The only on-set argument between Jane and Henry Fonda: “I’m not that kind of actor”
Jane Fonda had a troubled relationship with her father, Henry.
She often described him as closed off and distant off-screen – the kind of man who could only access his emotions through acting. However, she also admitted that she was at fault at certain times in their relationship. Whatever the case, in the final years of his life, they finally found some common ground, and their relationship improved. They even worked together on a movie that was released only eight months before his death. While shooting this film, they experienced their only on-set argument – although Henry mightn’t have even realised it was an argument.
1981’s On Golden Pond was a passion project for the Fondas. In fact, Jane optioned the big screen rights of Ernest Thompson’s 1979 stage play for her father, who believed the core relationship in the story mirrored their own. It follows an elderly, cantankerous professor with a troubled, distant relationship with his daughter, who agrees to take on the responsibility of caring for the son of his daughter’s new boyfriend. Katharine Hepburn, who had remarkably not even met Henry despite their Hollywood careers running parallel, played his wife in the movie, and all the elements coalesced to give birth to the second biggest hit of the year.
However, this isn’t to say that shooting On Golden Pond was entirely smooth sailing – and especially not for Jane. She found Hepburn to be a prickly customer to deal with, telling The Guardian, “She did not like me, I don’t think, and she was extremely competitive.” Jane believed that Hepburn was jealous of her youth and increasing Hollywood profile, and was struggling to adjust to being an older actress. However, she also wondered if the iconic Morning Glory star thought she “was going to try to get billing above her” in the film, something she claimed never even occurred to her.
This simmering resentment made for a few frosty moments on set between the two women. However, Jane revealed that the most upsetting day came when she was shooting a scene with her father that required them to dial up the emotion during an intense argument. She explained that her close-up was shot first, and so much light was shone in her eyes that she felt blinded. She wanted to be able to see her father’s eyes so that she could react more honestly to his performance, so she asked the cameraman to illuminate his face.
However, when it came time for the reverse shot, Jane asked, “Is it OK, Dad? Can you see my eyes?” he dismissively replied, “I don’t need to see your eyes. I’m not that kind of actor.”
This response was exceedingly in keeping with something Henry’s character would have said. Still, Jane couldn’t help feeling “demolished” and “hurt” that he didn’t even want to look at her performance to calibrate his own accordingly. It nagged at her all day, and when shooting wrapped, she admitted, “I was just immobile on the couch. I was so wiped.”
To her surprise, though, comfort came from an unexpected source. “Suddenly, Katharine Hepburn came up and just put her arms around me,” Fonda remembered. “Nobody knew it, but she just did.” The hugely experienced actor told Jane, “He doesn’t even know that he hurt you. You don’t take it personally.”
Hepburn revealed that Spencer Tracy, her most enduring screen partner and her secret lover in real life, regularly did a similar hurtful thing to her. She claimed he’d scoff, “I don’t need you to be here for the love scenes. Go. I’m not that kind of actor.” In her opinion, though, she believed Tracy didn’t realise his insensitivity had caused harm, and she was sure Henry would have been just as oblivious.
“They don’t know that they’ve hurt you,” she concluded.
Hepburn’s small gesture of kindness meant the world to Jane, especially because the two stars hadn’t exactly got along like a house on fire. It allowed her to put her only on-set argument – of sorts – with her father to bed and continue strengthening their bond before his death.
