By Annabella Ramirez
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda’s work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Tony Awards. Fonda also received the Honorary Palme d’Or in 2007, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2014, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2021, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2024.
Born to socialite Frances Ford Seymour and actor Henry Fonda, she made her screen debut in the romantic comedy Tall Story (1960). She rose to prominence acting in the comedies Cat Ballou (1965), Barefoot in the Park (1967), Barbarella (1968), Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), California Suite (1978), The Electric Horseman (1979), and 9 to 5 (1980). Fonda established herself as a dramatic actress, winning two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles as a prostitute in the thriller Klute (1971) and the woman in love with a Vietnam war veteran in the drama Coming Home (1978). She was Oscar-nominated for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), Julia (1977), The China Syndrome (1979), On Golden Pond (1981), and The Morning After (1986). After a 15 year hiatus, she returned to acting in Monster-in-Law (2005), Youth (2015), and Our Souls at Night (2017).
On stage, Fonda made her Broadway debut in the play There Was a Little Girl (1960), for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. In 2009, she returned to Broadway for the play 33 Variations (2009), earning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination. For her work on television, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the television film The Dollmaker (1984). She also was Emmy-nominated for her roles in The Newsroom (2012–2014) and Grace and Frankie (2015–2022).
Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the Vietnam War. She was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun on a 1972 visit to Hanoi, during which she gained the nickname “Hanoi Jane”. During this time, she was effectively blacklisted in Hollywood. Fonda protested the Iraq War along with violence against women, and she describes herself as a feminist and environmental activist. Fonda has co-founded the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee in 1984 and the Women’s Media Center in 2005. Fonda is also known for her exercise tapes, starting with Jane Fonda’s Workout (1982), which became the highest-selling videotape of its time.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Ember Days for 2023
September: 20, 22, 23
December: 20, 22, 23
Ember Days for 2024
February 21, 23, 24
May 22, 24, 25
September 18, 20, 21
December 18, 20, 21
These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:
“Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”
Which means:
“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”
In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the “four seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months.
As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our “garden of Eden.”“
The winter solstice is one of the two times each year that the Sun is at its farthest point from the equator and appears to stand still. The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol, or “Sun,” and stitium, or “stoppage.”
The Halcyon Days also occur around this time. According to ancient legend, a grieving wife named Halcyon threw herself into the sea upon discovering the drowned body of her beloved husband, Ceyx. The gods took pity on the pair, transforming them into kingfishers, or halcyons, with the power to still the stormy seas for 14 days near the time of the winter solstice while they hatched their young.”
Learn more about the winter solstice and the first day of winter!
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Giovanni Boccaccio (poet) –
- Marc Connelly (playwright) –
Born
- Phil Donahue ( talk show host) –
- Jane Fonda (actress) –
- Samuel L. Jackson (actor) –
- Ray Romano (comedian & actor) –
- Kiefer Sutherland (actor) –
Events
- Mackenzie Bowell became Canada’s 5th Prime Minister –
- The first crossword puzzle was printed in a NY newspaper –
- Pianist Vladimir Horowitz wed Wanda Toscanini –
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater in Hollywood, California. It was the first animated feature-length film with sound and color –
Weather
- A four-day snowstorm began in Portland, Oregon–
- A storm in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana brought 26 inches of snow to Hillsboro, Texas–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
