Classic images that capture the spirit of Farrah Fawcett
A model, actress, and artist, Farrah Fawcett began her acting career in the 1960s before rising to international stardom as Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels. Although at first, many didn’t see her as much more than a pinup girl, over the course of her life, she proved that she had talent and range, acting in television, films, and Broadway performances.
Keep reading on through this list to see how Fawcett started out as an ordinary girl from Texas and became one of the most talked-about and beloved celebrities of her time.
A Poster Made Her More Money Than Charlie’s Angels
After Farrah Fawcett moved to Los Angeles, she began appearing in a series of commercials and small television roles. Then, in 1976, Pro Arts Inc. pitched the idea for a poster to her agent. After doing her own makeup, hair, and a short photoshoot, Fawcett selected her favorite picture from 40 images.
The result was Fawcett in a red one-piece bathing suit, which went on to become the best-selling poster of all time, with 12 million copies purchased in a blink. This was months before Charlie’s Angels came out, and made her more money than the television show.
She Was Part Of An April Fool’s Joke On Television
In 1969, before she was blonde, Farrah Fawcett appeared as a bachelorette on the television game show The Dating Game. After making a selection on the lucky bachelor, all three contestants immediately erupted into a fistfight.
Yet, as it turns out, everything was staged. The show was taped for an April Fool’s Day airing and then bachelors were actually Hollywood stuntmen. Nevertheless, nobody would have surprised at the time if it turned out to be real.
She Received A Beautiful Gift From Van Morrison
Since the ’70s, Fawcett was a massive fan of Van Morrison. It appears the admiration was mutual, as he was reportedly an admirer of her work as well. Indeed, Morrison’s music was so important to her that a band played some of his songs at her funeral.
Toward the end of Fawcett’s life, she hoped that she would be well enough to attend his concert at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles but sadly found that this wasn’t the case. Hearing of this, Morrison specially filmed it and had the footage delivered to her Malibu home, so she could spend her last days treasuring it.
Fawcett Persevered Through The Strangest Opening Night
Before she was on Broadway, Fawcett made her stage debut in Butterflies Are Free, a 1980 play performed at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida. Although Fawcett’s performance was praised by critics, that praise didn’t come easy for her.
That’s because the opening night was disrupted by a large woman in the front row, who apparently directed a barrage of insults at her. When she tired of this, she inexplicably started making bird calls throughout the performance. Not content with her obnoxious behavior, she then escalated things by flashing the actors. Despite playing a blind man in the show, actor Dennis Christopher couldn’t help but visibly notice. Fawcett’s glowing reviews were clearly well-earned to keep her composure through that.
Fawcett Was No Fan Of Raquel Welch
Fawcett acted alongside Raquel Welch in the infamously incoherent 1970 disaster, Myra Breckenridge. As she told Howard Stern in a 1997 interview, Welch was harsh about seemingly everything to do with Fawcett, from her hair to the most minor of line flubs. Naturally, Fawcett regarded her as a mean person and wanted nothing more to do with her after the movie wrapped.
She also noted that Welch’s unpleasant treatment wasn’t limited to her, which taught her to be conscious about how she treated people on set. In Fawcett’s words, “On Myra Breckinridge, we had to wait hours for Raquel Welch. I wasn’t anybody so I stood around the set and heard what the crew said about her. I decided I didn’t want them saying those things about me.”
She Championed Her Charlie’s Angels Co-Stars
Famous instigator as he is (especially in the earlier years of his show) Howard Stern tried to goad Fawcett into similarly dishing about her Charlie’s Angel co-stars. Yet, while Fawcett didn’t mind speaking out about Raquel Welch’s behavior, she didn’t have an unkind word to say about either Jaclyn Smith or Kate Jackson.
Stern asked her whether Jackson was mean and while Fawcett admitted she could get acerbic with some people, she said there was never an instance where Jackson acted that way with her. When Stern implied that Smith was not intelligent, Fawcett also stuck up for her.
