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Peter Fonda, 'Easy Rider' Actor and Screenwriter, Is Dead at 79

Peter Fonda, the writer, director and actor best remembered for playing a motorcycle-riding avatar of the counterculture in “Easy Rider,” an emblematic film of the 1960s that he helped write, died Friday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79.
Peter Fonda, 'Easy Rider' Actor and Screenwriter, Is Dead at 79
Peter Fonda, 'Easy Rider' Actor and Screenwriter, Is Dead at 79

The death was confirmed by his manager, Alan Somers, who did not specify the cause.

Fonda was practically Hollywood royalty — the son of Henry Fonda and the younger brother of Jane Fonda — but pursued his own, unconventional course.

He and another Hollywood rebel, Dennis Hopper, teamed up with Terry Southern to write “Easy Rider” (1969), earning an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay.

“Easy Rider,” which was directed by Hopper and featured Jack Nicholson in one of his earliest film roles, was seen as encapsulation of the freewheeling, anti-establishment spirit of the 1960s and cemented Fonda’s reputation as an actor.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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