Friday, August 24 – Thursday, August 30, 2012 | More info & showtimes
JANE FONDA (from My Life So Far):
ON GOLDEN POND was the largest-grossing film of 1981. The studios were wrong: People did want to see this movie about old folks… because it spoke of universal issues with pathos and humor. Never has a movie of mine had such a profound personal impact on people; never have people crossed the street just to hug and tell me that seeing it, and then bringing their fathers to see it, had altered their relationships forever. This has moved me and gladdened me greatly over the years.
The film received ten Academy Award nominations, among them Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay. Dad was too ill to attend the ceremony, and given his lifelong antipathy for awards and competition, I’m not sure he would have gone even if he had been well enough. But he intended to watch the proceedings with Shirlee from his bed. Ms. Hepburn did not attend, either. The first one of us to win [for Best Adapted Screenplay] was Ernest Thompson, who actually leapt with joy as he crossed the stage. I did not win Best Supporting Actress (losing to the remarkable Maureen Stapleton playing the radical Emma Goldman in REDS). Eight-year-old Troy was sitting next to me, and as the names of the nominees for Best Actress were being read, I saw him drop his head and squeeze his eyes tight. When Katharine Hepburn’s name was announced as the winner (for an unprecedented fourth time), Troy tugged excitedly on my arm and whispered, “Mom, I prayed she’d win and my prayer was answered.”
Then Sissy Spacek came out to present the award for Best Actor. For all his great performances, Dad had been nominated only once before, for Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH. This time he had stiff competition: Warren Beatty, Burt Lancaster, Dudley Moore, and Paul Newman. There was nothing I wanted more in my life than for him to finally win. This was my fervent prayer. When Sissy opened the envelope and announced his name, the theater erupted in applause and cheering; I went up onstage to claim the Oscar on his behalf, as he had asked me to in the event he won. It was the happiest moment of my life.”
Part of the Jane Fonda Series (June 29 – August 30), presented in conjunction with our Feature IV fundraiser celebration (July 22, 2012) featuring special guest Jane Fonda in conversation with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Film Streams Board Member Alexander Payne.
FILM INFORMATION
Directed by Mark Rydell
Featuring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman
Cinematography by Billy Williams
Film Editing by Robert L. Wolfe
Original Music by Dave Grusin
Country of Origin: UK/USA
Language: English
Running Time: 109 minutes
