Peter Fonda has died aged 79. He was scion of an acting dynasty he rebelled against, and an icon of the hippie culture of an America in social upheaval in the late 1960s. His drug-dealing biker-flick Easy Rider which he wrote, produced and acted alongside Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, while high on LSD, shot on a miniscule budget, became a huge success in 1969 leaving him rich. It was the first counterculture movie to be a major hit and its anti-establishment ideals touched a nerve for America’s youth as it depicted “two cats just riding across the country … ” – a modern version of the Western. It was also his revenge against his cold father Henry Fonda and his superstar sister Jane, and his dysfunctional childhood, during which his mother committed suicide when he was 10 and he afterwards injured himself in a gun accident. His later film choices were uninspired but he was again nominated for an Academy Award thirty years later for Ulee’s Gold.
He was born 23 February 1940 12.09 pm Manhattan, New York, and had a creative Pisces Sun exactly on his midheaven with a collection of communicative Mercury in Pisces and enthusiastic Jupiter Venus in Aries also in his 10th. His Virgo Moon was opposition his Sun sitting on his IC and he had Neptune also in his 4th – so he’d struggle to find his own identity away from the famous family name. He would carry a good deal of anger with his Mars in Taurus square his Pluto and trine his Moon as well as sextile his Sun.
His father Henry Fonda, 16 May 1905 2pm Nebraska, had a controlling Pluto on the midheaven with a talented but fanatical Half Grand Sextile from Uranus opposition Neptune sextile Saturn and Mercury. Henry’s Saturn was conjunct Peter’s midheaven and Sun, so he’d have a discouraging effect on his son; and Henry’s Uranus was in Peter’s 7th so his erratic presence in his life would grate as well.
His older sister Jane had her problems with her father and it wouldn’t always be an easy relationship between herself and Peter, but her Sagittarius Sun fell on Peter’s Descendant which would help and her Jupiter fell in Peter’s 8th which would be supportive at a deep level.