After starring in Charlie’s Angels, Farrah Fawcett became incredibly famous. Everyone knew her because of her famous hairstyle and sexy image. But even with all the fame, her life wasn’t easy. She had some rough times. She was in a big lawsuit against her old boss, and her romantic life was often messy and complicated.
In the 1990s, Farrah Fawcett was in a messy relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal. It was full of chaos and problems. But the saddest part was when she found out something shocking and decided to end things with him. Now, let’s learn more about the famous actress Farrah Fawcett!
Farrah Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was the second daughter of Pauline and Jim. Her mom stayed at home to take care of the family, and her dad worked as a contractor in the oil fields.
Farrah Fawcett – early life
Farrah was originally named Ferrah, which means joy in Arabic, when she was born. But later on, she chose to change it. She would become one of the most attractive women of her time, often referred to as a “golden girl.” Her mother, Pauline, remembered that when she took Farrah to the store, people would stop to admire her, saying she looked like an angel. Pauline also said that kids from their neighborhood would visit just to see her.
However, not everything was good for Farrah. Even though her mom liked that people loved her daughter, it caused some issues later. Farrah knew she was pretty, but that created problems for her. “I always felt so self-conscious,” Farrah’s mom Pauline remembered her saying. “I wanted people not to look at me because so many people kept looking at me.”
Youtube/Classic TV Rewind
Of course, looks aren’t everything, but there’s no denying that Fawcett’s appearance became a considerable part of her life.
Moving to Los Angeles
In high school, Farrah was voted “Most Beautiful” by her classmates three years in a row. When she went to the University of Texas in Austin in 1965, she was voted “Most Beautiful” again during her first year. She studied microbiology and art there. But soon after she started, she began to get interested in a different kind of career.
After Farrah was voted one of the “Ten Most Beautiful” women at the University of Texas, a picture of her caught the attention of Hollywood PR man David Mirisch. He thought she looked amazing and wanted to help her start a modeling career in Los Angeles. Mirisch had famous clients like Perry Como and Pat Boone. While Farrah was still studying, he called her and tried to persuade her to leave school and move to Hollywood.
Fawcett wanted him to speak to her father, but Mirisch was persistent.
Youtube/midimac
After completing her junior year at university, Farrah was convinced to give it a try. She had her photo taken in a Texas park by a photographer working for Texas Student Publications. Her plan was to go to Los Angeles for a little while just to see what it was like. She intended to come back to university for her senior year.
Farrah Fawcett – ‘Charlie’s Angels’ & legendary poster
As we know now, Farrah never went back to university. She moved to Los Angeles, and soon after, she signed a contract with Screen Gems. They paid her around $350 a week. She started doing commercials for things like Wela Balsam and Ultra-Brite toothpaste. She also did work for Max Factor and Mercury Cougar Cars.
Farrah wasn’t just a good model, but also a talented actress. After doing lots of modeling gigs and being on many magazine covers, she started getting acting jobs in the mid-1960s. She appeared in TV commercials and then got roles in TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, and The Flying Nun.
Back then, Farrah was getting more and more famous. But in 1976, everything really took off for her because of two big jobs. Aaron Spelling, a famous TV producer, had picked Farrah to be in his TV movie Murder on Flight 502 in 1975. He was really impressed with her acting in it.
Later on, he decided to give her a role in a new TV show called Charlie’s Angels. It was about three female detectives.
Youtube/Charlie’s Angels
In his 1996 memoir, “A Prime-Time Life,” he said, “We were searching for the California beach-girl type, and Farrah was just right for that. She was stunningly beautiful and looked exactly like the gorgeous blonde girls you’d see in Los Angeles wearing tennis shorts or swimsuits.”
Farrah Fawcett became a massive celebrity following her stint on Charlie’s Angels – her signature hairstyle and “pin-up” status only served to bring her even more fame.
At the same time, Fawcett endured tough times in her life. She was involved in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against her former employer her love life was notoriously complicated from time to time.
posterposter
In the 1990s, she was involved in a relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal, which was nothing if not chaotic. The saddest part of all, though, was that she eventually decided to break up with him because of one very shocking discovery.
Here’s all you need to know about cult actress Farrah Fawcett!
