Jane Fonda: An Intimate Biography

Jane Fonda is a phoenix ever rising from the ashes in this sympathetic biography. Davidson ( Spencer Tracy ) ferrets out intimate details: Fonda's recurring nightmares after her mother's suicide; her painful withdrawal from bulimia syndrome; her affair with Svengali-like actor Andreas Voutsinas and first marriage to father-substitute Roger Vadim. Dismissing rumors, Davidson blames the star's marital breakup with Tom Hayden on mutual midlife crises. Though neither as in-depth nor as sharply focused as Christopher Andersen's Citizen Jane (Nonfiction Forecasts, Apr. 27), this informal, well-written portrait will please fans, as much for its behind-the-scenes glimpses of film shoots as for its tracking of Fonda's metamorphosis from ``fortieth-century Alice-in-Wonderland'' in Barbarella to political protester to fitness-video ``exercise czarina.'' Photos. (June)