Peter Fonda: In his acting approach, movie icon still riding easy

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in the road picture "Easy Rider" (1969). "By the time it came for us to film it, I knew everything about this character," says Fonda.
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on December 15, 2013 at 8:01 AM, updated December 15, 2013 at 8:35 AM

Many years ago, Peter Fonda gleaned some wisdom from a colleague of his movie-star dad, Henry Fonda.

"At 14," the younger Fonda recalls, "I heard Gary Cooper say, 'If I know what I'm doing, I don't have to act.' I've never forgotten that."

Fonda became a movie star in his own right, and has applied the know-your-character philosophy to some of his best-remembered roles, such as Wyatt in "Easy Rider" (1969) and his Oscar-nominated turn in "Ulee's Gold" (1997).

It's a technique the New York native, 73, still employs. In Michael Landon Jr.'s "The Ultimate Life," just out on home video, Fonda plays Jacob, a successful rancher who mentors a character played by Logan Bartholomew. How did Fonda approach the role?

peter-fonda-the-ultimate-life.jpgFonda as a rancher in the 1940s in "The Ultimate Life." 

"I'm an older actor, and I'm talking to a younger actor. That's the first position," Fonda says in a recent call.

"The second position is, I played a mentor without having to mentor — just to be. He (Bartholomew) is telling me, 'I want what you have. I want to be like you.' I was, 'Who wants to be like me? I'm a cattle rancher in Texas.' 'But you have all of this. I want to be like you, a leader.' Then I understood.

"That's very appealing to an actor, to have an arc like that and to facilitate. He must be mentored along, pushed to the next level, and I get to play that role. It's very cool. Also," Fonda adds with a laugh, "it's 1941, so I knew I could be in this really groovy truck."

Fonda also relished the opportunity to work with Landon — another famous actor's son who made his own way in the field.

"He was just superb," Fonda says. "I like to be directed. You can imagine how many directors I've worked with; it's interesting to work with a director who doesn't simply say, 'Go out and do it.'

"Because each character you play is a different character. You should approach it with a different perspective each time. You need a guiding hand, sometimes, to keep you on that course, and to keep you in mind of the bigger picture."


Fonda's childhood offers proof that being the offspring of a movie star does not guarantee happiness. His father starred in such film classics as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Drums Along the Mohawk," but at home proved to be a remote parent (as the younger Fonda chronicled in his memoir, "Don't Tell Dad"). His mother, Frances Ford Seymour, committed suicide when Fonda was 10 and his sister, Jane Fonda, was 12.

Peter Fonda studied acting in Omaha and began his career in mainstream fare; he made his film debut in "Tammy and the Doctor" (1963). But as the '60s counter-culture movement crept into film, Fonda found his niche as the star of two wildly successful biker movies. Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels" (1966) and Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" proved that Fonda not only looked good on a motorcycle — he could carry a movie.

peter-fonda-the-wild-angels.jpgFonda as Heavenly Blues in "The Wild Angels" (1966). The actor twisted director Roger Corman's arm to rename the character. 

Although Corman was slow to realize this.

Recalls Fonda: "I was originally signed up to play the Bruce Dern role of the Loser. George Chakiris was going to play my role, which I thought was bizarre. I was living in Beverly Hills at the time, in a beautiful house. I was in bed, just daydreaming and thinking about life. The phone rang. I knew it was Roger Corman. I picked it up and said, 'Hi, Roger.' This was in the days before caller ID. He said, 'We have a problem.' I said, 'Yeah — George doesn't know how to ride.' Roger was blown away. I knew who it was on the phone, and I knew what he was gonna say.

"I said, 'Yeah, I'll take the part. But I don't want him to be called Jack Black.' Roger said, 'What do you want to call him?' 'Heavenly Blues. And on my bike, I want heavenly blue morning glories painted all over the tank.' 'Why do you want that?' 'Because if you take 3- or 400 morning glory seeds, and grind them up in a pepper grinder, and put them in a small glass, and then add about as much water as you have ground seeds, and you drink that, in about 40 minutes, you'll have an altered-state reaction.' He was just flat-footed on that one."