Farrah Fawcett
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
Farrah Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was the second daughter of mother Pauline and father Jim – her mother worked as a homemaker, her father as an oil field contractor.
Farrah Fawcett – early life
Farrah was actually named Ferrah – an Arabic word for joy – at birth. However, she decided to change it at a later stage.
Fawcett would become one of her generation’s most good-looking “golden girls.”
As reported by the Texas Monthly, her mother, Pauline, recalled that when she carried Farrah into a store, women stopped their cart to say, “She looks like an a-n-g-e-l.” Pauline also claimed that children around their neighborhood came to their house just to see her.
However, it wasn’t all positive for Farrah. Though her mother loved that people adored her daughter, it became a problem for her later on.
Farrah knew she was pretty, but that in itself posed problems for her.
“I always felt so self-conscious,” Farrah’s mother Pauline recalled the actress saying. “I wanted people not to look at me because so many people kept looking at me.”
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/Classic TV Rewind
Of course, looks aren’t everything, but there’s no denying that Fawcett’s appearance became a considerable part of her life.
Moving to Los Angeles
She was voted “Most Beautiful” by her classmates for three years running in high school. Then, after she moved to Austin to study at the University of Texas in 1965, she was again voted “Most Beautiful” during her freshman year.
Fawcett studied microbiology and art at the University of Texas. Just a year after she enrolled, however, a new kind of career began to gain speed.
After Farrah was voted one of the “Ten Most Beautiful” women at the University of Texas, a picture of her reached Hollywood PR man, David Mirisch. He thought she looked great, and decided to call her to try and get her to move to Los Angeles, where he said he could help her begin a modeling career.
Now, Mirsch had several other known clients, including Perry Como and Patt Boone. While Farrah was still studying, he phoned her to convince her to quit and make the move to Hollywood.
Fawcett wanted him to speak to her father, but Mirisch was persistent.
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/midimac
Finally, upon finishing her junior year, Farrah was convinced. She got her photo taken in a Texas Park by a photographer for the Texas Student Publications. Her idea was to go to Los Angeles for a short time to see what it was like; she planned on returning to university for her senior year.
Farrah Fawcett – ‘Charlie’s Angels’ & legendary poster
As we now know, that never happened.
Fawcett moved to Los Angeles, and it wasn’t long before she had signed a contract with Screen Gems that reportedly paid her about $350-a-week. She began appearing in commercials such as Wela Balsam and Ultra-Brite toothpaste, whilst also doing work for Max Factor and Mercury Cougar Cars.
Farrah wasn’t only a great model, but also a promising actress. She was soon appearing in television commercials and, after several more gigs as a model – which entailed posing on dozens of magazine covers – she began getting jobs as an actress in the mid-1960s.
She initially appeared in television series such as I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, and The Flying Nun.
At that time, Farrah was on a steady rise towards fame. Then, everything changed in 1976, as she became world-famous thanks to two jobs.
Famed television producer Aaron Spelling had cast Farrah in the 1975 television movie Murder on Flight 502. Through that, he had been left very impressed with her acting.
Afterwards, he decided to cast her in a brand new television show named Charlie’s Angels, a show which would center around three female detectives.
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/Charlie’s Angels
“We were looking for the California beach-girl type, and Farrah was perfect for that,” he wrote in his 1996 memoir A Prime-Time Life. “She was drop-dead gorgeous and the living image of the beautiful L.A blonde in tennis shorts or a bathing suit.”
“Her hair helped make the show”
The show started in September 1976. Critics didn’t like it much, but fans really enjoyed it. Farrah played the role of agent Jill Munroe, alongside Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. According to Spelling, Farrah was the main reason why viewers loved Charlie’s Angels so much.
“We considered changing her hairstyle at first. If we were doing a regular cop show, we probably would have. But her hair ended up being a big part of the show. It became one of our trademarks,” he explained. Farrah’s hair became extremely popular worldwide, and she became a major celebrity from Texas. In 1996, the New York Times even said that Farrah might have had the most famous hair of the seventies, maybe even of all time.
