Bridget Fonda was a child of one of Hollywood's greatest acting families — so why did she seem to disappear off the face of the earth?
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00:00Bridget Fonda was a child of one of Hollywood's greatest acting families, so why did she seem
00:05to disappear off the face of the Earth?
00:07The Fonda family's screen legacy started with the late Henry Fonda, who began his career
00:11in the 1930s.
00:13Henry Fonda's filmography boasts such classic films as The Lady Eve, 12 Angry Men, and The
00:18Grapes of Wrath, to name but a few.
00:20Henry won an Oscar for his final film, 1981's On Golden Pond.
00:24By this point, two of his children, Jane and Peter, had carved out their own successful
00:28Hollywood careers.
00:29Peter was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for 1969's Easy Rider, which quickly
00:34became a cult classic.
00:36To say that Peter's daughter, Bridget, had a lot to live up to would be something of
00:39an understatement.
00:40In fact, her own dad would remind her of this, even likening what she had to overcome to
00:45climbing Mount Everest four times, one for each of the previous Fonda actors and then
00:49again for herself.
00:51Fonda admits that she often struggled with the pressure, telling The Guardian,
00:54"...everyone expected me to be good automatically."
00:56Whether she ever truly lived up to the expectations of her name is up for debate, but it's clear
01:01that Bridget never stopped being keenly aware of the shadow that loomed over her.
01:05After some minor roles in the 1980s, Bridget Fonda landed a part in 1990's The Godfather
01:10Part III.
01:11More substantial supporting roles followed.
01:13In 1992 saw Fonda headline her first major studio production, the psychological thriller
01:18Single White Female.
01:19"...you've gotta be kidding."
01:21Critics were lukewarm on the movie, but it was a hit at the box office, making almost
01:25five times its budget from the domestic market alone.
01:28With that, Fonda had established herself as a bankable lead.
01:31The same year also brought Fonda one of her first critically acclaimed film roles by way
01:34of Cameron Crowe's singles.
01:36Over the next few years, she featured in a number of major productions that were either
01:40critical darlings or box office winners, sometimes both.
01:43As the 90s drew to a close, however, her fortunes faded.
01:46The 1999 horror comedy Lake Placid failed to recoup its $35 million budget domestically,
01:52and critics weren't kind to Fonda's performance in the movie.
01:55CNN said,
01:56"...Lake Placid is not the least bit frightening, and the entire undertaking generates maybe
02:00one decent laugh, that is, if you don't count Fonda's chronic inability to act."
02:05Things went from bad to worse for Fonda when the live-action-slash-stop-motion-animation-hybrid
02:09Monkey Bone bombed hard at the box office, making just $7.6 million from a $75 million
02:16budget.
02:17After this, her career never really recovered.
02:19In the mid-'90s, Fonda passed on a role that would have meant a very different career trajectory,
02:24not only for her, but also for Calista Flockhart.
02:27"...Sometimes I'm tempted to become a street person, cut off from society.
02:31But then I wouldn't get to wear my outfits."
02:35Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelly originally offered Fonda the titular role in the hit
02:39legal dramedy.
02:40Fonda read the script, her publicist later confirmed, but she never went as far as auditioning
02:44and ultimately passed in order to focus on her film career.
02:47Of course, the 90s were a very different time, and there was a far greater divide between
02:51movie actors and TV actors than there is now.
02:54Television was seen as a major step down from Hollywood in those days, so it's not too surprising
02:59that Fonda didn't entertain the idea.
03:01But did she come to regret her decision?
03:03Speaking to the New York Post while promoting Lake Placid in 1999, Fonda went into detail
03:08about the whole Ally McBeal saga.
03:10She said,
03:11"...I'm not kicking myself for having passed on Ally McBeal, even though it's a huge hit.
03:14I've been acting long enough to know it could have been a complete dud with me in it.
03:18It may work as well as it does because of Calista."
03:21Despite the issues she faced in the 2000s, Fonda wasn't quite ready to give up on acting
03:25just yet.
03:26Her Hail Mary came in the form of 2001's Kiss of the Dragon.
03:30Fonda starred alongside Jet Li in the film, which was written and produced by Luke Besson.
03:34Besson had crossed paths with Fonda almost a decade earlier when she starred in 1993's
03:39Point of No Return, the American remake of Besson's hit French film La Femme Nikita.
03:43Sadly, this reunion didn't exactly pay dividends for the pair.
03:47Kiss of the Dragon did better business at the box office than the other films Fonda
03:50featured in around that time, but it wasn't a huge moneymaker, and critics were more or
03:54less split on it.
03:56Fonda would make one more theatrical film, 2001's The Whole Shebang, before disappearing
04:00from the big screen entirely.
04:02At this point, she changed her tune about TV and accepted a recurring role in Showtime's
04:06The Chris Isaac Show, as well as a starring role in Hallmark's two-part miniseries The
04:10Snow Queen.
04:11Unfortunately, it's probably fair to say that The Snow Queen was no Frozen.
04:15Hands down, this is the best day of my life.
04:192003 saw Fonda badly injured in a serious car crash.
