By Robert Simonson
03 Feb 2009

Playbill.com: Your father, Henry Fonda, returned to the stage fairly regularly throughout his career. Did he ever give you any advice about the theatre?
JF: No, he wasn't an advice giver. Those were the days when it wasn't common for people who were Hollywood stars to come to Broadway, and he did it all his life. Four years in Mister Roberts! He never missed one performance, always was exactly the same. But he did talk to me often about his love of the theatre. It was the immediacy, that immediate feedback that fed him far more the movies. I've started my own blog, JaneFonda.com, it's going to go up on Feb. 2 — me, who doesn't like to Google!

Playbill.com: To talk about the experience of the play?
JF: I want to take people through the experience of the play, day by day. And yesterday I was blogging about how I miss my dad. He can't know that I've come back!

Playbill.com: Even though he didn't give advice, you must have seen him on stage many times. Did you learn anything from watching him perform?
JF: Minimalism. Less is more. It's interesting to me how I'm a very different actor than he. I was thinking how he always did exactly the same thing at each performance, and I can't even, from one rehearsal to the next, do the same thing. I can't seem to do that.

Playbill.com: What's the name of your dog?
JF: Tulea!

Playbill.com: Where's that from?
JF: The breed is Coton De Tulear — a town in Madagascar, which is where the breed originated. I wanted to call her Barbarella, but my daughter would not let me. Her father directed "Barberella." She took it personally. And so it's Tulea.

Playbill.com: You could have called it Julia.
JF: I should have called it Julia.