He became a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s,[1][2] starring in and co-writing the film Easy Rider (1969), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

During the following decade, he established himself as an action star, appearing in a variety of productions including Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Futureworld (1976).

[10] Afterwards, he found work on Broadway and gained notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, written by James and William Goldman, which ran for 84 performances in 1961.

Fonda began guest starring on television shows like Naked City, The New Breed, Wagon Train, and The Defenders.

Fonda's first film came when producer Ross Hunter was looking for a new male actor to romance Sandra Dee in Tammy and the Doctor (1963).

Fonda continued to work in television, guest starring in Channing, Arrest and Trial, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and 12 O'Clock High.

[15] Through his friendships with members of the band The Byrds, Fonda visited The Beatles in their rented house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in August 1965.

In 1967, Fonda recorded "November Night", a 45-rpm single written by Gram Parsons for the Chisa label, backed with "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, produced by Hugh Masekela.

[19] Fonda next played the male lead in Corman's film The Trip (1967), a take on the experience and "consequences" of consuming LSD, which was written by Jack Nicholson.

For American television, he appeared in a movie, Certain Honorable Men (1968), alongside Van Heflin, written by Rod Serling.

Fonda played "Wyatt",[23] a charismatic, laconic man whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back.

Fonda had secured funding of around $360,000, largely based on the fact he knew that it was the budget Roger Corman needed to make The Wild Angels.

[24] The guitarist and composer Robbie Robertson, of The Band, was so moved by an advance screening that he approached Fonda and tried to convince him to let him write a complete score, even though the film was nearly due for wide release.

Fonda declined the offer, instead using Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" sung by The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, and Robertson's own composition "The Weight", performed by The Band, among many other tracks.

Hopper directed the film The Last Movie (1971), in which Fonda co-starred along with singer Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas.

He took the lead role in a cast that also featured Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and Beat Generation poet Michael McClure.

It led to Fonda's making a series of action movies: Open Season (1974), with William Holden; Race with the Devil (1975), fleeing devil worshippers with Warren Oates (another hit);[26] 92 in the Shade (1975), again with Oates, for writer-director Thomas McGuane; Killer Force (1976) for director Val Guest; Futureworld (1976), a sequel to Westworld (1973), financed by AIP;[27] Fighting Mad (1976), a reuniting with Roger Corman, directed by Jonathan Demme.

He also played a charismatic cult leader in Split Image (1982), a film that also starred James Woods, Karen Allen and Brian Dennehy.

Fonda later appeared in a series of films in the 1980s of varying genres — Daijōbu, My Friend (1983), shot in Japan; Dance of the Dwarfs (1983); Peppermint Peace (1983), shot in Germany; Spasms (1983), a Canadian horror film with Oliver Reed; A Reason to Live (1985), a TV movie; Certain Fury (1985), with Tatum O'Neal; Mercenary Fighters (1988); Hawken's Breed (1988), a Western; Sound (1988); Gli indifferenti (1989) with Liv Ullmann; and The Rose Garden (1989).

He had the lead in Family Express (1991) and South Beach (1993), but then drifted into supporting roles in many independent films: Deadfall (1993), directed by Christopher Coppola; Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), starring his daughter Bridget; Molly & Gina (1994) with Frances Fisher and Natasha Gregson; Love and a .45 (1994) with Renée Zellweger; Nadja (1994), produced by David Lynch.

[31] After years of films of varying success, Fonda received high-profile critical recognition and universal praise for his performance in Ulee's Gold (1997).

He portrayed a taciturn North Florida beekeeper and Vietnam veteran who tries to save his son and granddaughter from a life of drug abuse.

[32] He played Frank O'Connor in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1998), a performance for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 2000,[33] then appeared in the crime film The Limey (1999) as Terry Valentine, an aging rock music producer who accidentally kills his younger girlfriend.

[35][36] Fonda's work in the 2000s included parts in South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000), Second Skin (2000), Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000) Wooly Boys (2001), The Laramie Project (2001), The Maldonado Miracle (2003), Capital City (2004), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), A Thief of Time (2004), Back When We Were Grownups (2004), Supernova (2005), and El cobrador: In God We Trust (2006).

In 2004, he provided the voice of aging hippie weed grower "The Truth" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was one of the best-selling video games of all time.

Fonda's later appearances include American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010) for Fred Olen Ray; The Trouble with Bliss (2011); episodes of CSI: NY; Smitty (2012); Harodim (2012); As Cool as I Am (2013); Copperhead (2013); The Ultimate Life (2013); The Harvest (2013); HR (2014); House of Bodies (2014); Jesse James: Lawman (2015); The Runner (2015) with Nicolas Cage; The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017); The Most Hated Woman in America (2017); Borderland (2017); You Can't Say No (2018); and Boundaries (2018) with Christopher Plummer.

[39] In 2011, Fonda and Tim Robbins produced The Big Fix, a documentary that examined the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its effects on the Gulf of Mexico.

"[41] He also suggested that Americans should seek out names of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to protest outside of their homes and the schools of their children.

[41] Huckabee's daughter, White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was also the object of Fonda's tweets, in which he suggested that "Maybe we should take her (Sanders') children away..."[43] In another later deleted tweet, Fonda targeted United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen by calling her a "vulgar" name and calling for Nielsen to be "put in a cage and poked at by passersby ..."[43] Fonda stated that he deleted his tweet regarding Barron Trump, saying that he "immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused.

"[48] Fonda died from respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles on August 16, 2019, at the age of 79.