Farrah Fawcett was basically the ultimate all-American pin-up of the ’70s.
That’s why watching her struggle later on hit so hard — because we all fell in love with the wholesome, healthy glamour she radiated on Charlie’s Angels. And even as she battled illness, she handled it with such good humor and courage.
Farrah Fawcett was an American icon long before the Kardashians dominated headlines or stars like Sydney Sweeney, Scarlett Johansson, and Jennifer Lawrence captured the public’s attention.
In her heyday, the ‘70s pinup and actress was a massive celebrity. Known for her role as Jill on the TV show Charlie’s Angels, her world-famous swimsuit poster, and her signature feathered hairstyle, Fawcett was arguably the ultimate starlet. As the Los Angeles Times noted after her death in 2009 at age 62 following a battle with cancer, she was admired and loved worldwide.
Despite her fame, many aspects of Fawcett’s life remain lesser-known. Here are some intriguing details about her journey from childhood to stardom:
Considered becoming a nun
Farrah grew up like any other girl —going to church and believing most people were basically good. It may be surprising, but as a child, Fawcett briefly thought about joining a convent.
In a 1979 interview with Brian Linehan, she said, “I think I only wanted to be a nun for about a week. … It was a week.”
She explained that she imagined the life of a nun would be “easy and uncomplicated.” Fawcett recalled, “I think that I had feelings probably — I went to a Catholic school — and I think as I started to develop and I started to have feelings towards men and I was a little confused with having certain feelings and yet being told I wasn’t supposed to have those feelings.”
Farrah’s secret struggle
“Farrah’s mother, Pauline, was a homemaker, and there were parts of Farrah that longed for that simple life, far from Hollywood’s spotlight.
”There is a part of me,” Farrah said in 1979, ”that is exactly like my mother – loves to cook and clean and get dinner ready. I mean the best thing anybody could say to me would be, “My, that pecan pie you baked tastes good.”‘
‘But on the other hand, I love going out and working. I think there are a lot of women like me, who are torn. God, when you’ve been brought up the first 20 years of your life to believe that you do what your husband wants you to do and then, all of a sudden, you are thrown into another world, yes, it’s very tough.’”
Voted “Most Beautiful” three years in a row
Fawcett’s beauty was evident from a young age. According to her mother, women would approach her in stores, saying, “She looks like an a-n-g-e-l.”
Fawcett remembered feeling self-conscious, telling Texas Monthly, “I always felt so self-conscious. I wanted people not to look at me because so many people kept looking at me.”
Her looks continued to impress in high school. NPR reported that she was voted “Most Beautiful” three years in a row, and upon entering Texas University, she won the same honor as a freshman — a rare feat. Her beauty earned her mini-celebrity status, with young men traveling across Texas hoping for a glimpse of her.
Hollywood publicist pursued her for years
Even in college, Fawcett caught the attention of Hollywood. David Mirisch, a Los Angeles publicist, tried to persuade her to leave school and move to Hollywood, according to Texas Monthly.
Though she initially asked him to call her father, Mirisch persisted, and Fawcett eventually accepted his offer while finishing her junior year. What began as a temporary move to shoot photos for Texas Student Publications became permanent.
Appeared on The Dating Game
Before fame struck, Fawcett appeared on ABC’s reality show The Dating Game.
When she chose the second bachelor, a staged fistfight broke out between the men. Fawcett later revealed it was all choreographed, showing how Hollywood was already positioning her as a woman men would compete for.
A huge fan of Van Morrison
Farrah had loved Van Morrison’s music since the ’70s, and he was a fan of her work too, especially her role in The Apostle.
When she got too sick from cancer to go to one of his shows, he even recorded it just for her. It ended up being one of the last things she ever watched
The iconic swimsuit poster
Fawcett’s first real brush with fame was her now-legendary red swimsuit poster. With her blonde hair framing her face, it sold millions worldwide.
Smithsonian curator Dwight Bowers told The Washington Times that the poster came to symbolize the 1970s. Professor Robert Thompson added to the Los Angeles Times, “If you were to list 10 images that are evocative of American pop culture, Farrah Fawcett would be one of them.”
The poster might have looked different if not for Fawcett’s decision to wear the red swimsuit instead of the originally requested bikini, according to photographer Bruce McBroom.
Her beauty routine was simple
Fawcett didn’t rely on elaborate skincare. She claimed that a sandy beach was “the greatest dead skin cleanser” (Beauticate). She often wore minimal makeup and even did her own hair and makeup for the swimsuit poster without a mirror, according to her friend Nels Van Patten.
Her makeup artist, Patrick Foley, later recreated her favorite lipstick shade in collaboration with Nude Envie.
Secret behind her hair
Fawcett’s feathered hair remains iconic. Hairstylist Allen Edwards once described creating the look: ”The way you do it is by blow drying hair mostly with a brush and just curling the ends with a smaller brush… then you clip it and by the time you finish the hair is dry, you take the clips out, turn your head upside down and boom there you have the Farrah. People went crazy over it.”
