Frances Ford Seymour


Frances Ford Seymour was a Canadian-born American socialite, the second wife of actor Henry Fonda, and the mother of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.

Early life

Born in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, she was a daughter of Eugene Ford Seymour and Sophie Mildred.
According to daughter Jane Fonda, medical records revealed that Seymour was a victim of recurrent sexual abuse in her childhood.

Marriages

On January 10, 1931, she married George Tuttle Brokaw, a millionaire lawyer and sportsman, whose previous marriage, to Clare Boothe Luce, had ended in divorce. They had one child, Frances de Villers Brokaw.
A year after George Tuttle Brokaw died, Frances married actor Henry Fonda on September 16, 1936, at Christ Church, New York City. She had met Fonda at Denham Studios in England on the set of the film Wings of the Morning. The couple had two children, actress Jane and actor Peter, but their marriage was troubled. According to Peter Fonda, these difficulties later gave him empathy for the marital problems of actor Dennis Hopper, his co-star in the 1969 film Easy Rider.

Death

Frances Ford Fonda committed suicide by cutting her throat with a razor blade 10 days after her 42nd birthday, while she was a patient at Craig House, a sanatorium in Beacon, New York. Her suicide came three and a half months after Fonda asked her for a divorce.
She is buried in Ogdensburg Cemetery, Ogdensburg, New York.