Plaza Classic Film Festival: On Golden Pond

Plaza Classic Film Festival: On Golden Pond

Jane Fonda bought the film rights for Ernest Thompson’s Tony-winning play On Golden Pond with hopes of finally working with her dad, Henry Fonda. It would not only mark the only film pairing of father and daughter, but the only pairing of Henry Fonda and fellow Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn. Fonda and Hepburn play Norman and Ethel Thayer, an elderly couple returning to their lakeside summer home in New England. Jane is the couples’ estranged daughter Chelsea, who brings along her new boyfriend and his adolescent son. Jane Fonda has said that the relationship between Chelsea and Norman is painfully close to her real-life relationship with her father. Both Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda won Oscars for their moving performances. — Jack Fields