The phrase "living legend" gets thrown around a lot, but, in the case of Jane Fonda, no description is more apt.
Jane is a double Academy Award–winning actor, producer, feminist, and political and environmental activist — a trailblazer who took important stances at a time when it was considered career suicide to do so.
Recently, the 82-year-old actor did an interview with the New York Times where she talked about Fire Drill Fridays — an activist video series that she is doing with Greenpeace — her new book, her past activism, and, of course, her life.
But, it was during the "Confirm or Deny" portion of the interview where Jane revealed some interesting things. When asked if she regretted never sleeping with Che Guevara, Jane replied, "No, I don’t think about him."
But she did reveal that she did have one person she regretted never sleeping with: Marvin Gaye.
According to Jane, when she was introduced to Marvin, he wanted to hook up, but she didn't because she was married:
Who I do think about, and what is a great regret is Marvin Gaye. He wanted to and I didn’t. I was married to Tom [Hayden]. I was meeting a lot of performers to try to do concerts for Tom and the woman who was helping me do that introduced me to Marvin Gaye.
Jane was also asked about her The Chase costar Marlon Brando, to which she gave a very "Great gowns, beautiful gowns" response, saying, "Disappointing. But a great actor."
She also revealed that Joan Crawford scared her as a kid and that she had to curtsy to her.
Jane, who is the daughter of legendary actor Henry Fonda, would attend birthday parties for Joan's daughter Christina (yes, as in Mommie Dearest Christina), but didn't know who Joan was, saying:
I didn’t know who she was, except that she had these dark eyebrows and she seemed to be very tall and imposing and she was responsible for this whole mishegoss, and I had to curtsy.
She ended the interview talking about her friendship with Marilyn Monroe, with whom she studied acting at the Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg.
According to Jane, once during a party that Lee threw, Marilyn ignored all the men to talk to her:
Yes. She liked me. I think she liked me because she sensed my insecurities and she was drawn to vulnerable things. I’ll never forget a party that Lee Strasberg gave and she came late, and she walked in and men there started to shake. I mean, they were physically excited and agitated by the fact that she was there. And she walked straight to me and wanted to talk.
When pressed to say that Marilyn was "not as striking in person," she replied that was not the case at all, saying:
She glowed! There was a glow coming out of her that was unbelievable! It came from her skin and her hair and her being. I’ve never seen anything like it.
All I have to say is: Dear Netflix, um, forget The Crown! I need six to seven seasons of Jane Fonda's life!!!
You can read the entire interview with Jane over at the New York Times.
