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Fondas in the hot seat at Alliance Theatre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The evening was billed as “315 Films,” “66 Awards” and “Five Fondas.”
Right: Peter, Jane and Bridget Fonda and Troy Garity appeared at the Alliance Theatre Monday night.
(Jessica McGowan / AJC)
And for film fans and charitable supporters of founder Jane Fonda’s Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, the 13th annual G-CAPP fund-raiser held at the Woodruff Arts Center Monday night did not disappoint.
A capacity crowd turned out in the Alliance Theatre for a sometimes raucous, occasionally emotional two-hour program highlighted by film clips and a Q&A with the two-time Oscar winner, her brother Peter Fonda, her niece Bridget Fonda and son Troy Garity presided over by Turner Classic Movies host and film historian Robert Osborne.
Boxes of tissues were plentiful for the Fondas as Garity noted the family’s “inherent crying problem.”
Discussing growing up the son of an iconic Hollywood actor, Peter explained that the built-in comparisons only served to “raise the bar” in his own work in films like “Easy Rider.”
“I was picked on because I was Henry Fonda’s son,” Peter told Osborne. “But I learned how to fight and I also learned to run!”
Added Garity wryly: “But being the son of Henry Fonda is nothing compared to being the son of ‘Hanoi Jane.’ But in life, you take licks and ultimately, the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Explained Jane of the work behind her father’s critically acclaimed performances: “He didn’t like to talk about [the process of acting]. He couldn’t articulate it. He didn’t talk a lot. What we got from him, we learned through watching his movies.”
Bridget discussed discovering a passion for painting as a child, watching her “Grandpa Henry” paint watercolors. Of her extended vacation from filmmaking in recent years, the “Single White Female” actress, who’s now a mother and married to film composer Danny Elfman explained to Osborne: “Real life just took over. I have a three-year-old. I miss it sometimes, but I cherish what I have these days.”
Osborne also asked Jane about her own 15-year hiatus from Hollywood, pointing out that when her father “wasn’t doing films, he was doing plays on stage.”
Followed up Fonda: “I was doing [ex-husband] Ted [Turner]!”
Fonda, who’s shot “Monster-in-Law” and “Georgia Rule” in recent years, explained that at age 70, interesting roles don’t flood in.
“They’re all glum. I’d rather write books and hang out in Atlanta.”
The line drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
The evening ended with a final film TCM tribute to Henry Fonda narrated by his children and one last question for the iconic exercise queen from a fan in the audience.
Given the renewed interest in fitness, would Fonda, who helped to pioneer the home video fitness craze of the 1980s with “The Jane Fonda Workout” series consider a follow-up?
Cracked Jane: “Well, I could do one for people with new hips. I’m actually thinking of doing one called ‘The Work In.”
OVERSCENE
Spotted at Monday night’s G-CAPP benefit at the Woodruff Arts Center: Former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and wife Carolyn; documentary filmmaker Vanessa Vadim; former Georgia Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and wife Sacha; Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers co-owner and attorney Rutherford Seydel and wife/Captain Planet Foundation chair Laura Turner Seydel, along with Laura’s brothers Rhett and Beau Turner; Watershed chef Scott Peacock; rapper/restaurateur Ludacris and Motley Crue drummer/reality TV star/memoirist Tommy Lee; concert promoter Peter Conlon and actor/director Robert Townsend.
• Photos: Jane Fonda and family at the G-CAPP fundraiser
TIMBERLAKE ON TOP
Thanks to a “ruling” by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, there was finally a resolution Tuesday to the long-simmering “Who Do You Know?” radio contest on Q100. Sears visited “The Bert Show” Monday to help the morning show determine the parameters of precisely what defines a “celebrity.” For weeks, the show has taken random calls from the famous who were enlisted by local listeners. In exchange, the winner received $10,000 and the “biggest celebrity” scored a $5,000 check for their favorite charity. On Monday, Sears told Bert Weiss and company that the winner should be a global presence well-known to the station’s core listenership of 20-somethings to folks in their 40s. Among those who called in and thus in the running: Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, Sean Connery, super couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and Justin Timberlake. With a 7-2 vote, Timberlake, Q100 listener (and pal of the pop star) Lindsey Glueckert and Timberlake’s fave charity, the Cambodian Children’s Fund, emerged as the winners Tuesday. So how did Sears end up assisting? She had the misfortune of being seated next to “Bert Show” executive producer Jeff Dauler at a luncheon last week for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Governor’s Mansion on West Paces Ferry Road.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Movie producer George Lucas is 64. Musician David Byrne (Talking Heads) is 56. Director Robert Zemeckis is 56. Singer Ian Astbury of The Cult is 46. Actress Cate Blanchett (above) is 39. Singer Danny Wood of New Kids on the Block is 39. Director Sofia Coppola (“Lost In Translation”) is 37. Actress Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”) is 25.
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