(1947-2009)

Who Was Farrah Fawcett?

Farrah Fawcett was an American actress best known for her role as Jill Monroe on the TV series Charlie’s Angels (1976). Fawcett rocketed to pin-up status when a poster of the red bathing suit-clad actress sold 12 million copies. Her popularity also extended to females as evidenced in salons throughout America that emulated her iconic feathered hairstyle. After Charlie’s Angels, Fawcett starred in multiple film and TV movies, garnering three Emmy nominations. Fawcett died on June 25, 2009, from anal cancer.

Early Life

Actress Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in the coastal city of Corpus Christi, Texas. She was the second daughter of Pauline, a homemaker, and Jim Fawcett, an oil field contractor. She later changed her name to Farrah.

She attended John J. Pershing Middle School in Houston, Texas, a school which is now a magnet program for fine arts. From 1962-65, Fawcett attended W.B. Ray High School, where she held the title of "Most Beautiful Student" for all four years.

In the fall of 1965, Fawcett enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where she planned to major in microbiology and joined the Delta Delta Delta sorority. The following year, a celebrity publicist asked her to go to California to work as a model. Initially, her parents forbade her to go; however, in the summer of 1968 they conceded and accompanied Fawcett on her trip out west to Hollywood.

Model to Early Screen Work

Within two weeks of arriving, Fawcett landed a modeling contract. Immediately inundated with offers to star in TV commercials and print advertisements, her plan to return to school fell by the wayside.

Fawcett remained in Hollywood and began a relationship with actor Lee Majors. The couple dated for five years before marrying on July 28, 1973. That same year, Majors began starring in his own hit TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man, in which Fawcett made several guest appearances.

'Charlie's Angels' and Red Bathing Suit

On September 22, 1976, Fawcett debuted as former policewoman Jill Monroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels. Also starring fellow beauties Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, the Aaron Spelling drama premiered to high ratings. However, critics had a dimmer view, classifying Charlie's Angels as "family style porn" and "jiggle TV."

During the show's first season, a poster of Fawcett dressed in a seemingly innocent red bathing suit sold 12 million copies. The image, which catapulted Fawcett to superstardom, epitomized her perfect combination of girl-next-door innocence and blonde bombshell sexuality. Furthermore, the layered hairstyle that she sported became such an overwhelming trend with American women that a Farrah Fawcett shampoo was launched.

Despite her overwhelming popularity, Fawcett didn't return for the second season of Charlie's Angels. Spelling, who wielded a large amount of power in Hollywood, sued the actress for breach of contract. Faced with a $7 million lawsuit, Fawcett settled out of court by agreeing to make periodic guest appearances on the show over the next few years.

Films: 'Logan's Run' to 'The Cannonball Run'

Fawcett turned her attention toward film roles, appearing in Logan's Run (1976), Sunburn (1979) and Saturn 3 (1980), all of which performed poorly at the box office. Although Fawcett was praised for her first dramatic television performance in the 1981 miniseries Murder in Texas, her appearance as a ditsy blonde in the film The Cannonball Run (1981) was more typical of the scripts that came her way.

Emmy Noms for 'The Burning Bed,' 'Small Sacrifices,' 'The Guardian'

In 1984, Fawcett produced and starred in the made-for-TV movie The Burning Bed, which was a searing portrait of domestic violence. For her compelling performance as a woman driven to kill her husband after suffering for years under his physical abuse, Fawcett earned national recognition, as well as an Emmy nomination. Fawcett also won acclaim in the stage and a movie version of Extremities (1986), in which she played a rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. In 1989, she played a mother who shot her children in another miniseries, Small Sacrifices, receiving a second Emmy nomination. Her third Emmy nomination came in 2001 for her work in The Guardian.

TV Movies and Later Screen Roles

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fawcett's projects were predominantly TV movies. Her credits included Nazi Hunter: The Beate Karsfeld Story (1986), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987), Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourge-White (1989), Criminal Behavior (1992) and The Substitute Wife (1994). In 1997, Fawcett played a significant role opposite Robert Duvall in the acclaimed religious drama The Apostle, which introduced her to a new generation of moviegoers. In 2000, she joined Richard Gere and Helen Hunt in the Robert Altman comedy Dr. T and the Women (2000).

Appearing in 'Playboy'

After resisting any nudity in films or magazines for years, the 48-year-old actress posed topless in the December 1995 issue of Playboy magazine. The issue quickly became one of the most popular in the magazine's history, with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. Two years later, Fawcett once again graced the pages of Playboy.

Relationships and Son

Fawcett and Majors separated in 1979 and divorced in 1982, ending their nine-year marriage. Fawcett then began dating actor and notorious womanizer Ryan O'Neal, with whom she had a son, Redmond, in 1985.

After splitting with O'Neal in 1997, Fawcett and Hollywood director James Orr began dating. In January 1998, Orr was arrested for physically attacking Fawcett after she turned down his marriage proposal; he was later tried and convicted of assault and battery. Fawcett and O'Neal started seeing each other on-and-off again, while she reportedly also rekindled a relationship with a former UT classmate named Gregg Lott.

Illness and Death

Fawcett suffered a series of personal losses in 2006, including the deaths of her agent Jay Bernstein, mentor Aaron Spelling and her mother, Polly. Later that year, she was diagnosed with anal cancer and O'Neal was diagnosed with leukemia.

Fawcett was declared cancer free on her 60th birthday on February 2, 2007. In May 2007, a routine doctor's visit revealed a small polyp that turned out to be malignant. She flew to Germany to pursue alternative treatments in her battle against cancer, some of which were not allowed in the U.S. Fawcett took chemotherapy treatments at Frankfurt University Hospital as well as alternative treatments in a clinic in Bad Wiessee in the southern state of Bavaria. Additionally, the actress founded the Farrah Fawcett Foundation to aid fellow cancer patients and fund research for cutting-edge treatments.

Fawcett died on June 25, 2009, at the age of 62.

A&E Biography Special

Biography: Farrah Fawcett Forever was a celebration of the life of actress Farrah Fawcett 10 years after her tragic death on June 25, 2009. Fawcett is an American icon whose influence on pop culture has been underestimated. After moving to Los Angeles from Texas, she found success as a model and began acting in a series of television roles. Her career exploded when she landed a starring role in one of the biggest TV hits of the ‘70s, Charlie’s Angels, and released her iconic bathing suit poster.

Fawcett shocked the industry when she walked away from guaranteed success as a television sex symbol, and instead pursued roles against type in serious movies like The Burning Bed and Extremities. Farrah continued to defy expectations becoming a sculptor and showing it was possible to be sexy at 50. Until the end, she lived life on her own terms, documenting her most important and impactful moment as she fearlessly battled cancer in a very public and moving way.

Biography: Farrah Fawcett Forever featured new interviews with Alana Stewart, Jaclyn Smith, Suzanne de Passe, Robert Duvall, Sherry Lansing and Cicely Tyson. The film included never-before-seen family photographs and footage of Fawcett’s art project with sculptor Keith Edmier, as well as intimate film footage of her cancer battle.

QUICK FACTS

Birth Year: 1947
Birth date: February 2, 1947
Birth State: Texas
Birth City: Corpus Christi
Birth Country: United States
Gender: Female
Best Known For: Farrah Fawcett was an American actress best known for her role in the TV series 'Charlie’s Angels.' She was also famous for her pin-up status and her signature hairstyle.
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