Early life
Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters.Her mother, Pauline Alice (née Evans), was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett, was an oil field contractor. She was of Irish, French, English and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said the name "Ferrah" was "made up" by her mother because it went well with their last name; she later changed the spelling.A Roman Catholic, Fawcett's early education was at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi in 1965. For three years, 1965–68, Fawcett attended the University of Texas at Austin living one semester in Jester Center, and became a sister of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. During her sophomore year, she appeared in a photo of the "Ten Most Beautiful Coeds" from the university, which ran in Cashbox magazine. A Hollywood publicist saw the photo, called Fawcett and over the course of a year urged her to move to Los Angeles, which she did the summer following her junior year, with her parents' permission to "try her luck" in Hollywood over the course of the summer. She did not return.
Career
Early career
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fawcett appeared in TV commercials for consumer products, starting with her selection as a Breck Girl for Breck Shampoo, and moving on to other products including Noxzema shaving cream, Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam shampoo, and the 1975 Mercury Cougar. Beginning in 1978, after achieving TV stardom, she developed her own brand of hair care products, marketed by Fabergé, for which she appeared in a series of commercials and print ads.Fawcett's first TV series appearance was a guest spot on I Dream of Jeannie in the 1968–1969 season, followed by guest appearances in Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and "The Partridge Family". She later appeared in The Six Million Dollar Man with Lee Majors, which first aired in 1974, The Dating Game, and several episodes of Harry O alongside David Janssen.
She appeared in a bit part on the critically-panned movie Myra Breckinridge in 1970. Her next movie appearance was on the well-received science-fiction movie Logan's Run.
In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged with photographer Bruce McBroom, who was hired by the poster company. From 40 rolls of film, Farrah herself selected her six favorite pictures, eventually narrowing her choice to the one that made her famous. The resulting poster, of Farrah in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million to 8 million to as high as 12 million copies. Fawcett, generally acknowledged as a shrewd businesswoman, retained ownership of the image and made millions of dollars on sales of the poster alone.
Charlie's Angels
On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels was aired as a movie of the week. Fawcett and her husband were frequent tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling, and he and his producing partner thought of casting Fawcett as the "golden girl" Jill because of his friendship with the couple. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as "Angels." They were aided in the office and occasionally in the field by two male associates, played by character actors David Doyle and David Ogden Stiers. The program earned a huge Nielsen rating, leading the network to air it a second time and approve production for a series, with the pilot's principal cast except David Ogden Stiers.The Charlie's Angels series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. In a 1977 interview with TV Guide, Fawcett said: "When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra".
Fawcett's appearance in the TV show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie's Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a "Farrah Do" or "Farrah Hair." Iterations of her hair style predominated American women's hair styles well into the 1980s.[citation needed]
Fawcett left Charlie's Angels after only one season and Cheryl Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill's younger sister Kris Munroe. Numerous explanations for Fawcett's precipitous withdrawal from the show were offered over the years. The strain on her marriage due to her long absences most days due to filming, as her then-husband Lee Majors was star of an established TV show himself, was frequently cited, but Fawcett's ambitions to broaden her acting abilities with opportunities in films have also been given. Fawcett never officially signed her series contract with Spelling due to protracted negotiations over royalties from her image's use in peripheral products, which led to an even more protracted lawsuit filed by Spelling and his company when she quit the show.
The show was a major success throughout the world, maintaining its appeal in syndication, spawning a cottage industry of peripheral products, particularly in the show's first three seasons, including several series of bubble gum cards, two sets of fashion dolls, numerous posters, puzzles, and school supplies, novelizations of episodes, toy vans, and a board game, all featuring Fawcett's likeness. The "Angels" also appeared on the covers of magazines around the world, from countless fan magazines to TV Guide (four times) to Time Magazine.
The series ultimately ran for five seasons. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit over her early departure, Fawcett returned for six guest appearances over seasons three and four of the series.
In 2004, the TV movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels dramatized the events from the show with supermodel and actress Tricia Helfer portraying Fawcett and Ben Browder portraying Lee Majors, Fawcett's then-husband.
Dramatic roles
In 1983, Fawcett won critical acclaim for her role in the off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, written by William Mastrosimone. Replacing Susan Sarandon, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. She described the role as "the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally exhausting" of her career. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were able only to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based TV movie The Burning Bed earned her the first of her four Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first TV movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse. It was the highest-rated TV movie of the season.
