Farrah Fawcett

Mary Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters of Pauline Alice Fawcett, a homemaker, and James William Fawcett, an oil field contractor. She was of Irish, French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Her mother coined the name "Ferrah" because it paired well with their surname, and Fawcett later altered the spelling to "Farrah." A Roman Catholic, she received her early education at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church's parish school in Corpus Christi and graduated from W. B. Ray High School, where her classmates voted her "most beautiful" in each of her four years. Between 1965 and 1968, she attended the University of Texas, initially studying microbiology before switching to art under sculptor Charles Umlauf, whom she considered her favorite professor. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority and lived at the Mayfair House on Pearl Street. During her freshman year, she was named one of the ten most beautiful coeds on campus, a distinction that led to her photographs being sent to Hollywood agencies. After two years of encouragement from agent David Mirisch, she relocated to Los Angeles in the summer of 1968.

Upon arriving in Hollywood at age 21, Fawcett was signed by Screen Gems to a contract paying $350 per week. She appeared in commercials for products including Ultra Brite toothpaste, Noxzema skin cream, Max Factor cosmetics, Mercury Cougar automobiles, and Beautyrest mattresses. Her earliest television appearances included guest spots on The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie in 1969 and 1970, followed by appearances on Getting Together, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, Mayberry R.F.D., and The Partridge Family. She also appeared on The Dating Game and S.W.A.T. Her first film role came in the 1969 French romantic drama Love Is a Funny Thing, and she played Mary Ann Pringle in Myra Breckinridge in 1970. During the mid-1970s, she held a recurring role on Harry O alongside David Janssen and appeared in four episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man alongside her then-husband, actor Lee Majors, with whom she was also a frequent tennis partner of producer Aaron Spelling.

Fawcett's rise to international prominence came in 1976, when Spelling cast her as private investigator Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels, opposite Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. The series formally debuted on September 22, 1976, and Fawcett dominated popularity polls among its cast. She won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program and earned her first Golden Globe nomination for the role. That same year, a photo shoot arranged by poster company Pro Arts Inc. with photographer Bruce McBroom produced an image of Fawcett in a red one-piece swimsuit that became the best-selling poster in history, selling six million copies in its first year. Her hairstyle also became an international trend throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Fawcett departed Charlie's Angels at the conclusion of its first season in 1976, later returning as a guest star in six episodes during the show's third and fourth seasons between 1978 and 1980. That same year she also appeared in a supporting role in the science-fiction film Logan's Run with Michael York.

Her subsequent film and television work through the late 1970s and 1980s included Sunburn in 1979, Saturn 3 in 1980, and The Cannonball Run in 1981. In 1983, she earned positive reviews for her performance in the Off-Broadway play Extremities, and she was later cast in the 1986 film adaptation, receiving an additional Golden Globe nomination for that work. Her television film The Burning Bed in 1984, in which she played a battered wife, earned her an Emmy Award nomination, and her portrayal of real-life murderer Diane Downs in Small Sacrifices in 1989 brought her a second Emmy nomination. Her 1980s television movie work generated four additional Golden Globe nominations, bringing her career total to six. On Broadway, Fawcett appeared in Bobbi Boland.

In 1997, despite negative press surrounding a widely discussed appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, she received strong reviews for her role in The Apostle alongside Robert Duvall. Her film credits from that period also include Dr. T & the Women in 2000 and The Cookout in 2004. In the early 2000s, she held recurring roles on the sitcom Spin City in 2001 and the drama The Guardian from 2002 to 2003, the latter earning her a third Emmy nomination.

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006. The NBC documentary Farrah's Story, which aired in 2009, chronicled her experience with the illness, and her work as a producer on the film earned her a posthumous fourth Emmy nomination. She died on June 25, 2009, at the age of 62.