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Farrah Fawcett -- The Blonde Beauty

© Dexter Wolfe

What do The Flying Nun and Playboy have in common? Whose image could sell 12 million posters? Who was the bionic wife?

Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett, born February 2, 1947 in Corpus Christi, Texas, a blonde beauty that became a household name in the 70’s through hundreds of television commercials from toothpaste to shaving cream.

Her parents, Pauline and Jim Fawcett (oil-field contractor) were protective of their two daughters, Diane the oldest and Farrah their youngest.

With a normal childhood but an uncommon beauty, Farrah became popular in high school and college. She attended the University of Texas (Austin) majoring in biology. By her junior year (1968), Farrah switch to Arts but left college for the glamour of Hollywood lights at the insistence of a publicist, David Mirish, who assured her of a modeling career.

Commercials launched her television appeal which led to small parts in numerous TV shows like The Flying Nun (1967), I Dream of Jeanie (1965), Mayberry RFD (1968) and the Partridge Family (1970).

By the age of 23 she had her first movie was Un homme qui me plaît (1969) better known as Life is a Funny Thing. During this time period she also starred as a hitchhiker in the movie Three’s a Crowd (comedy - 1969).

In 1970 she starred in a movie called Myra Breckinridge where she co-stared with Rachel Welch and the infamous actress Mary Jane West (better known as Mae West – born 1893).

Farrah met Lee Majors, the famous handsome bachelor from the series The Big Valley. After dating nearly five years the couple married (1973) the same year that he landed the lead in The Six Million Dollar Man. Farrah had several guest appearances on the show with her husband.

In 1976 a pop phenomenon occurred when Farrah dawned a one-piece red bathing suit and struck a pose that has out sold any poster. American women wanted to be blonde and a hairstyle was set and launched the Farrah Fawcett Shampoo. Blonde was definitely in by the late 70’s.

Charlie’s Angels became a weekly program for American living rooms, where Farrah played the athletic blond, Jill Monroe. The show brought controversy as it was thought to be family style porn and jiggle TV. But in either case, America loved it.

By the end of the first year season Farrah thought the Aaron Spelling production was not developing the characters to the fullest and wanted more for her role. She left the TV show with a $7 million dollar law suit due to her contract. It was solved by relenting to guest appearances on Charlie’s Angels of the next season.

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