The New York Times, as quoted by Texas Monthly, described Farrah’s hair as a masterpiece. It looked like it had been naturally styled by the sea breeze, giving it a perfect, carefree look. Farrah’s hair symbolized the strength, confidence, and happiness of women in the early stages of liberation, before they had to deal with the responsibilities of paying mortgages or raising children on their own.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Sued for breach of her contrac
Farrah didn’t like the long hours of filming and thought the script wasn’t good. So, she said her contract wasn’t valid anymore and quit the show. Then, she got sued for $7 million for breaking the contract. Eventually, they settled, and Farrah agreed to come back for six more episodes. She was only in 29 episodes out of 115, but she was still a huge star.
“I quit Charlie’s Angels because I felt like I couldn’t express myself creatively,” Farrah explained. “Now, when I return to Charlie’s Angels, things are better. I can talk to the writers and the director about the script. I can handle it more like a business, which I couldn’t do before. At first, I was upset because I got sued.”
She went on to say, “I read hurtful things in the press, like what other girls had said. But all of that is in the past now. We’re all friends again, and I feel a lot better.”
Farrah Fawcett didn’t just become a big Hollywood star because of Charlie’s Angels. She also became famous because of a poster. In 1976, the same year the TV show started, she appeared on a poster wearing a red bathing suit. It became one of the best-selling posters ever and made her a worldwide star.
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
“Both the poster and Charlie’s Angels together created a huge sensation. About 12 million boys had that poster on their walls, so it was everywhere. You couldn’t miss her big smile, big hair, and that bathing suit,” Mike Pingel told Closer magazine.
Farrah Fawcett became a massive celebrity following her stint on Charlie’s Angels – her signature hairstyle and “pin-up” status only served to bring her even more fame.
At the same time, Fawcett endured tough times in her life. She was involved in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against her former employer her love life was notoriously complicated from time to time.
posterposter
In the 1990s, she was involved in a relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal, which was nothing if not chaotic. The saddest part of all, though, was that she eventually decided to break up with him because of one very shocking discovery.
Here’s all you need to know about cult actress Farrah Fawcett!
Farrah Fawcett
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
Farrah Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was the second daughter of mother Pauline and father Jim – her mother worked as a homemaker, her father as an oil field contractor.
Farrah Fawcett – early life
Farrah was actually named Ferrah – an Arabic word for joy – at birth. However, she decided to change it at a later stage.
Fawcett would become one of her generation’s most good-looking “golden girls.”
As reported by the Texas Monthly, her mother, Pauline, recalled that when she carried Farrah into a store, women stopped their cart to say, “She looks like an a-n-g-e-l.” Pauline also claimed that children around their neighborhood came to their house just to see her.
However, it wasn’t all positive for Farrah. Though her mother loved that people adored her daughter, it became a problem for her later on.
Farrah knew she was pretty, but that in itself posed problems for her.
“I always felt so self-conscious,” Farrah’s mother Pauline recalled the actress saying. “I wanted people not to look at me because so many people kept looking at me.”
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/Classic TV Rewind
Of course, looks aren’t everything, but there’s no denying that Fawcett’s appearance became a considerable part of her life.
Moving to Los Angeles
She was voted “Most Beautiful” by her classmates for three years running in high school. Then, after she moved to Austin to study at the University of Texas in 1965, she was again voted “Most Beautiful” during her freshman year.
Fawcett studied microbiology and art at the University of Texas. Just a year after she enrolled, however, a new kind of career began to gain speed.
After Farrah was voted one of the “Ten Most Beautiful” women at the University of Texas, a picture of her reached Hollywood PR man, David Mirisch. He thought she looked great, and decided to call her to try and get her to move to Los Angeles, where he said he could help her begin a modeling career.
Now, Mirsch had several other known clients, including Perry Como and Patt Boone. While Farrah was still studying, he phoned her to convince her to quit and make the move to Hollywood.
Fawcett wanted him to speak to her father, but Mirisch was persistent.
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/midimac
Finally, upon finishing her junior year, Farrah was convinced. She got her photo taken in a Texas Park by a photographer for the Texas Student Publications. Her idea was to go to Los Angeles for a short time to see what it was like; she planned on returning to university for her senior year.
Farrah Fawcett – ‘Charlie’s Angels’ & legendary poster
As we now know, that never happened.
