The actor Jane Fonda was “intimidated” by
Few Hollywood stars can truly compare to the dazzling charm and dramatic proficiency of actor Jane Fonda, an icon of the silver screen who grew in popularity throughout the 1960s. Collaborating with the likes of Hal Ashby, Fred Zinnemann, Sydney Pollack and René Clément over the years, Fonda rubbed shoulders with such late 20th-century stars as Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.
Making her debut in the 1960 comedy Tall Story with Anthony Perkins after years of work on the stage, Fonda gained critical acclaim throughout the following decade for performances in such films as Barefoot in the Park and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?. She also thrived in the beloved sci-fi flick Barbarella, which is due to be remade in modern cinema with Sydney Sweeney in the lead role.
After a formative decade in the 1960s, Fonda approached the 1970s with tremendous dramatic potency, winning two Academy Awards for her performances. The first came in 1972 with the release of Klute, co-starring Donald Sutherland and Charles Cioffi, whilst the second came seven years later in the form of Coming Home, a romance set during the Vietnam War where Fonda starred alongside Jon Voight.
You’d think that, after having worked with so many industry icons, Fonda wouldn’t be too worried about collaborating with the greatest Hollywood stars, yet this simply wasn’t the case, with the actor being “intimidated” by none other than Katharine Hepburn.
In an interview with AARP, the actor revealed: “I was intimidated by Katharine Hepburn, that’s for sure. My God…When we made On Golden Pond, she made sure that she was always top dog and that I knew it”. adding that she tried to “do the opposite” on sets and “make people feel comfortable.”
Known as one of the biggest Hollywood stars throughout the 1930s and 1940s in particular, Hepburn was known for roles in such movies as The Philadelphia Story and Woman of the Year. A highly decorated Oscar winner, Hepburn won four Academy Awards in her time, winning for 1934’s Morning Glory, 1968’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1969’s The Lion in Winter, and 1982’s On Golden Pond.
Known as a truly ambitious actor, Fonda shared in a separate interview that “She was really competitive,” telling Harper’s Bazaar, “She really thought that I was out to win more Academy Awards than she was, and when she won for On Golden Pond I called to congratulate her, and she said, ‘You’ll never catch me now’”.
Take a look at the trailer for On Golden Pond, where both Hepburn and Fonda starred below.
