Peter Henry Fonda was born in New York City, to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and Ontario, Canada-born New York socialite Frances Brokaw, who was born Frances Ford Seymour. He was the younger brother of actress and activist Jane Fonda and the father of actress Bridget Fonda.
Fonda made his professional stage debut on Broadway in 1961 in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, for which he received rave reviews from the New York Critics, and won the Daniel Blum Theater World Award and the New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Actor. He began his feature film career in 1963, playing the romantic lead in Tammy and the Doctor and joined the ensemble cast of the World War II saga, The Victors.
Fonda's association with Roger Corman began with the 1966 film Wild Angels, in which he starred as the leader of a violent biker gang opposite Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. He then starred in Corman's 1967 psychedelic film The Trip, alongside Dern and Susan Strasberg.
Fonda produced and co-scripted the 1969 anti-establishment film Easy Rider, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His other notable films include Outlaw Blues, an expose of the country music business; Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry; Race with the Devil; Robert Rossen's Lilith; Split Image; Robert Wise's Two People; and the cult films Love and a.45 and Nadja.
Fonda won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ulee Jackson, the taciturn beekeeper in the 1997 film Ulee's Gold, earning him both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and the New York Film Critics Award, as well as an Oscar nomination. He published his autobiography, Don't Tell Dad, and appeared in the NBC movie The Tempest, for which he was nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series.
Fonda co-starred in Steven Soderbergh's 1997 film The Limey and appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad for director Britt Allcroft, starring Alec Baldwin. He directed his first feature film, The Hired Hand, in 1971, a critically acclaimed western in which he also starred.
Fonda co-starred in HBO's The Laramie Project, based on the true story of openly gay college student Matthew Shepard, and starred in The Maldonado Miracle, directed by Salma Hayek for Showtime Networks. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his role and appeared in Wooly Boys, opposite Kris Kristofferson.
Fonda's last projects included director Ron Maxwell's Civil War-era drama Copperhead, alongside Billy Campbell and Angus MacFadyen, The Ultimate Gift directed by Michael Landon Jr., and John McNaughton's The Harvest, with Samantha Morton and Michael Shannon.
Peter Fonda died on August 16, 2019, in Los Angeles.