Fawcett Almost Made Kate Jackson Quit Acting Before They Even Met
Despite her confident, assertive reputation, Kate Jackson once told Today that the very sight of Farrah Fawcett at her first Hollywood party almost convinced her that she wouldn’t make it as an actress. She described Fawcett as the most “gorgeous, magnificent, glorious girl” and figured that if she was her competition in Hollywood, she might as well go back home to Alabama and become a teacher or something.
Although the two became lifelong friends, Jackson told Fawcett about that party when they actually met on the set of Charlie’s Angels. As she put it, “I told her that she was darn lucky that I was still here to do this show because I almost went home because of her.”
She Had Small Roles In Major Television Shows
In 1969, when Fawcett was the young age of 22, she scored a series of small roles in some major television shows at the time.
That year, she played the role of a playboy’s girlfriend in an episode of The Flying Nun and a secretary that Major Healey makes a move on in I Dream of Jeanie. The following year, she appeared on The Partridge Family as a passerby that helps Danny and Mr. Kincaid trap a fake whiplash victim.
She Was Usually At The Top Of The List
Growing up, Fawcett was always complimented on her good looks, being voted “Most Beautiful” her freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school. Furthermore, she was the first freshman in her college to be chosen as one of the “Ten Most Beautiful Coeds on Campus.”
After Charlie’s Angels went from a TV movie to a television series, the public was polled about who their favorite “Angels” were. Fawcett came in at the top of the list. Regardless of the poll, the show launched the careers of all three actresses.
Goldie Hawn and Fawcett Traded Roles Decades Apart
In a bizarre coincidence, Fawcett and Goldie Hawn had unwittingly served as each other’s replacements over the years. The first part of this decades-spanning trade occurred in the late ’70s, when Fawcett was a favorite to play Gloria Mundy in the 1978 hit Foul Play.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, she was deterred from accepting the role by Charlie’s Angels‘ producers, who threatened to sue for damages if she strayed from the show. This gave Hawn the opportunity to take the role instead. Although Hawn dropped out of the 2001 Robert Altman film Dr. T And The Women of her own volition, Fawcett would end up replacing her as Kate.
Fawcett’s Meteoric Rise Had An Unusual Marker
Although “Farrah” has long been a common feminine name throughout the Middle East (as it means “happiness” in Arabic), it’s only a fairly recent phenomenon for it to become as popular a name as it is in the Western world. As it turns out, Fawcett was almost singlehandedly responsible for that change.
Indeed, Farrah entered the list of the top 1,000 most popular baby names for girls between 1976 and 1980. Since 1976 was the year Charlie’s Angels debuted, the spike in popularity is pretty easy to explain. Moreover, it’s certainly an easier name to live with than “Khaleesi.”
Fawcett Likely Influenced A Popular Barbie Doll Design
Although designer Bill Greening would explicitly design a rare Black Label Barbie doll in honor of Fawcett in 2011, it was commonly suspected that her likeness inspired a particularly influential Barbie design long before her passing.
While Mattel hasn’t explicitly confirmed this, the Design Museum echoed theories that the design choices of the 1977 Superstar Barbie doll were made with Fawcett in mind. This was particularly noticeable when it came to Barbie’s hair, which matched Fawcett’s iconic ’70s style. The Design Museum also suggested her outfit brought the designs of fashion legend Halston to mind, as he was a prominent designer during the late ’70s.
Fawcett Was A Dear Friend Of Rodney Dangerfield’s Family
Those who knew Fawcett often described her as a very funny and vivacious person, and attest that she remained that way until the very end. One of those friends is Joan Dangerfield (pictured with her), the widow of legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield. She also fondly remembered what a comforting and free-spirited presence Fawcett was after she lost her husband.
