Actress Farrah Fawcett -- a TV presence to the end
Actress Farrah Fawcett, who was launched into instant pop culture stardom in 1976 with a best-selling wall poster and a featured role in a new ABC series Charlie's Angels, is dead at 62. She was a TV presence in our lives right to the end.
Fawcett, who battled anal cancer for several years, was seen last month in an NBC documentary that she herself produced and helped tape with a digital camera. The film, Farrah's Story, which chronicled her struggle with the disease, was a ratings success for the network, and she vowed to continue with a second TV documentary.
More than any other actress I knew -- and I first interviewed her in 1976 for a story on that poster -- Fawcett was a creature of the medium. It made her famous, and I was not surprised to see her final days depicted in a self-produced TV special. Nor was it surprising to hear from her longtime companion, Ryan O'Neal, that as sick as she was, the first thing Fawcett asked on the morning after her special aired was how it did in the ratings.
(Pictured: Farrah Fawcett as she appeared in 1977 ABC publicity photo)
Fawcett's battle with cancer was to be the featured topic Thursday night in a Barbara Walters special on ABC's 20/20. In the report O'Neal tells Walters that Fawcett had finally agreed to marry him after years of declining his proposals and that a wedding was in the works. The two have a grown son. The Barbara Walters special, which had been scheduled for more than a week, will air Thursday at 10 p.m.
The famous poster of Fawcett, showing her in a swimsuit and highlighting her incredibly long blonde hair, set sales records in the fall of 1976, and helped launch an industry of such celebrity posters that the TV networks used to promote their sexiest stars and series.
At the time, the poster, which made Fawcett an instant pop icon of the decade, was credited with helping Charlie's Angels, a frothy ABC production about three gorgeous women who worked for a mysterious older man, become a ratings hit for ABC. Fawcett dolls and T-shirts followed the posters.
But Fawcett, whose career is defined by a constant strugggle to prove she was as talented as beautiful, walked off the hit series after just one season to make what she described as serious feature films. Lawsuits ensued, and she eventually settled with ABC and producer Aaron Spelling by agreeing to appear on a limited basis in the series over the next two seasons.
Fawcett never did become a major film star. Typical of her feature film career is the first production she did after leaving Charlie's Angels, titled Somebody Killed Her Husband. It was a mildly amusing, but mostly bland comic mystery starring Fawcett and Jeff Bridges.
But she did succeed in the 1983 off-Broadway production of Extremities, and earned a Golden Globe for her performance in the film version.
She also appeared in two high-concept made-for-TV docu-dramas playing Barbara Hutton in Poor, Little Rich Girl, and Beatte Klarfeld in Nazi Hunter, both for NBC. her work in the 1989 mini-series, Small Sacrifices, was rewarded with an Emmy.
The dramatic performance of her life, though, came in the 1984 NBC made-for-TV movie, The Burning Bed, in which she portrayed a victim of domestic abuse. The role was exactly the kind of serious and non-glamorous opportunity she had long sought, and she won an Emmy for her work.
The Burning Bed is still one of the highest-rated and most acclaimed made-for-TV movies in the history of the medium, and it was her presence as star and determination as executive producer that got this socially-conscious film made.
In the end, Fawcett was a person out of her times -- or at least the times Hollywood wanted her to be in.
Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1947, she was a teen beauty queen invited to try her luck in Hollywood. In 1973, she married Lee Majors, then a TV action-adventure star, and was known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors when her career took off in 1976.
The men running Hollywood in those days were of the World War II generation, and despite the women's movement starting to transform American homes and workplaces, they still thought of bathing suits and pin-up girls when they saw a woman of Fawcett's beauty. And she rebelled against it, which led to a career of ups and downs, with many in the industry perfectly willing to write her off as she aged.
But Fawcett fought against normal concepts of aging as well. In her late 40s, she posed for Playboy magazine, and set sales record for that publication -- well past the age of its other models. But it was bittersweet for her to have to use her body instead her talent to capture the popular imagination for another fleeting moment.
The truth is that she was not a great actress -- let's be honest even at this time of death when truth is usually cast aside for inflated praise. But she was better than Hollywood wanted to let her be -- and she achieved the kind of success she did in The Burning Bed because of her refusal to be pigeon-holed and totally defined only by her good looks. There is integrity in that.
Comments
I can't say I was unprepared for this moment, but it still hit me like a punch in the gut.
I was 15 when Charlie's Angels came out and I already had The Poster. (My dad eagerly bought one each for my brother and me.) I watched the show, I clipped her pictures out of magazines, read books about her, I devoured everything Farrah. I remember watching her play tennis against Bill Cosby on Battle of the Network Stars and rooting desparately for her to win. (Cos tanked a shot at match point to let her win.)
She was my Marilyn Monroe.
I didn't want to watch her last Special, but I just couldn't help it. I know it may have been opportunistic, but it was also heartbreaking.
Our world just got a little bit dimmer today.
Posted by: Tony N | June 25, 2009 2:27 PM
The Documentary she did was the best I have ever seen since I have had cancer and I want to say "Thank you" for doing the best to show what cancer really does to someone and I have so much more respect for her. God please Bless Farrah she brought so much to this world for all of us. I will for ever remember her smile.
Posted by: sherrie hugunin | June 25, 2009 2:35 PM
I loved her acting an my condolescence goes out to her family. She will be missed. I admired her courage during her last triumphant days. She was a very beautiful human being.
Posted by: Sylvia Long | June 25, 2009 3:57 PM
I'm so sad..
Posted by: Lisa | June 25, 2009 3:59 PM
DECES DE FARRAH FAWCETT : DE LA BEAUTE A LA POURRITURE ?
