selling memoir was candid, but left out many intimate moments.
Becoming Jane Fonda gets closer, benefiting from advantages no other writer will ever share. Patricia Bosworth has known Fonda since the 60s when both attended the Actors Studio, and has been granted access to her best friends and deepest secrets: Fondas rejection of her mother the day before her suicide; her FBI profile; her often manic behavior and astonishing sexual career; the dark psychological downfall that led to her marriage to Ted Turner; and her strangely intimate relationship with her brother, Peter. Jane Fondas fame stems from her heritage as Henry Fondas daughter, her beauty, her talent, and the kind of gnawing ambition that never gets satisfied. Like Hillary Clinton and Princess Diana, Fonda is complicated, ever-changing, and more haunted and vulnerable than she has shown. Moving from sex symbol to serious actress, from Hanoi Jane to Exercise Queen, she inspires questions that Bosworth answers: Who is she underneath it all? And why does she keep on running? Open this book and you wont look up.
Synopsis
Bosworth goes behind the image of an American superwoman, revealing Fonda—more powerful and vulnerable than ever expected—whose struggles for high achievement, love, and successful motherhood mirror the conflicts of a generation of women. As actress, activist, businesswoman, wife, and mother, Jane Fonda has pushed herself to the limit, attempting to please all, excel in every arena, be everything. Weve read her version of her controversial life, yet nothing can prepare us for this genuinely revelatory account of Janes engrossing, sometimes shocking journey. Supplemented by the psychiatric records of her suicidal, bipolar mother, Fondas FBI file, and interviews with her intimates, this perceptive portrait strips away hype and the subjects own mythmaking. Patricia Bosworth shows us what a toll Janes quest to excel (and please her demanding father, Henry) exacted and sheds light on truths shes glossed over: her rejection of her mother before her suicide; the death threats and self-doubts of her antiwar crusade; her second husband Tom Haydens habit of putting her down while spending her fortune; the emotional downfall that led her to stop acting and marry Ted Turner. Lee Strasberg once said that Jane had "panic in her eyes," and it is this wounded but so familiar woman—human yet still heroic, the embodiment of a generations conflicts and triumphs—whom Bosworth captures so utterly and definitively.
Synopsis
In the hands of a seasoned, tenacious biographer, the evolution of one of the century's most controversial and successful women becomes nothing less than the enthralling saga of a mythic American life.
Synopsis
Acclaimed biographer Patricia Bosworth goes behind the image of an American superwoman, revealing Jane Fondaand#8212;more powerful and vulnerable than ever expectedand#8212;whose struggles for high achievement, love, and successful motherhood mirror the conflicts of a generation of women.
Synopsis
Bosworth goes behind the image of an American superwoman, revealing Jane Fondaand#8212;more powerful and vulnerable than ever expectedand#8212;whose struggles for high achievement, love, and successful motherhood mirror the conflicts of a generation of women.
In the hands of this seasoned, tenacious biographer, the evolution of one of the centuryand#8217;s most controversial and successful women becomes nothing less than a great, enthralling American life.
Jane Fonda emerged from a heartbreaking Hollywood family drama to become a and#8217;60s onscreen ingand#233;nue and then an Oscar-winning actress. At the top of her game she risked all, rising against the Vietnam War and shocking the world with a trip to Hanoi. Later, while becoming one of Hollywoodand#8217;s most committed feminists, she financed her husband Tom Haydenand#8217;s political career in the and#8217;80s with exercise videos that began a fitness craze and brought in millions of dollars. Just as interesting is Fondaand#8217;s next turn, as a Stepford Wife of the Gulfstream set, marrying Ted Turner and seemingly walking away from her ideals and her career.
Fondaand#8217;s is a story of the blend of deep insecurity, magnetism, bravery, and determination that fuels the most inspiring and occasionally infuriating public lives. Finally here is Fonda and all the women sheand#8217;s been.
About the Author
PATRICIA BOSWORTH, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, wrote her first piece about Jane Fonda for McCall's in 1968. Since then, Bosworth has written acclaimed biographies of Montgomery Clift, Diane Arbus, and Marlon Brando. For Becoming Jane Fonda, she interviewed three of Fonda's stepmothers, two of her ex-husbands (the late Roger Vadim and Ted Turner), her daughter, intimate pals, and directors and costars. She lives in New York City. Table of Contents
Prologueand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;1
and#160; Iand#160;Daughter: 1937and#8211;1958and#8194;and#8226;and#8194;15
and#160;IIand#160;Actress: 1958and#8211;1963and#8194;and#8226;and#8194;105
and#160;IIIand#160;Movie Starand#8201;/and#8201;Sex Symbol: 1963and#8211;1970and#8194;and#8226;and#8194;187
and#160;IVand#160;Political Activist: 1970and#8211;1988and#8194;and#8226;and#8194;307
and#160;Vand#160;Workout Guruand#8201;/and#8201;Tycoon Wife: 1988and#8211;2000and#8194;and#8226;and#8194;439
Epilogueand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;528
Acknowledgmentsand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;535
Notesand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;538
Bibliographyand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;564
Photo Creditsand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;567
Indexand#8194;and#8226;and#8194;569