In Memorium - Farrah Fawcett


I'm a little young to really remember Farrah Fawcett - she rose to international fame during the 70s and 80s before I was even a gleam in my grand daddy's eye.

Farrah was perhaps most well known for her role in Charlie's Angel and her heart crushing good looks and wispy blonde hair. Her poster sales ended up breaking records, which sky rocketed the American Angel to international sex symbol status. But apart from Charlie's Angels, Farrah had an impressive acting resume - and the chops to prove it as she was a multiple time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Nominee. Her roles included films such as The Burning Bed, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and Small Sacrifices.

Farrah also appeared on I Dream of Jeannie with several guest appearances during the 1968-69 season, as starred alongside Lee Majors in the Six Million Dollar Man, whom she later married and later divorced.

In 2006, Farrah was diagnosed with cancer and began intense treatment that included not only chemotherapy, but surgery as well. She was heralded by the Associated Press as being 'cancer free' shortly after her 60th birthday, but soon after that the cancer was back and Farrah pursued treatment in Germany. The cancer had spread, moving from the initial anal site, to her liver. She underwent a barrage o treatment, ranging to everything from a colostomy, to chemoemobilization, and laser ablation. It was during all of this, that Farrah began to document her battle with the disease that eventually took her life.

Wikipedia had this to say about her death:

Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 a.m., PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O'Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 30. Fawcett's son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother's funeral, where he gave the first reading.

The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters' past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro. Walters followed up on the story on Friday's episode of 20/20. CNN's Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the unexpected death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett's, and Suzanne De Passe, executive producer of Fawcett's Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel" the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah's Story in prime time.That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie's Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael & Farrah: Lost Icons and the Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah's Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.[59]

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon,

TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week — nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant."

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said "Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page."

Kate Jackson said,

She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her... I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile...when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.

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