Now in her 80s, Hollywood legend Jane Fonda is as busy as ever and continues to join the ride with the new season of her Netflix comedy series "Grace and Frankie".
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Fonda, nominated for an Emmy last year for her role on the show, stars alongside Lily Tomlin as two divorcees in their golden years whose long-term husbands, come out and announce they are in love with each, leaving their former wives to form an unlikely friendship which sees them experience a slew of wacky adventures navigating family drama, medical scares, business ventures, and romantic turmoil.
The series has been a solid performer for the streaming giant since premiering in 2015 as Fonda enjoys somewhat of a career renaissance over the past decade.
The daughter of celebrated film actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour, Fonda rose to fame in the 1960's with such movies as "Barefoot in the Park" and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and won her first Academy Award for 1971's "Klute", followed by a second win seven years later for "Coming Home". She has been nominated four other times, including for 1981's "On Golden Pond" where she starred alongside her father in his final theatrical film and the iconic Katharine Hepburn, both of whom won the Oscars for their roles.
While standing out with her political activism with the feminist movement and against the Vietnam War, during the 1980's Fonda has also emerged as a fitness guru with a series of highly successful aerobics video tapes. Her film career reignited in 2005 with the romantic comedy "Monster-in-Law" and she has since appeared in "The Butler", "Book Club" as well as HBO's "The Newsroom".
"I've written two books about aging so I've really studied it deeply because whenever I'm afraid of something, the way I deal with it as I get to know it very well, you know, no thy enemy", said Fonda in an interview promoting the shows, "I like to spend years researching and studying it and interviewing people and everything. I mean it's a fact of life. In fact, death and aging is what makes sense of life. If we never died, then life would have no sense or meaning. You know, it's like noise has no meaning without silence."
"Light has no meaning without dark. When we talk about aging, what we mean is that we come to the end of life then and die. And I believe that it's important to be very, very aware of that and think about it a lot and prepare for it because what you don't want to do is get to the end with a lot of regrets. And so, you have to think, well, how do I want to be at the end of my life? And then you have to work. You know we all want to have love around us, so we have to earn it in the years that are remaining. I may only have a couple of decades left at best. So, I want to be sure that I continue to stand up straight. Like posture becomes really important. That sounds stupid, but it's in fact very important physically and psychologically.
"Attitude is very important. You know, people say I've had plastic surgery and I'm not going to lie about that, but that's not really how come I look good. It's because I have a good attitude and I have good energy. That's very important. Staying curious as you get older, staying interested and continuing to learn things, making new friends, preferably younger than you, so somebody left to mourn you when you go and I have great friends including her. You learn from your friends and that's why I love this series so much because it embodies all of that".
Q: Are there autobiographical elements to your character?
"Mostly it's the fear of being seen with no make-up on. You know, there's an episode in the fourth season where I take my makeup off. It was really hard for me to do that because I've always thought if people saw me the way I really was, they wouldn't care for me. I was very happy that they put that in. I didn't ask them, I just thought it was really cool that they did".
Q: What's it like working with Lily so many years after "Nine to Five"?
"We just came from one of those Netflix things for Emmys and we were being asked about how much longer we wanted to do it, and so I started imagining that I wasn't doing it anymore and I got so sad too. I got really sad. It's like coming home every morning going to Paramount, going to the gate. Just the idea that I wouldn't be able to have her every day in my life. , I don't know, I think we both are really blessed to be able to have this experience".
