Peter Fonda (1940-2019) the man who moved facial hair out of the 1960s
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has paid tribute to the actor Peter Fonda who has died aged 79.
The campaigners say that in one of his best-known roles in the film Easy Rider, Fonda’s iconic sideburns moved facial hair on from the flowing organic beards of the 1960s to the more sharply defined and styled hirsuteness of the 1970s designed to grapple with the end of the post-war economic boom.
According to Charles Bramesco writing in The Guardian (15th July 2019)
Situated at the end of its decade, Easy Rider literally and symbolically marks the turning point at which the idealism of the 60s curdled into the indulgent solipsism of the 70s. Though Wyatt and Billy’s long hair, sideburns, and far-out couture outwardly align them with the flower children and estrange them from squares at small-town diners giving disapproving looks, they’re far from avatars of peace and love.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Peter Fonda will be remembered for his acting but his facial hair in Easy Rider informed a generation
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