Early-life: Peter Fonda was born in 1940, the second child of Henry Fonda's second marriage to socialite Frances Ford Seymour; the union ended in 1950 when she committed suicide in a mental institution on her 42nd birthday. Peter had an often distant relationship with his father, which was only reconciled in the years prior to Henry's death in 1982. Peter decided to follow in his dad's footsteps at an early age, and began his professional acting career at the Omaha Playhouse - the same place Henry had started out several decades before. After tackling a handful of decent if uninspiring parts, he became known for his roles in such low-budget counterculture classics as The Wild Angels and The Trip. Then came Easy Rider, a project he not only starred in as the laconic Captain America, but also co-wrote and produced.