On 16 August, Peter Fonda passed away at the age of 79.

Fonda was the son of famous actor Henry Fonda of 12 Angry Men fame and the brother of actress Jane Fonda.

He has acted in movies such as Easy Rider, Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, Ghost Rider, and James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma.



Fonda's first taste of success was in Roger Corman's B movie, The Wild Angels, in which Fonda played the lead. It was Fonda's first countercultural film role.

This was followed by Corman's The Trip, which was written by Jack Nicholson, about the hallucinogenic LSD experience. Made on a budget of US$100,000, the film was a cultural and commercial hit.

But it was with Easy Rider, which Fonda co-starred, co-wrote and produced along with Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, that Fonda truly broke out and established himself as an icon. The film not only was a critical and commercial hit, it became the definitive countercultural movie of the 60s and 70s and, along with movies such as Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, helped to kickstart the New Hollywood era.