'Easy Rider' actor Peter Fonda dies at 79

16 Aug, 2019 22:53 / Updated 5 years ago

Peter Fonda, the actor made famous by the 1969 biker movie ‘Easy Rider,’ has passed away after battling lung cancer.

“I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing,” his sister Jane Fonda said in a statement.

The fame of ‘Easy Rider’ proved a blessing and a curse for Fonda, who spent the next three decades struggling to repeat its success as an actor and director, until being cast in 1997’s indie flick ‘Ulee’s Gold,’ playing a courageous Florida beekeeper. This earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor, though he lost out to Jack Nicholson (‘As Good as It Gets’).

In recent years, Fonda became a dedicated online #Resistance activist, going so far as to call for the kidnapping and abuse of President Donald Trump’s son Barron on Twitter in June last year. 

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He deleted the tweet and apologized, but continued to post about “Commie Don” and “Moscow Mitch” until as recently as last week.