Pathétique, poignant, cruel comme un miroir renvoyant l'image de notre propre condition : Farrah Fawcett, ex-beauté incarnée, vient de s'éteindre après des mois d'une médiatique agonie, filmée par les caméras de télévision américaines. Elle croyait encore à un miracle, priant avec ferveur pour que la vie triomphe de son cancer alors qu'elle était déjà en phase terminale.
Sur son visage, le masque de la maladie, de la vieillesse, de la hideur : notre masque potentiel.
Le plus effrayant : savoir qu'un humain peut passer de la gloire la plus complète à la misère la plus totale. Tout n'étant qu'une question de temps. Ce qui arrive aux êtres "immortels" peut nous arriver à nous aussi, simples mortels que nous sommes...
A travers son agonie nous assistions à notre propre fin.
Madame Fawcett ou l'histoire de la beauté qui devient décrépitude. Quand un destin de gloire finit dans la déchéance. Lorsque les sommets insolents de la jeunesse éclatante se concluent par le plus noir abîme... La maladie.
Avant la mort.
Mais éloignons-nous de ces vanités hollywodiennes, ne nous arrêtons pas à la souffrance, à la tristesse, allons à l'essentiel : au lieu de la pourriture promise par la Camarde, derrière ces apparences immondes du cancer, moi je vois l'éternité.
La mort de Farrah Fawcett : fin d'une étoile ?
Oui.
Ou pour être plus exact, la lumière retournant à la lumière.
Raphaël Zacharie de IZARRA
raphael.de-izarra@wanadoo.fr
Posted by: Raphaël Zacharie de IZARRA | June 25, 2009 4:09 PM
Tributes.com has established an online memorial in remembrance of Farrah Fawcett where you can share your memories of her life and condolences to her family. tributes.com/farrah-fawcett
Posted by: Colleen DeVine | June 25, 2009 4:12 PM
R.I.P you will be missed by alot of people
Posted by: Anonymous | June 25, 2009 4:32 PM
Gosh I am so broken hearted that Farrah passed away. I can't believe the struggle and courage she had to get through the last couple of years. Her special was almost unbearable to watch, yet something you couldn't tear yourself away from. I sat with a box of tissues through the whole thing. I always adored her but the admiration I have for her after seeing that show is beyond anything I could ever explain. What a true true fighter she was. My very deepest sympathy to Ryan, Her Son and her entire family. Farrah is no longer suffering and that is what we all need to remember now. God Bless You All !!
Posted by: Dawn Joseph | June 25, 2009 4:45 PM
I think her documentary was a very brave thing to do. I was sorry to hear about her passing. I remember watching Charlies Angels. What girl didn't want her haircut? I will have to visit the online memorial. If you have time can we get a translation for the post from Raphael? Thanks.
Posted by: Sherry T. | June 25, 2009 4:50 PM
We lost a great icon and angel today. Looking back at her life through photos is a touching and memorable thing and I found this gallery here which is great, enjoy and prayers to her family she was a beautiful person inside and out!!
http://tinyurl.com/lrapd6
Posted by: Chris Richards | June 25, 2009 5:18 PM
"The truth is that she was not a great actress"
====================
You obviously didn't see her in Extremities. It was one of the best performances I've seen on a NY stage.
Because of the times and her beauty she wasn't given the chance to showcase her talent as an actor. Too bad. She was something.
Hi Peggy, You are paraphrasing the theme of my appreciation back to me with "because of the times and her beauty...." And I did indeed mention Extremities. Did you read what I wrote? Thanks. Z
Posted by: Peggy | June 25, 2009 5:37 PM
Today is a very sad day that CANCER had to take away a very beautiful person who had such a amazing smile.... I admire her making a documentary on how she was fighting so hard to live...and not to let CANCER take her... I hope to God that there will be a cure one day for CANCER because seeing a loved one go through all that is painful. My heart goes out to Ryan and Red and family and friends that LOVED her!!
You have always been an ANGEL NOW SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY AND WATCH OVER ALL THAT LOVE YOU SO DEAR!!!
Posted by: MGarcia | June 25, 2009 6:49 PM
While I am online, I guess condolences are in order for the family of Michael Jackson as well. Boy what a week of loss Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Michael Jackson.
Posted by: Sherry T. | June 25, 2009 8:08 PM
"The truth is that she was not a great actress"
====================
You obviously didn't see her in Extremities. It was one of the best performances I've seen on a NY stage.
Because of the times and her beauty she wasn't given the chance to showcase her talent as an actor. Too bad. She was something.
Hi Peggy, You are paraphrasing the theme of my appreciation back to me with "because of the times and her beauty...." And I did indeed mention Extremities. Did you read what I wrote? Thanks. Z
++++++++++++++++++++
I didn't paraphrase your quote. I quoted you exactly.
Yes, I read what you said about Extremities. It doesn't change what you said about her not being a great actress. I disagree.
Posted by: Peggy | June 26, 2009 12:52 PM
Mon coeur es brise pour la mort de Farrah et Michael, deux etoiles tres bien aimees.
Que dieu vous benisse!
Posted by: Bamboo | June 27, 2009 4:06 PM
After seeing the documentary last night (about Farrah) I have soooo much respect for her.She never thought about giving up, she wanted to live.She went thru so much to live ,one can only give her all the respect a person can get. Farrah talked about the disease and the name they gave it was fitting(TERRIOST). I will always respect her
for all the pain and suffering she went thru. LOVE YOU FARRAH..........
Posted by: Rosemary | June 27, 2009 4:14 PM
To bad that the death of Michael Jackson has shadowed Farrah's. She showed us all the face of cancer and how she dealt with it, gracefully or just pissed off,. She deserved better
Posted by: Patti | June 27, 2009 5:05 PM