I never watched Charlie's Angels as a child and I was never a huge fan of Farrah, but there's no denying her iconic status.
Born Ferrah (with an "e") Fawcett on February 2nd, 1947, she left home for Hollywood at the age of 21 in 1968. Once there, she came under contract with Screen Gems, appearing in commercials for beauty products and toothpaste. While she appeared in a few poorly-received movies, it was her 1976 appearance in the aforementioned swimsuit poster that gained her fame which was parlayed into a small appearance in the movie Logan's Run. Already married to Lee Majors by this point, Fawcett-Majors was recommended the part of Jill Munroe in the movie-of-the-week Charlie's Angels by her tennis partner Aaron Spelling. Although her performances in subsequent movies throughout the 1980's brought her critical acclaim as well as Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, she will always be remembered for the image she made so popular not to mention the hairstyle she bequeathed upon a generation of young women.
Farrah passed away June 25th, 2009 at 62, overshadowed by the death on the same day of another cultural icon, Michael Jackson.
I'll leave you with one last little-known Farrah fact. During a phone conversation with songwriter Jim Weatherly, Farrah mentioned she was taking the midnight plane to Houston to visit her mother. Inspired by this line, Weatherly wrote the song "Midnight Train to Georgia" which was recorded by Gladys Knight and the Pips and reached Number One in 1973.
gotta say, farrah was an icon. where did you dig up that last nugget? i'd never heard that one before... now i'm wondering if it's really true...
ReplyDeleteWell, I have to admit I read it on Wikipedia (so it *HAS* to be true), although it was corroborated on the entry for the song itself as well as told on numerous other sites. Google "farrah fawcett midnight train to Georgia".
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