04:23In February of that year, Fonda's publicist confirmed that the actor had been taken to
04:27the hospital due to back injuries sustained when her Jaguar went over the side of a Pacific
04:31Coast Highway embankment.
04:32She was the only person in the car at the time, and no other vehicles were involved.
04:36It was believed that she lost control due to the road being wet from heavy rain.
04:40Fonda suffered a fracture of two vertebrae, but otherwise made a full recovery.
04:44But she also lost out on what could have been a career-boosting role as a result of the
04:47accident.
04:48Fonda had been cast in a recurring role on ABC's The Practice, which had been running
04:52since 1997 and had picked up a bunch of awards along the way.
04:56The role likely appealed to Fonda all the more because The Practice was a David E. Kelly
05:00show.
05:01Years after turning down Ally McBeal, Fonda was getting another chance to work with a
05:04respected writer and producer.
05:06Alas, it wasn't to be.
05:08In November 2003, around nine months after her car accident, Fonda married musician and
05:13composer Danny Elfman.
05:14The couple are said to have met during the production of 1998's A Simple Plan, for which
05:19Elfman wrote the music.
05:20A Simple Plan remains Fonda's most critically acclaimed film, with a certified Fresh score
05:24of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
05:26Fonda and Elfman have always kept their relationship private, and it's not known when their romance
05:30began or when they got engaged.
05:33It wasn't until their wedding that much was known about the couple at all.
05:36They welcomed a son named Oliver in 2005, though, at which point Fonda decided to retire
05:40from acting.
05:41While Fonda and Elfman would occasionally make public appearances together, these became
05:45increasingly rare as time went on.
05:47In 2009, Fonda made her last known official public appearances.
05:51In August of that year, she attended the Los Angeles premiere of Quentin Tarantino's World
05:55War II epic Inglourious Basterds with her husband.
05:59Ooh, that's a bingo!
06:03She also appeared at the L.A. premiere of Taking Woodstock alongside Elfman and her
06:06stepdaughter Molly, one of two children Elfman has from a previous marriage.
06:10Then, in December 2009, Bridget's aunt, Jane Fonda, shared a post on her website about
06:15attending a Christmas party at the home of Bridget and Elfman.
06:18The images she posted of the event would be the last the public saw of Bridget for many
06:22years.
06:23Tonight we're remembering an icon of the 60s counterculture, Peter Fonda, actor, producer,
06:28writer, and a member of a famous Hollywood family.
06:31In 2019, Peter Fonda died from complications related to lung cancer.
06:35He was 79 years old.
06:36Many wondered if Bridget Fonda might break her silence to make a statement on the death
06:40of her Oscar-nominated father.
06:41But she didn't.
06:42Instead, a statement on behalf of the entire Fonda family was issued.
06:46It read,
06:47In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words
06:50to express the pain in our hearts.
06:52As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy and, while we mourn the loss of this
06:56sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and
07:01love of life.
07:02In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.
07:05The only relative to release an individual statement was Jane Fonda, Peter's sister.
07:09She told Deadline,
07:10I am very sad.
07:11He was my sweet-hearted baby brother.
07:13I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days.
07:16He went out laughing.
07:17Bridget herself didn't say anything publicly about her father's death, and, as of yet,
07:21she has not done so, instead choosing to mourn and remember him privately.
07:26Living in Los Angeles makes it incredibly difficult to enjoy a life of quiet solitude,
07:30and it's to Bridget Fonda's credit that she managed to live there for as long as she did
07:34without being caught out by the paparazzi.
07:36Nevertheless, Fonda and her husband eventually decided that L.A. wasn't where they wanted
07:40to spend the bulk of their time.
07:41When the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Fondas-slash-Elfman family to spend
07:45more time at their Santa Barbara ranch, they realized that they actually preferred staying
07:50there.
07:51Even as the world opened up again, the family decided to make quieter Santa Barbara their
07:54primary home, selling their L.A. mansions in the process.
07:58At the time, they owned back-to-back homes in the Hancock Park area of L.A.
08:01In December 2020, the bigger of the two houses sold for $8.75 million after just a few months
08:07on the market.
08:09Fonda evaded the paparazzi for an impressive 12 years following her appearance at the premiere
08:13of Inglourious Basterds in 2009.
08:15In that time, she didn't engage in any interviews, never made any public statements, and apparently
08:20refused to join social media.
08:22Her long run of dodging the press came to an end in 2022, however.
08:26That year, and twice more in 2023, she was spotted out and about by the paparazzi.
08:31When asked by one photographer whether she'd ever consider returning to Hollywood, Fonda
08:35simply said,
08:36"...I don't think so.
08:37It's too nice being a civilian."
08:38Perhaps this is no surprise.
08:40Looking back at interviews from her Hollywood heyday, it's clear that she was never really
08:44comfortable in Tinseltown.
08:45In one interview, she wondered,
08:46"...What is it with my low self-esteem?
08:48I'm trying to be happy with my career.
08:50I think I should give myself a break, but I've got this bug that rides me.
08:54You should be doing better.
08:55Every time I work, I'm frustrated with my physical inability to catch up to my mental
08:59picture."