Upon his return to New York, Fonda joined the Cecilwood Theatre in 1960. Career Early years and film work įonda guest starring with Patty McCormack in The New Breed television series, 1962 While attending the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse, having been recruited by Marlon Brando's mother. Once he graduated, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's home town. He then matriculated to Westminster School, a Connecticut boarding school in Simsbury, where he graduated in 1958. Peter attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Class of 1954. He said, "I know what it's like to be dead." This inspired The Beatles' song " She Said She Said". Years later, he referred to this incident while with John Lennon and George Harrison while taking LSD. He went to the Indian hill station of Nainital and stayed for a few months for recovery. On his eleventh birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the abdomen and nearly died. He did not discover the circumstances or location of her death until he was 15 years old. Their mother committed suicide in a mental hospital when Peter, her youngest, was ten. He and Jane had a half-sister, Frances de Villers Brokaw (1931–2008), from their mother's first marriage. Fonda was born on February 23, 1940, in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda (1905–1982) and his wife Frances Ford Seymour (1908–1950) his older sister was actress Jane Fonda (born 1937).