'Easy Rider' star dies at 79

Next weekend's Bikers on the Bayou in Franklin and Amelia has turned into a memorial event.

Peter Fonda, the son of a Hollywood legend who became a movie star in his own right both writing and starring in the counterculture classic “Easy Rider,” has died. His family says in a statement that Fonda died Friday morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79.

The official cause of death was respiratory failure due to lung cancer.

Born into Hollywood royalty as Henry Fonda’s only son, Peter Fonda carved his own path with his non-conformist tendencies and earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing “Easy Rider.” He never won an Oscar but would later be nominated for best actor in “Ulee’s Gold.”

The family says this is one of the saddest moments of their lives and asks for privacy.

The Bikers on the Bayou event, originally scheduled for July 13 but postponed by Tropical Storm Barry, was conceived as a way to mark the 50th anniversary of "Easy Rider," parts of which were filmed in St. Mary. Bikers on the Bayou is now scheduled for Aug. 24.

Among the actors who played major roles in the film, only Jack Nicholson remains alive. Dennis Hopper, who rode chopped motorcycles with Fonda's character across the Southwest and Gulf Coast on the way to Mardi Gras in the movie, died in 2010. Terry Southern, who won praise for his work on the satirical "Dr. Strangelove" screenplay, died in 1995. Fonda, Southern and Hopper shared an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay for "Easy Rider."