Fawcett moved to Los Angeles, and it wasn’t long before she had signed a contract with Screen Gems that reportedly paid her about $350-a-week. She began appearing in commercials such as Wela Balsam and Ultra-Brite toothpaste, whilst also doing work for Max Factor and Mercury Cougar Cars.
Farrah wasn’t only a great model, but also a promising actress. She was soon appearing in television commercials and, after several more gigs as a model – which entailed posing on dozens of magazine covers – she began getting jobs as an actress in the mid-1960s.
She initially appeared in television series such as I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, and The Flying Nun.
At that time, Farrah was on a steady rise towards fame. Then, everything changed in 1976, as she became world-famous thanks to two jobs.
Famed television producer Aaron Spelling had cast Farrah in the 1975 television movie Murder on Flight 502. Through that, he had been left very impressed with her acting.
Afterwards, he decided to cast her in a brand new television show named Charlie’s Angels, a show which would center around three female detectives.
Farrah Fawcett
Youtube/Charlie’s Angels
“We were looking for the California beach-girl type, and Farrah was perfect for that,” he wrote in his 1996 memoir A Prime-Time Life. “She was drop-dead gorgeous and the living image of the beautiful L.A blonde in tennis shorts or a bathing suit.”
“Her hair helped make the show”
The show aired in September, 1976, and though critics were rather harsh, the fans loved it.
Farrah starred as agent Jill Munroe, appearing alongside Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith on the show. According to Spelling, she was the main reason Charlie’s Angels was received so well among viewers.
“We thought about changing it for a moment in the beginning, and had we been doing a traditional cop show, we would have,” he wrote. “But her hair helped make the show. It became one of our signatures.”
Fawcett’s hair became a huge thing worldwide, and the actress from Texas quickly turned into a huge celebrity. In 1996, the New York Times even declared that Farrah might have had the most famous hair of the seventies, perhaps even of all time.
“Her feathered, high-lighted, layered phenomenon was a work of art that looked as if it had just come out of the sea and had been tossed by the wind into a state of careless perfection. Farrah’s hair was emblematic of women in the first stage of liberation – strong, confident, and joyous – before the reality of mortgage payments and single parenthood set in,” the Times wrote, as quoted by Texas Monthly.
Farrah Fawcett
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Yet after just one season of Charlie’s Angels, Farrah had enough.
Sued for breach of her contract
She felt that the production’s long hours weren’t great, and the script wasn’t good enough. As a result, she declared her contract invalid and left.
What followed was a lawsuit against her for $7 million for breach of contract. In a settlement, Fawcett later agreed to return for six more episodes. She appeared in only 29 episodes out of 115 – but was still the giant star.
“I left Charlie’s Angels because I felt creatively stifled,” Farrah said.
“Now, when I go back to Charlie’s Angels, it is much better. I have a chance to work with the writers on the script and the director. I can treat it like a business, I could not do that before, I was hurt at first because I was sued.”
She added: “I read things in the press that hurt, like things that girls had said. All of that is past now. We are all friends again. I feel much better.”
Not only did Fawcett become a major Hollywood celebrity through Charlie’s Angels, but she also appeared on a poster which pretty much changed her life.
In 1976, the same year as the drama television series aired for the first time, she appeared on a poster wearing a one-piece red bathing suit. It became one of the best-selling posters of all time – and helped turn her into the global star she became.
Farrah Fawcett
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
“The combination of that poster with Charlie’s Angels was a phenomenon that was hard to escape. Something like 12 million boys plus had that poster on their walls, so it’s hard to avoid the big smile, big hair, and that bathing suit,” Mike Pingel told Closer.
“I am constantly watched”
While Farrah Fawcett was becoming famous worldwide, being a celebrity wasn’t always easy. In a 1979 interview, she said that writers could make up stories about her because they knew people would buy them. “I try to think everything is great in life,” Farrah said. “But people keep things from me. I don’t read most things written about me. You almost have to stop reading to avoid getting hurt. Writers write bad things about you because it sells.”
“Sometimes I feel very sad,” she added. “I just want to go out and be myself; I’d like to go shopping or to the movies and buy popcorn and sit quietly in the audience. But I’m always being watched. Simple things like having dinner with friends become very special.”
