Frances Ford Seymour Fonda (4 April 1908 – 14 April 1950) was a Canadian-American socialite. She was the second wife of actor Henry Fonda and the mother of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.

Biography

Born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, Seymour was the daughter of Sophie Mildred (née Bower) and Eugene Ford Seymour. When she was 14 in 1922, she moved with her family to Fairhaven, Massachusetts and graduated from a public high school there. and eventually had nine abortions. The couple had two children, actress Jane (born 21 December 1937) and actor Peter (23 February 1940 – 16 August 2019), but their marriage was troubled. According to Peter Fonda, these difficulties later gave him empathy for the marital problems of actor Dennis Hopper, his co-star in the 1969 film Easy Rider. Hopper's then-wife Brooke Hayward is the daughter of Margaret Sullavan, Henry Fonda's first wife.

Frances, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, died by suicide while she was a patient at the Craig House Sanitarium in Beacon, New York. Her suicide came three and a half months after Fonda asked her for a divorce. She is buried in Ogdensburg Cemetery, Ogdensburg, New York.

References

  • "Mothers, Lost and Found" The Washington Post, Abigail Trafford, May 3, 2005
  • Excerpt: 'My Life So Far' ABC News, April 5, 2005