The 88-year-old actor and activist will honor her late friend Robert Redford at a screening of “Barefoot in the Park”
Turner Classic Movies has announced that movie legend Jane Fonda will open this year’s TCM Film Festival in Hollywood on April 30. The four-day celebration of classic movies will premiere with Fonda at the opening night gala speaking about her 1967 romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park.
Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in “Barefoot in the Park”Credit: Photo courtesy TCM
Fonda starred opposite the late Robert Redford in the screen adaptation of Neil Simon’s hit Broadway play. Co-star Mildred Natwick was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that year playing Fonda’s mom. The evening will include a tribute to Redford, who died in September at age 89. Both actors were committed environmental activists for decades.
Robert Redford advocating against the demolition of Santa Monica Pier while filming “The Sting” on the pier in 1973Credit: Photo by Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection/University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections
Fonda has won two Oscars and an Emmy and has been nominated for a Grammy and a Tony award. Her legendary acting family includes dad Henry and brother Peter. She was once married to Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner, who launched the classic movie channel in 1994. Fonda recently re-launched the Committee for the First Amendment. Her father, Henry, alongside actors including Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were the founders of the McCarthy-era effort to fight censorship and threats to free expression.
TCM hosts Jacqueline Stewart, Dave Karger, Ben Mankiewicz, Alicia Malone, and Eddie Muller at the 2024 festival Credit: Photo by PrinceArchelaus
The festival will also honor acclaimed actress Barbara Hershey. The Emmy- winner will appear before screenings of Hannah and Her Sisters and A World Apart. Oscar-winning composer and actor Paul Williams will speak at screenings of The Muppet Movie, featuring his classic song “The Rainbow Connection” and the 1987 Dustin Hoffman/Warren Beatty comedy Ishtar. Visual effects artist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt will attend a screening of the 1970s disaster epic The Towering Inferno.
Restorations of 1950s classics, from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Auntie Mame to Sinatra’s Pal Joey and classic western Shane, are sure to sell out fast.
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The festival theme this year is “The World Comes to Hollywood,” celebrating the “fusion of global artistry and entrepreneurial vision that established the West Coast as the filmmaking capital of the world,” and visitors will soon begin descending on the movie capital to soak up the glitz and glamour of this highly anticipated festival.
17th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30 – May 3, 2026.