Jane Fonda looked back on her time appearing in the 1981 movie “On Golden Pond” with icon Katharine Hepburn and why the four-time Oscar winner unnerved her.
“I was intimidated by Katharine Hepburn, that’s for sure. My God,” Fonda told AARP The Magazine in a recent interview.
The “Barbarella” star, 85, said that she models the way she treats people on set in the complete opposite way as Hepburn did during their time making the family drama.
“When we made ‘On Golden Pond,’ she made sure that she was always top dog — and that I knew it,” the “Monster in Law” alum added. “I think my co-stars will tell you that I really try to do the opposite and make people feel comfortable.”
Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress for her work in “On Golden Pond,” while Fonda earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
Her father, Henry Fonda, also starred in the film and won the Best Actor award.
Fonda previously recalled her experiences working with the Old Hollywood starlet in a 2021 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, noting how Hepburn was an “interesting woman.”
“We were not friends,” Fonda recounted. “She was really competitive. She really thought that I was out to win more Academy Awards than she was.”
“When she won for ‘On Golden Pond,’ I called to congratulate her, and she said, ‘You’ll never catch me now,'” Fonda said.
She continued: “What I loved about her was that she took the job of being an elder very seriously. She was intentional about teaching me and talking to me, including giving me line readings, and I found that just wonderful. She did not like me.”
“The African Queen” actress died in 2003 at the age of 96 — after a dazzling career spanning over six decades. She was nominated 12 times for Academy Awards and added four to her shelf.