Farrah Fawcett

About Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett, born February 2, 1947, and passing away on June 25, 2009, was an accomplished American actress and visual artist. Throughout her career, she garnered multiple nominations for both Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. Her trajectory to worldwide recognition began in 1976 when she debuted as private investigator Jill Munroe in the inaugural season of the ABC television phenomenon Charlie's Angels. Beyond television, Fawcett appeared in Off-Broadway productions to strong critical reception and starred in well-regarded television films, often taking on complex and sometimes morally ambiguous characters such as her role in the 1988 NBC miniseries The Burning Bed and the controversial Small Sacrifices. She became an international sex symbol whose famous poster, released the same year Charlie's Angels premiered, achieved unprecedented sales records and established her as a dominant pop culture figure. The hairstyle she popularized was widely copied by countless young women during the 1970s and 1980s.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fawcett worked in television advertising, beginning as a Breck Girl for Breck Shampoo and continuing with endorsements for products including Noxzema, Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam shampoo, and a 1975 Mercury Cougar. Starting in 1978, following her television success, she introduced her own hair care line distributed by Fabergé, for which she appeared in numerous commercials and advertisements. Her initial television appearance was a guest role on I Dream of Jeannie during the 1968-1969 season, followed by appearances on Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, The Partridge Family, and The Six Million Dollar Man alongside Lee Majors, which premiered in 1974. She also guested on The Dating Game and several installments of Harry O with David Janssen. A small film role in the poorly received Myra Breckinridge came in 1970, followed by a well-received science fiction film, Logan's Run with Michael York, in 1976.

Her breakthrough poster emerged after Pro Arts Inc. proposed the concept to her agent in 1976. Photographer Bruce McBroom was hired to conduct the shoot. According to companion Nels Van Patten, Fawcett applied her own styling and cosmetics without mirror assistance, enhancing her natural blonde tones with lemon juice. From numerous film rolls, she personally selected her preferred images and ultimately chose the photograph that would become iconic. The resulting image, showing Fawcett in a red one-piece bathing suit, became extraordinarily successful, with sales estimates ranging between five and twelve million copies.