Indeed, Fawcett was clear about how deeply she cared for Rodney as well, as she held a butterfly releasing ceremony on the anniversary of his death and pledged to sculpt a bronze life-size statue of him for the Pierce Brothers Memorial Park.
Tennis Helped Her Score The Role In Charlie’s Angels
Farrah Fawcett scored arguably the biggest role of her career in Charlie’s Angels as a result of two things, which were her husband and her love for tennis. At the time, she and her then-husband, Lee Majors, frequently played tennis with the famous television producer Aaron Spelling.
When it came time to cast the role of Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels, he immediately thought of Fawcett, who had caught his eye more than once on the tennis court. She didn’t even have to audition!
She Got Into Broadway After A Few Failed Movie Attempts
After her time on Charlie’s Angels came to an end, Fawcett had some trouble finding her feet. She was in the three films Somebody Killed Her Husband, Sunburn, and Saturn 3, all of which were massive flops.
In 1983, she ended up replacing Susan Sarandon in the Broadway stage production of Extremities, in which three female roommates turn the tables on an attacker. Fawcett described her time on Broadway as being “the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally” exhausting part of her career.
She’s Been Nominated For Her Acting Performances
In 1984, Fawcett received her first Emmy nomination for her role as a battered wife in the television film The Burning Bed. The show also turned out to be progressive, as it was the first television movie to provide a phone number for those suffering from domestic abuse.
Furthermore, she was nominated for her performance in the movie adaptation of Extremities in 1986, with some rumors circulating around that she was even going to be nominated for an Oscar.
She Passed Away The Same Day As Michael Jackson
Regardless that Farrah Fawcett had been a star in her own right starting at a young age, her death at the age of 62 on June 25, 2009, was vastly overshadowed by that of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson died five hours after Fawcett, and it was clear which one the news agencies cared about more. Today, the majority of people remember that as the day that Michael Jackson died and not Farrah Fawcett.
She Quit Charlie’s Angels After Just One Season
Despite it being one of her most popular roles and that she was hired on for a five-year deal, Fawcett quit Charlie’s Angels just after one year. Although she claimed she was interested in acting in movies, many people that it was putting a strain on her marriage.
Even though the producers offered her a more flexible schedule and more money, she still declined the offer, which resulted in a $7 million lawsuit. In the end, she agreed to do six guest appearances in the following two seasons, and Cherry Ladd replaced her character in season 2.
She Inspired A Song
Farrah Fawcett was the inspiration behind the Gladys Knight & The Pips’ hit song “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Jim Weatherly, the writer of the song, was a friend of her then-husband, Lee Majors.
One night, when Weatherly called their house, Fawcett answered the phone and told Weatherly that she was going to visit her mom on “the midnight plane to Houston.” Weatherly figured that was a catchy enough title to a song and added his own twist to it.
She Left Her Husband For Ryan O’Neal
While Fawcett and her then-husband, Lee Majors, were still together, Majors supposedly invited Ryan O’Neal over to his house to play racquetball. It was there that he asked O’Neal, a known ladies man, to watch over and take his young wife out to keep her company while he was away shooting a film in Canada.
This turned out to maybe not be the best idea, because Fawcett ended up leaving Majors for O’Neal and the two remained together for the rest of her life, with a few separations in between.
Her Relationship With O’Neal Resumed For A Sad Reason
Although Fawcett and O’Neal had a civil co-parenting relationship for their son after separating in 1997, they were compelled to rekindle their romance in 2001 after a devastating cancer scare. Despite her fate, it wasn’t Fawcett was was diagnosed at the time.
Instead, O’Neal discovered that he had leukemia and Fawcett was compelled to stay by his side. When she had her own anal cancer struggle, he had returned the favour. As he told People, “It’s a love story. I just don’t know how to play this one. I won’t know this world without her. Cancer is an insidious enemy.”
