Peter Fonda, the star, co-writer and producer of the 1969 cult classic Easy Rider, has died at the age of 79.
His family said he suffered respiratory failure due to lung cancer and died peacefully at home in Los Angeles.
Easy Rider, in which Fonda appeared alongside its director Dennis Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson, became a cult classic and earned Fonda an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Fonda played a biker in the film – a role he would take up a number of times throughout his career.
The film, the first counterculture movie to be a huge hit, touched a nerve for America’s youth.
His older sister Jane Fonda added: “I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family.
“I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”