(Um, don't try this at home.)

As for Fonda's approach to Heavenly Blues: "I took what I knew about being disenfranchised, and angst against my father, and anything else I could pull into the character.

"In 'Easy Rider,' I did a more refined version. I mean, I wrote it, and I talked it over with people. By the time it came for us to film it, I knew everything about this character. It was the first time I realized that it's better when you don't act. Wow! It's so easy to do if you know the character."

For Fonda, this revelation verified the wisdom of Gary Cooper.

"I was able to do an application of that right there," he says. "We have an app for that: I know this character."

Fonda used another actor's trick — internalization — in observing Hopper at work.

He recalls: "I was thinking, 'Gee, Dennis is being (a jerk).' But I kept that for myself. I took that as an actor, and wore an enigmatic look on my face, being that person on that bike."


Acting aside, Fonda faced a technical challenge while making "Easy Rider" — to operate his character's now famous "chopper" motorcycle, with its implausibly long front forks. He recalls a particularly grueling day of riding.

"One time, we shot while crossing the Colorado River," the actor says. "We rode 55 miles from Kingman (in Arizona) to Needles (in California). Dennis was all into different lenses and camera angles and stuff, which is kinda cool, but it can be overdone. Every time we'd do a (riding) scene, we'd go back and he'd change the lens size and do different camera angles.

"It had been a long day, and it was hot on the road. I just wanted to get in the (hotel) pool with the crew. I peeled off my leathers, and my legs were purple. I thought, '(Expletive), I'm skinny enough. I don't wanna go down to that pool with purple legs.'"

Instead, Fonda put on jeans and repaired to the hotel bar.

He recalls: "I said, 'I want the coldest, tallest beer you got.' They weren't quite sure who I was, but they put this tall, frosty stein full of beer in front of me. I slapped down my money. I'm left-handed, so I picked up the stein with my left hand, but I could not move it to my mouth. Then I picked it up with my right hand, and I still could not move it to my face."

These temporary conditions, Fonda concluded, resulted from a day of slow riding while holding his arms high to accommodate the chopper.

peter-fonda-ulees-gold.jpgFonda received an Oscar nomination as a plain-living beekeeper thrown into unusual circumstances to protect his family in "Ulee's Gold" (1997). 

"All day, I had been riding at 25 miles per hour, so the camera could focus on the background going by," Fonda says. "Otherwise, it would just be a blur. That's the trick. Nobody's ever commented on that, and you can imagine how many questions I've been asked about the film.

"But I had no idea what would happen to my arms. I was confident about the character, but not about my arms holding down that bloody bike."

Fonda continued to headline in genre fare such as "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" (1974) and "Futureworld" (1976), before his star faded. He enjoyed a comeback in "Ulee's Gold," by writer-director Victor Nunez, in which he played a plain-living beekeeper thrown into unusual circumstances to protect his family.

"That script was so beautifully written, so delicious," Fonda says. "I'd never been in the swamps of northern Florida. I'd never kept bees. I didn't know any of that. But by the time I finished that script, I knew what those swamps smelled like. My skin was crawling. I was weepy.

"At the time, I lived at a ranch in Montana. I remember I looked up at the ceiling and said, 'I'd like to thank the members of the Academy,'" Fonda adds, laughing again. "On second thought, I realized this was a little independent thing, but it would probably take me to a nomination. And it did. The part was so good, all I had to do was be there."

In the 1960s, when Fonda was a movie icon, there was much political division in America. These days, the country seems equally as divided. Fonda is asked if he has any ideas regarding the current situation.

"A civil war," he deadpans.

"It's frightening. Ideas? Don't re-elect anyone. That idea's been going on for a long time. We-the-people have let this country get away from us. It's all bought and paid for. Citizens United should have been shot down immediately. I remember that State of the Union speech when (President) Obama was bitching about it, and (Supreme Court Chief Justice) John Roberts was shaking his head, like, 'No, that's not what this is.' But the Koch brothers? And Karl Rove? They're buying us up.

"I worry for my children and grandchildren. I'm just glad I can still make movies."

Mark Voger can be reached HERE.