Jane Fonda and Michigan have more connections than you’d think, including the fact that a Detroit political icon had a major influence on her career path.
In the early 1970s, the two-time Oscar winner was considering leaving Hollywood behind and moving full-time into activism. But Fonda’s friend and mentor Ken Cockrel Sr., the late Detroit City Council member and attorney who devoted himself to working for social justice, advised otherwise.
“He changed my life. He did. He took me under his wing,” says Fonda, who’s sitting on a couch at the Franklin Hills Country Club in the Motor City suburbs as she shares what happened. “When I told him I wanted to leave acting and become an organizer — because he had sent me out in the field with UAW organizers; he wanted me to learn — he said: ’We have plenty of organizers. We don’t have movie stars. You not only have to go back to your industry, but you have to take it more seriously. Own it. Do stuff you take seriously.’”
Fonda continues: “So I went and I formed a company. I made ‘9 to 5.’ I made ‘Coming Home,’ all these movies. And that’s because of Ken Cockrel.”