One of Farrah’s hairstylists was Jose Eber, who in the 1980s styled some of Hollywood’s biggest names (including Cheryl Ladd and Raquel Welch). According to Eber, Farrah had ‘good hair and a lot of natural wave,’ but she often did her own hair.
”She’s very talented, she can do it very well herself,” Eber told The Pittsburgh Press.”
Meeting Lee Majors was love at first sight
Fawcett married actor Lee Majors in 1973. She told People that when Majors first saw her in a photo in his agent’s office, he called her shortly afterward. She recalled, “It was love at first sight, I guess,” and added that she “melted into a thousand pieces” when they met. They separated in 1979 and divorced three years later. Majors noted in 2019, “There was a year or so when I think I saw her two weeks in one year. It’s very difficult with careers like that. This business is tough.”
Tennis helped her land Charlie’s Angels
Fawcett’s role as Jill Munroe catapulted her to stardom. Her former assistant Mike Pingel told Closer Weekly that the three leads were “not only breaking the ceiling of being three leads on their own show, but they were number one in the ratings. It was just lightning in a bottle.”
Her tennis skills, honed with Lee Majors while playing with producer Aaron Spelling, helped secure the role, and a tennis storyline was even added for her character.
Replacing Susan Sarandon off-Broadway
Fawcett wasn’t just a pretty face. She starred in the off-Broadway play Extremities in 1983, replacing Susan Sarandon, and received some of the best reviews of her career. She reprised the role in the 1986 film adaptation, earning a Golden Globe nomination. Her 2003 Broadway appearance in Bobbi Boland, however, was unsuccessful.
Substance abuse rumors
Fawcett’s image suffered in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. A 1997 Late Show with David Letterman appearance left viewers speculating about substance abuse, which hur husband at the time, Ryan O’Neal denied.
”It was her first time on the show. She was just nervous,” her publicist said.
A few months later, Fawcett told the host of The Howard Stern Show that her antics were just her joking around, partly to promote her Playboy pictorial and video. She said what looked like random glances around the theater was really her spotting and reacting to fans in the audience.
Charlie’s Angels and her personal life
Fawcett left Charlie’s Angels after one season, reportedly wanting to avoid typecasting. She told People in 1979, ”The industry was furious with me and hostile because I was a TV sex symbol who wanted to be an actress. People thought I was really pretentious, and for months no one would touch me.”
During her marriage to Majors, she still made it home from set to cook dinner. She said in 1989, ”Lee was silent. He didn’t talk. He didn’t support my leaving the show. He thought I should come home and make the dinner.”
”None of us wears a bra”
Fawcett was eager to explore her creative side, but the producers of Charlie’s Angels couldn’t promise her the kind of artistic satisfaction she wanted. She told The Washington Post, “I want them to start showing she’s had some hard knocks, too, and cries, and is sad. Who’s gonna care about her if all she does is say, ‘Ooo! This week I get to play the hooker?’”
At the same time, Fawcett recognized the limits of being on a show often dismissed as “jiggle TV.” She once reflected, “When the show got to be No. 3, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be No. 1, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.”
The Tonight Show
Back in August 1978, Farrah Fawcett appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to promote Somebody Killed Her Husband, and fans watching the clip today can’t help but notice — she was absolutely at the peak of her career. Radiant in a stunning red dress, Farrah had the effortless glow of a true star.
She wasn’t just a beauty queen on screen — Farrah was truly gorgeous inside and out, a talent and presence that today’s late-night TV can hardly touch.
Unsurprisingly, the focus quickly shifted to her hair—and why wouldn’t it? In the ’70s, Farrah’s feathered hair was the hairstyle we all wanted. But what most fans don’t realize is that she had actually cut several inches off for the Somebody Killed Her Husband movie.
Carson got curious and asked how many requests she got from fans asking for a lock of her hair. But according to Farrah, none of it was saved — whatever was cut off just went straight into the trash.
But Farrah was actually happy with the haircut, and if you look closely at her appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, you can see her hair isn’t as long as usual.
“It was an interesting look, which is what I wanted. I wanted a departure from Farrah and from Jill on Charlie’s Angels,” she said.
A talented sculptor
Fawcett was a talented sculptor. The Los Angeles Times noted her home was full of her works, and she was mentored by sculptor Charles Umlauf. Museum curator Katie Robinson Edwards said, “She was excellent… excellent at sculpture. I think she was always a little bit better in sculpture.”
She was also close friends with Alana Stewart for nearly 40 years. Stewart wrote, “[I] thought she was absolutely beautiful (she later told me she thought the same about me)… Over the years, there was rarely a birthday party or a New Year’s that we didn’t celebrate together.”
Fawcett was also devoted to her mother, Pauline, always keeping a room ready for her visits. She once said, “You’re my best friend. You always have been.”
Her final days
Fawcett’s battle with cancer was filmed and aired by NBC for $1.5 million. Dr. Lawrence Piro, her doctor, told People, “She marched through her illness fearlessly, taking control of her decisions… [She was] committed to fight all the way and as long as she could for all of the piece of life that she was entitled to.”
