Though father-son acting pairs seem to be the most prevalent version of real-life relatives appearing in films together, there are plenty of other familial connections to be found onscreen. Generally speaking, the last 10 years or so of Henry Fonda’s career were not his most distinguished; he also suffered from public speculation that the political activism of his daughter Jane had strained the relationship. Toward the end of his life, when the elder Fonda was in his 70s and in poor health, Jane bought the rights to the play On Golden Pond—which features a father-daughter reconciliation after a long period of mutual resentment—with the hope that it would give the two of them a chance to work together and provide her father with a high-profile, Oscar-bait role. Many people were moved by the results, and Fonda did indeed win the Academy Award for Best Actor for what turned out to be his last big-screen performance. He died eight months after the movie was released.
