'Easy Rider' actor Peter Fonda dead at age 79

Peter Fonda, the son of a Hollywood legend who became a movie star in his own right both writing and starring in counterculture classics like "Easy Rider," has died.

Source: AAP

US actor Peter Fonda, whose starring role in classic road movie "Easy Rider" made him a symbol of 1960s counterculture, died Friday aged 79 at his Los Angeles home following a battle with lung cancer, his family said.

Fonda was the son of famed Hollywood actor Henry, and the brother of activist and actress Jane, who described him as "my sweet-hearted baby brother" in a statement sent to AFP.

"I am very sad ... I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing," she said.

Fonda co-wrote and produced 1969's "Easy Rider," in which he appeared alongside its director Dennis Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson.

The wildly successful film about two bikers travelling through the great outdoors of the American Southwest in a quest for freedom became an anti-establishment cult classic.

Fonda married three times, and leaves behind two children including actress Bridget.

He passed away peacefully due to respiratory failure while surrounded by his relatives, they said in a separate statement.