U.S. actor Peter Fonda, the star of the classic 1969 road movie Easy Rider , died on Friday, aged 79, from respiratory failure due to lung cancer, his family said.
Fonda passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by relatives, a statement said.
“While we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life,” it said.
Fonda was the brother of U.S. activist and actor Jane Fonda, and the son of actor Henry Fonda.
In a statement, Jane Fonda said, “I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”
He co-wrote and produced Easy Rider , in which he appeared alongside its director Dennis Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson.
The wildly successful film became an anti-establishment cult classic, and earned Fonda an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
The movie is credited with ushering in an era of counter-culture, independent film-making.
“EASY RIDER depicted the rise of hippie culture, condemned the establishment, and celebrated freedom. Peter Fonda embodied those values and instilled them in a generation,” wrote Goodfellas actor Illeana Douglas on Twitter. “Independent cinema begins with EASY RIDER.”
Fonda had been planning a 50th anniversary screening and concert of Easy Rider in New York next month. He played a biker in the film — an anti-hero role he would take up many times in his career.
He was nominated for an Oscar again almost three decades later, in the best actor category, for Ulee’s Gold (1997), but lost out to Nicholson.
Fonda began his career as a stage actor on Broadway in his native New York.
He was also a keen environmentalist, co-producing the 2012 film The Big Fix , which centred on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its consequences.
Fonda married three times, and leaves behind two children, including actor Bridget Fonda.