In 1986, Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well-received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
She appeared in Jon Avnet's Between Two Women with Colleen Dewhurst, and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as Beate Klarsfeld in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a CableACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking Life magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination. The miniseries won a Peabody Award for excellence in television, with Fawcett's performance singled out by the organization, which stated "Ms. Fawcett brings a sense of realism rarely seen in television miniseries (to) a drama of unusual power"
Art meets life
Fawcett, who had steadfastly resisted appearing nude in films or magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s, caused a major stir by posing semi-nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy. At the age of 50, she returned to Playboy with a pictorial for the July 1997 issue, which also became a top seller. The issue and its accompanying video featured Fawcett painting on canvas using her body, which had been an ambition of hers for years.That same year, Fawcett was chosen by Robert Duvall to play his wife in an independent feature film he was producing, The Apostle. Fawcett received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for the film, which was highly critically acclaimed.
In 2000, she worked with director Robert Altman and an all-star cast in the feature film Dr. T and the Women, playing opposite Richard Gere. Also that year, Fawcett's collaboration with sculptor Keith Edmier was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, later traveling to the Andy Warhol Museum. The sculpture was also presented in a series of photographs and a book by Rizzoli.
In November 2003, Fawcett prepared for her return to Broadway in a production of Bobbi Boland, the tragicomic tale of a former Miss Florida. However, the show never officially opened, closing before preview performances. Fawcett was described as "vibrating with frustration" at the producer's extraordinary decision to cancel the production. Only days earlier the same producer closed an off-Broadway show she had been backing.
Fawcett continued to work in television, with well-regarded appearances in made for TV movies and on popular television series including Ally McBeal and four episodes each of Spin City and The Guardian, her work on the latter show earning her a third Emmy nomination in 2004.
Personal life
Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of TV's The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973 to 1982, although the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.From 1982 until 1997 Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O'Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond James Fawcett O'Neal, born January 1985 in Los Angeles. In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, Redmond was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital. On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O'Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.
From 1997 to 1998, Fawcett had a relationship with filmmaker James Orr, writer and producer of the Disney feature film in which she co-starred with Chevy Chase, Man of the House.
On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received negative commentary after giving a rambling interview and appearing distracted on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show her behavior was just her way of joking around with the television host, partly in the guise of promoting her Playboy pictoral and video, explaining what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, she returned to the show a week later, with success, and several years later, after Joaquin Phoenix's mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight" and recalled Fawcett's earlier appearance by noting "[w]e owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett."
Fawcett's elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001. The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series, which was generally panned by critics, followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.
Cancer
Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor's office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett's U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as "holistic","aggressive", and "alternative".There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett's home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.
In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was hospitalized, with media reports declaring her unconscious and in critical condition though subsequent reports indicated the severity of her condition was not as dire. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver, a development Fawcett had learned of in May 2007 and which her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the hospitalization was due not to her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not "at death's door", adding "She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor ... She's been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience." Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9, picked up by longtime companion O'Neal, and, according to her doctor, was "walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home."
A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit.
The cancer specialist that was treating Fawcett in L.A., Dr. Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson — a breast cancer survivor — appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such fabrications, saying they "really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah." Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging "Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world", but also that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair "affects [one's] whole sense of who [they] are". Of the documentary, Jackson averred Fawcett "didn't do this to show that 'she' is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique ... (T)his was ... meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them."
The two-hour documentary Farrah's Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009. The documentary was watched by nearly nine million people at its premiere airing and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett earned her fourth Emmy nomination posthumously on July 16, 2009, as producer of Farrah's Story.
Controversy surrounded the aired version of the documentary, with her initial producing partner, who had worked with her four years earlier on her reality series Chasing Farrah, alleging O'Neal's and Stewart's editing of the program was not in keeping with Fawcett's wishes to more thoroughly explore rare types of cancers such as her own and alternative methods of treatment. He was especially critical of scenes showing Fawcett's son visiting her for the last time, in shackles, while she was nearly unconscious in bed. Fawcett had generally kept her son out of the media, and his appearances were minimal in Chasing Farrah.
Death
Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 a.m., PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O'Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on June 30. Fawcett's son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother's funeral, where he gave the first reading.The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters' past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro.Walters followed up on the story on Friday's episode of 20/20. CNN's Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett, and Suzanne De Passe, executive producer of Fawcett's Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel" the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah's Story in prime time.That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie's Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael & Farrah: Lost Icons and the Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah's Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.
Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon,
| “ | TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week — nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant." | ” |
Kate Jackson said,
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences caused controversy when Fawcett was excluded from the "In Memoriam" montage at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, along with fellow television stars Bea Arthur, Gene Barry and Ed McMahon. In addition to Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, friends and colleagues of Fawcett publicly expressed their outrage at the oversight, including actress Jane Fonda and film critic Roger Ebert. AMPAS executive director Bruce Davis cited Fawcett's recognition at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards for her "remarkable television work," and said of all the exclusions: "There's nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all. They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we're sorry for it."
