LOS ANGELES — Farrah Fawcett, the popular sex symbol who rose to fame on TV’s “Charlie’s Angels,” died Thursday following a long bout with cancer. She was 62.
Fawcett, one of the world’s most famous icons during the 1970s and 1980s, passed away early this morning at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif., according to published reports.
“After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away,” said Fawcett’s longtime companion, actor Ryan O’Neal, in a statement. “Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.”
Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006. She chronicled her battle with the disease in the documentary, “Farrah’s Story,” which aired on NBC in May.
Fawcett first turned heads in 1976 when she appeared in a pin-up poster flashing her trademark smile while wearing a one-piece red bathing suit. The poster went on to sell millions, establishing a record that stands to this day.
That very same year, Fawcett landed her breakout role as Jill Munroe on ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels.” The Aaron Spelling-produced series co-starred Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith and revolved around three beautiful crimefighting detectives. Fawcett left the show after only season to focus on a film career, which got off to a slow start. Her first movie, 1978’s “Somebody Killed Her Husband,” was ridiculed and subsequent roles also crashed and burned.
But Fawcett soon won praise for her turn as an abused wife in 1984’s “The Burning Bed,” a television movie that earned her the first of three Emmy nominations.
Two years later, Fawcett garnered one of her six Golden Globe nominations for her performance in the film, “Extremities.”
While she shied from appearing nude throughout the height of her career, Fawcett made headlines when she posed for Playboy in 1995. The issue went on to become one of the magazine’s top sellers and led to Fawcett returning for another photo spread in 1997.
In 1973, the Corpus Christi, Texas native married Lee Majors, the star of TV’s “The Six Million Dollar Man.” The couple divorced years later in the early 1980s.
Fawcett and O’Neal, who have been together off and on since her relationship with Majors ended, have one child together, a 24-year-old son named Redmond O’Neal.
“Farrah had courage, she had strength and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels,” said Smith, her “Charlie’s Angels” co-star, in a statement.
