Why Katharine Hepburn resented Jane Fonda’s success: “We were not friends”
Her reputation may have been secured decades before they ever shared the screen, but Katharine Hepburn nonetheless made a point of reinforcing her credentials as one of the best, most important, and influential actors in history when co-starring with Jane Fonda.
The pair would play mother and daughter in 1981’s On Golden Pond, with Fonda buying the film rights to Ernest Thompson’s play for the express purpose of having her father, Henry, play the third lead role. Part tribute to his legacy and part therapy, given their own relationship that was known to fray on occasion, it marked the legendary actor’s final theatrical release before his death the following year at the age of 77.
Fonda and Hepburn played an elderly married couple vacationing at their summer home in New England, where their daughter comes to visit with her new fiancée and his teenage son. Fonda’s Norman Thayer Jr begins exhibiting signs of dementia, with his real-life child’s character, Chelsea, seeking to repair their fractured relationship before time runs out.
Hepburn would win a record-breaking fourth Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’ as a result, with Fonda winning the trophy for ‘Best Actor’. On Golden Pond was a major critical and awards season success, but as the second-generation talent would allude to repeatedly, her illustrious peer didn’t go out of her way to offer a welcoming presence.
Despite her reputation for being self-confident and outspoken, Fonda admitted to AARP that she didn’t feel that way around her iconic co-star: “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,” she said. “I think my co-stars will tell you that I really try to do the opposite and make people feel comfortable.”
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Fonda would shed even more light on their complicated dynamic, making it perfectly clear that “we were not friends”. She had two Oscar wins from five nominations at the time – and landed a sixth nod for On Golden Pond – something that seemingly troubled Hepburn, who viewed Fonda as a potential threat to her status as the most-awarded name in the ceremony’s history.
As she explained: “She was really competitive. She really thought that I was out to win more Academy Awards than she was”. Not only that, but when Hepburn landed her history-making fourth ‘Best Actress’ trophy for the film, Fonda made the mistake of calling her: “When she won for On Golden Pond I called to congratulate her, and she said, ‘You’ll never catch me now.'”
Fonda additionally revealed to the Sandyland radio show that Hepburn told her she “never could’ve made it back then” when referring to her own heyday, leading her to believe that the veteran didn’t think she was “glamorous enough”. Three elite-level talents leading the ensemble greatly benefited On Golden Pond as a movie, but things weren’t quite so rosy behind the scenes as jealousy and resentment began to rear their heads.
