Golden Globe Honoree Jane Fonda’s Top TV Star Turns, From ‘Grace and Frankie’ to ‘The Simpsons’
A long list of awards will be presented at the 78th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony on Sunday, February 28, but the biggest honor of the night has gone to Jane Fonda, who accepted the the Cecil B. deMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment with an impassioned speech about the need for diversity in media.
The actor, producer and activist is hailed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the awards show, as “a fixture of American cinema since the heady days of New Hollywood. As an entrepreneur, activist and author she has left a wider imprint on popular culture. She is a global star.”
But the seven-time Golden Globe, two-time Oscar and one-time Emmy winner is also a TV star, who for decades has done some of her best work on the small screen.
Below, an an appreciation of her top TV work. Some roles might surprise you.
‘Grace and Frankie‘ (Netflix, 2015- )
Fonda plays Grace Hanson, a sharp-talking retired cosmetics executive who ends up living with her arch rival, the hippy dippy art teacher Frankie Bergstein, after their husbands, well, fall in love. The unusual premise reunites the 9 to 5 stars, and the show, which lets two amazing actresses show off their chemistry, is rightfully beloved — and not just by your grandmother. The series, which has dealt with COVID delays, will end with Season 7, which has not yet set a premiere date.
‘The Newsroom’ (HBO, 2012-2014)
Fonda had a guest-starring role in the Aaron Sorkin drama about a fictional cable news network with a crusading liberal news anchor (Jeff Daniels). She plays Leona Lansing, CEO of the media company that owns the network, and who finds that the news staff’s ideologies often conflict with her business interests.
‘Elena of Avalor’ (Disney, 2016-2018)
Fonda voices the supremely evil sorceress Shuriki in the computer-animated Disney series. How evil? She imprisons the lovely Elena after killing her parents.
‘The Simpsons‘ (Fox, 2014) Maxine Lombard
A major actor’s resume is hardly complete without a guest-starring role on The Simpsons. Fonda does her hilarious duty as the voice of Assemblywoman Maxine Lombard in “Opposites A-Frack” who is pit against a fracking scam being run by Mr. Burns.
©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./courtesy Everett Collection
The Dollmaker (ABC, 1984)
This made-for-TV movie about a pioneer woman from Kentucky forced to move her children to Detroit when her husband gets a job there, won Honda her Emmy for Best Actress.
