Hollywood dynasty chronicling changing meanings of American life and celebrity.

Henry Fonda (1905–82) embodied the speech and values of middle America in dramatic and comic roles on screen and stage, from Young Mr Lincoln (1939) and Grapes of Wrath (1940) through the wartime reflections of Mr Roberts (1955) to the aging love of On Golden Pond (1981), for which he won an Oscar. Henry’s daughter, Jane (1937–), underwent more volatile transformations—from the sexual protégé of husband Roger Vadim in Barbarella (1968) to an antiwar activist, married to Tom Hayden, to a star/producer of exercise videos in the 1980s, and finally to the wife of media titan Ted Turner. Her brother Peter (1939–) became identified with the hippie rebellion of Easy Rider (1969), which he produced and starred in, only regaining stardom in the 1990s.

Peter’s daughter, Bridget (1964–), has established herself as a forceful female lead actor.