Writer Says Fonda Biography Shelved : But the journalist denies report by Weekly Variety that he and partner were ‘bought out’ by the actress.

Journalist Robert Scheer says his planned biography of actress Jane Fonda has been shelved, but he denies a published report that Fonda “bought out” him and co-author Barry Golson after reading several chapters of the book.

“That’s just not true,” said Scheer, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times who lives in Irvine. “Jane didn’t kill any book, and she didn’t have the power to kill any book.”

Scheer and Golson, executive editor of TV Guide, were under contract to Doubleday for the Fonda biography, which was expected to be published in 1992. Although the bio was being written “in cooperation” with Fonda, Scheer has said he and Golson were to retain full editorial control over its contents.

“There are no hard feelings,” said Scheer, who has known Fonda 20 years. “This was not a Kitty Kelley-type book. She was very cooperative. But it’s not something she wants to have come out at this time. I never wanted to bring out a book that either my partner or Jane were opposed to. It was always understood that it was an easygoing venture.”

Scheer, citing Fonda’s plans to marry media mogul Ted Turner, Golson’s new job at TV Guide and his own return to The Times after a lengthy unpaid leave of absence, said the book “is not a project that’s convenient (for all three) at this time.”

A spokesperson for Fonda said the actress is traveling and unavailable for comment. Turner was also unavailable for comment.

Scheer declined to say whether he and Golson had to return what he last year termed a “substantial six-figure advance” for the book. “I don’t think the financial details are anybody’s business,” he said. “We have a friendly understanding about this, and no one feels ripped off.”

Normally, the portion of the advance that is received upon signing a book contract--from one-third to half of the total advance--would have to be returned to the publisher if a book falls through. A spokesperson for Doubleday would say only that the Fonda project has been put on “indefinite hold” and that it is the publishing house’s policy not to discuss financial arrangements with authors.

Scheer, who said he had asked Fonda at the outset of the project “to share very intimate experiences of her life honestly,” disputes an item in Weekly Variety, a Hollywood trade publication, that Fonda was displeased after reading several chapters of the book.

“She liked the book,” Scheer said. “She had been involved from Day One” with reading material he and Golson shared with her.

When he began conducting extensive interviews with Fonda two years ago, Scheer said, he “didn’t know of any skeletons in the closet.” And after talking to scores of Fonda’s friends, reading her FBI file and doing other research, he said, “I came away with having more respect for the woman and certainly not unearthing any scandal.”

Added Scheer, who had envisioned the biography as a “serious history” of the times in which Fonda has lived and a “critical and honest” look at her career, politics and personal life, “It’s definitely a project that Barry and I will be involved in in the future when she (Fonda) wants to tell her quite remarkable story.”