Her Reputation Was Hurt After An Appearance On David Letterman
In 1997, the same year that she co-starred with Robert Duvall in The Apostle, Fawcett was invited onto The Late Show With David Letterman. Unfortunately, the interview didn’t go as Fawcett might have hoped, with audiences claiming that she seemed distracted and even intoxicated.
This led people to believe that she had developed an addiction problem, which she denied, but the rumor followed her for the rest of her life.
There Was An Issue With The Academy Awards
In March 2010, the Academy upset Fawcett’s family and friends when she was excluded from the “In Memoriam” montage at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony. AMPAS director Bruce Davis claimed that she was mainly known for her TV work and that she had already been recognized for her “remarkable television work” at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
What really added to the controversy was that Michael Jackson was included in the montage, although he hardly did any real acting throughout his life.
Charlie’s Angels Almost Didn’t Happen
When producer Aaron Spelling and his partner Leonard Goldberg pitched the idea for Charlie’s Angels to ABC, things didn’t necessarily go well. The network executives Barry Diller and Michael Eisner turned them down, saying that the idea for a series centering around three female characters was “the worst idea they had ever heard.”
Luckily for Spelling, he was able to convince them otherwise and Charlie’s Angels went on to be a hit and was the beginning of Fawcett’s rise to fame.
She Enjoyed School
Although many of Fawcett’s classmates may have remembered her for her good looks, she was also quite the student. While attending the University of Texas, she had a passion for science, particularly microbiology.
Later in her academic career, she eventually moved away from science and towards the arts, taking an interest in sculpting. During that time, she was pursued by Hollywood agent David Mirisch for a whole two years, who insisted that she moved to Los Angeles. However, she continued to deny him to continue her education until she eventually decided to “try her luck.”
There’s A Hairstyle Named After Her
During her rise to fame, Farrah Fawcett’s multi-layer haircut became all the rage and even had its own name, the “Farrah Flip” or “Farrah-do.” Although few people could pull it off as well as the icon it was named after, it was a massive trend, particularly in the 1970s.
Impressively, Fawcett regularly did her own hair, even acting as her own stylist during photo shoots. Even today, some people still request the “Farrah Flip” at salons.
She Made A Documentary About Herself
On May 15, 2009, the two-hour documentary Farrah’s Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC. During its premiere airing, the documentary was watched by almost nine million people and was re-aired on several other stations.
Later that year, Fawcett was posthumously nominated for her fourth Emmy as a producer for the documentary. However, there was controversy about the documentary, as Fawcett’s original producing partner claimed that Stewart O’Neal didn’t edit the documentary to Fawcett’s initial wishes.
Andy Warhol Made Portraits Of Her
In 1980, O’Neal arranged a meeting between Fawcett and acclaimed artist Andy Warhol, who created two portraits of her which she eventually loaned to the Andy Warhol Museum. In her trust, she left the portraits to her alma mater, the University of Texas.
In 2011, the university learned that O’Neal had taken one of the portraits, claiming that Fawcett gave it to him before she died. The university then filed suit, and in December 2013, a Los Angeles court ruled that the portrait belonged to O’Neal.
She Was Cancer-Free For A Short While
Unfortunately, in 2006, Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer. She then underwent chemotherapy treatment for four months as well as surgery. By her 60th birthday, in 2007, it was reported that she was cancer-free.
Nevertheless, this wouldn’t last forever. Just three months later, after reporting that she had beaten cancer, it came back with a vengeance at the stage IV level. The disease then spread to her liver, a condition which has a five-year survival rate of less than 5%.
She Was In A Scandalous Superbowl Commercial
In 1973, Fawcett and the Jet’s quarterback Joe Namath starred in the scandalous and definitely most talked-about Superbowl commercial of that year. The 30-second commercial was for Noxzema shaving cream and shows the two as Fawcett applies shaving cream to Namath’s face while singing, “Let Noxzema cream your face so the razor won’t.”
Although not many were too surprised by the suggestive commercial, it has gone down as one of the most memorable Superbowl ads of all time.