She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
Theatrical films| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Love Is a Funny Thing | Patricia | |
| 1970 | Myra Breckinridge | Mary Ann Pringle | |
| 1976 | Logan's Run | Holly | As Farrah Fawcett-Majors |
| 1978 | Somebody Killed Her Husband | Jenny Moore | As Farrah Fawcett-Majors |
| 1979 | An Almost Perfect Affair | Herself | Uncredited |
| Sunburn | Ellie | As Farrah Fawcett-Majors | |
| 1980 | Saturn 3 | Alex | |
| 1981 | The Cannonball Run | Pamela Glover | |
| 1986 | Extremities | Marjorie | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1989 | See You in the Morning | Jo Livingstone | |
| 1995 | Man of the House | Sandy Archer | |
| 1997 | The Apostle | Jessie Dewey | Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |
| The Lovemaster | Craig's Dream Date | ||
| Playboy: Farrah Fawcett, All of Me | Herself | Direct to video | |
| 1998 | The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars | Faucet | Voice |
| 2000 | The Flunky | Herself | |
| Dr. T & the Women | Kate | ||
| 2004 | The Cookout | Mrs. Crowley | |
| 2008 | A Wing & a Prayer: Farrah's Fight for Life | Herself | Documentary |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Mayberry R.F.D. | Show Girl #1 | 1 episode |
| I Dream of Jeannie | Cindy Tina | "See You in C-U-B-A" "My Sister the Home Wrecker" | |
| Three's a Crowd | Hitchhiker | Television movie | |
| 1969–1970 | The Flying Nun | Miss Preem Lila | "Armando and the Pool Table" "Marcello's Idol" |
| 1970 | The Young Rebels | Sarah | "Dangerous Ally" |
| The Partridge Family | Pretty Girl | "The Sound of Money" | |
| 1971 | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Tori Barbour | "Burden of Proof" "Shadow of a Name" |
| The Feminist and the Fuzz | Kitty Murdock | Television movie | |
| Inside O.U.T. | Pat Boulion | Unsold pilot | |
| 1973 | The Girl with Something Extra | Carol | "How Green Was Las Vegas" |
| The Great American Beauty Contest | T.L. Dawson | Television movie | |
| Of Men and Women | Young Actress | Segment: "The Interview" | |
| 1974 | Apple's Way | Jane Huston | "The First Love" |
| Marcus Welby, M.D. | Laura Foley | "I've Promised You a Father: Part 1" | |
| McCloud | Gloria Jean | "The Colorado Cattle Caper" | |
| 1974–1976 | Harry O | Sue Ingham | 8 episodes |
| The Six Million Dollar Man | Major Kelly Wood (2 episodes), Trish Hollander, Victoria Webster | 4 episodes. As Farrah Fawcett Majors (Rescue of Athena One) and as Farrah Fawcett-Majors (Nightmare in the Sky, The Golden Pharaoh, and The Peeping Blonde) | |
| 1975 | The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped | Patti | Television movie |
| Murder on Flight 502 | Karen White | As Farrah Fawcett-Majors | |
| S.W.A.T. | Miss New Mexico | "The Steel-Plated Security Blanket" as Farrah Fawcett-Majors | |
| 1976–1980 | Charlie's Angels | Jill Munroe | Cast member from 1976–1977; recurring from 1978–1980 Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (1976) |
| 1981 | Murder in Texas | Joan Robinson Hill | Television movie |
| 1984 | The Red-Light Sting | Kathy | Television movie |
| The Burning Bed | Francine Hughes | Television movie Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | |
| 1986 | Between Two Women | Val Petherton | Television movie |
| Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story | Beate Klarsfeld | Television movie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | |
| 1987 | Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story | Barbara Hutton | Television movie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1989 | Margaret Bourke-White | Margaret Bourke-White | Television movie |
| Small Sacrifices | Diane Downs | Television movie Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | |
| Good Sports | Gayle Roberts | 2 episodes | |
| 1992 | Criminal Behavior | Jessica Lee Stubbs | Television movie |
| 1994 | The Substitute Wife | Pearl | Television movie |
| 1995 | Children of the Dust | Nora Maxwell | Miniseries |
| 1996 | Dalva | Dalva Northridge | Television movie |
| 1997 | Johnny Bravo | Farrah Fawcett / Old Lady | "Blarney Buddies/Over the Hump/Johnny Meets Farrah Fawcett" (voice) |
| 1999 | Silk Hope | Frannie Vaughn | Television movie |
| Ally McBeal | Robin Jones | "Changes" | |
| 2000 | Baby | Lily Malone | Television movie |
| 2001 | Jewel | Jewel Hilburn | Television movie |
| Spin City | Judge Claire Simmons | 4 episodes | |
| 2002–2003 | The Guardian | Mary Gressler | 4 episodes Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series |
| 2003 | Hollywood Wives: The New Generation | Lissa Roman | Television movie |
| 2005 | Chasing Farrah | Herself | 7 episodes |
| 2009 | Farrah's Story[47] | Herself | Also Executive producer |
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