Farrah Fawcett has talked many times about wanting to control everything about her life and career. But Hollywood can be a really tough place to work, as we all know.
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
Farrah Fawcett – private life, husband, children, marriage
“What bothered me the most was all the merchandise. Things like bedsheets that I had no control over,” she said. “I didn’t like any of that, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.”
The early 1980s were hard for Farrah Fawcett as she kept working in TV. She got many roles, but none of them really proved she was a great actress.
In 1984, Farrah produced and starred in a TV movie called The Burning Bed. It got her a lot of attention and a nomination for an Emmy award. Five years later, she was nominated again for another Emmy for a different TV movie called Small Sacrifices. Then, in 2001, she got another nomination for her work in a TV show called The Guardian.
Even though Farrah became really famous, her personal life was tough. She was married to Lee Majors from 1973 to 1982. But she also had other relationships, like with Canadian filmmaker James Orr.
Shutterstock/Vicki L. Miller
The one that became most famous – and perhaps more important to Fawcett – was her long-term relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal.
Relationship with Ryan O’Neal
O’Neal first saw Farrah in 1979. He was friends with Lee Majors and mentioned seeing a “beautiful girl” one day. That girl turned out to be Farrah.
“She’s really nice, and she has a warm, childlike personality,” O’Neal wrote in his 2012 book Both of Us: My Life with Farrah. “She’s not fake or mean at all; she’s lively and genuine, which is rare in this city.”
One night when Lee Majors was away, he asked O’Neal to take Farrah to dinner. They became close friends, and O’Neal became part of their inner circle. As he spent more time with them, he saw their marriage falling apart.
“They were saying their marriage was over, but I thought they were great together,” O’Neal remembered.
Farrah told Lee, “Remember when we first got married and we were in Nevada? You’d leave me in a little cabin and go to a bar. You’d tell me to undress and wait for you in bed, but you never came back.” Lee replied, “I’m the same man now as I was then.”
Express Newspapers/Getty Images
Though Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors didn’t divorce until 1982, the couple had separated by 1979.
Walked in on her boyfriend with another actress
Farrah and O’Neal didn’t keep their relationship a secret, even though O’Neal was friends with Majors. They didn’t mind showing affection in front of the press and even kissed while answering questions.
“Farrah and I aren’t planning to get married, and we’re not planning to break up either,” O’Neal said. “We don’t need to fix something that’s not broken.”
In 1985, Farrah and O’Neal had a son named Redmond O’Neal. But their relationship didn’t last forever. In 1997, Farrah reportedly found her boyfriend with another actress, Leslie Ann Stefanso. They broke up in 1998 but got back together when O’Neal got leukemia in 2001. When Farrah was diagnosed with cancer five years later, O’Neal took care of her.
“The hair is gone,” he told People while he was taking care of her.
“Her famous hair. I have it at home. She didn’t care. I rub her head. It’s kind of fun, actually, this great, tiny little head. How she carried all that hair, I’ll never know. She doesn’t have a vanity about it.”
Shutterstock/Featureflash Photo Agency
“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,” O’Neal added.
Farrah Fawcett – cause of death, net worth
On June 25, 2009, Farrah Fawcett died at the age of 62. Her son Redmond lost his mom, and Ryan O’Neal lost his partner. The world lost an amazing star. At the time, Farrah was said to be worth about $20 million.
In his book, O’Neal explained how Farrah died in his arms. “After the priest leaves, I lie down next to her, wrap my body around her to keep her warm, and then take her hand. I can feel a steady pulse… I caress her hand for hours. Her heart refuses to quit,” O’Neal wrote in Both Of Us: My Life With Farrah.
“I’m left alone with my love. I hold her hand. I can still feel her pulse, but now it’s getting weaker. She’s trying to let go. Her heartbeat slows down, then stops. On the morning of June 25, Farrah falls into eternal sleep.”
Even though O’Neal spent three decades with Farrah, he still regrets some things from the past. “I wish I had been kinder, more understanding, and more mature,” he told People magazine. “I wish I could do things differently. I’d be less harsh. I don’t know how she got cancer; maybe some of it was because of me.”
Farrah Fawcett turned into a Hollywood legend, and we will never forget her many performances on-screen.
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