The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Farrah Fawcett, '70s icon, dies at 62

Photos: Farrah Fawcett in photos

Interfaith service  promotes peace
8:21 p.m.
2 school bond issues: 1 passed, 1 rejected
6:51 p.m.
Special meaning for a historic day
6:47 p.m.
South Charleston man puts scrap to good use
6:42 p.m.
Analysis shows east-west split in Northeastern vote
6:39 p.m.
> More headlines

AP Farrah Fawcett in 1977 at the top of her fame with what became one of the most-imitated hairstyles of all time.

Page 2 of 2

In 1995, at age 50, Fawcett posed partly nude for Playboy magazine. The following year, she starred in a Playboy video, "All of Me," in which she was equally unclothed while she sculpted and painted.

She told an interviewer she considered the experience "a renaissance," adding, "I no longer feel ... restrictions emotionally, artistically, creatively or in my everyday life. I don't feel those borders anymore."

Fawcett's most unfortunate career moment may have been a 1997 appearance on David Letterman's show, when her disjointed, rambling answers led many to speculate that she was on drugs. She denied that, blaming her strange behavior on questionable advice from her mother to be playful and have a good time.

In September 2006, Fawcett, who at 59 still maintained a strict regimen of tennis and paddleball, began to feel strangely exhausted. She underwent two weeks of tests and was told the devastating news: She had anal cancer.

O'Neal, with whom she had a 17-year relationship, again became her constant companion, escorting her to the hospital for chemotherapy.

"She's so strong," the actor told a reporter. "I love her. I love her all over again."

She struggled to maintain her privacy, but a UCLA Medical Center employee pleaded guilty in late 2008 to violating federal medical privacy law for commercial purposes for selling records of Fawcett and other celebrities to the National Enquirer.

"It's much easier to go through something and deal with it without being under a microscope," she told the Los Angeles Times in an interview in which she also revealed that she helped set up a sting that led to the hospital worker's arrest.

Her decision to tell her own story through the NBC documentary was meant as an inspiration to others, friends said. The segments showing her cancer treatment, including a trip to Germany for procedures there, were originally shot for a personal, family record, they said. And although weak, she continued to show flashes of grit and good humor in the documentary.

"I do not want to die of this disease. So I say to God, 'It is seriously time for a miracle,'" she said at one point.

Born Feb. 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, she was named Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett by her mother, who said she added the Farrah because it sounded good with Fawcett. She was less than a month old when she underwent surgery to remove a digestive tract tumor with which she was born.

After attending Roman Catholic grade school and W.B. Ray High School, Fawcett enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. Fellow students voted her one of the 10 most beautiful people on the campus and her photos were eventually spotted by movie publicist David Mirisch, who suggested she pursue a film career. After overcoming her parents' objections, she agreed.

Soon she was appearing in such TV shows as "That Girl," ''The Flying Nun," ''I Dream of Jeannie" and "The Partridge Family."

Majors became both her boyfriend and her adviser on career matters, and they married in 1973. She dropped his last name from hers after they divorced in 1982.

By then she had already begun her long relationship with O'Neal. The couple never married. Both Redmond and Ryan O'Neal have grappled with drug and legal problems in recent years.

« previous page 1 | 2

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

my heart goes out to farrah's loved ones. she will certainly be missed. i lit a virtual candle and left a lasting condolence to her family at tributes.com/farrah-fawcett

ashling
12:20 PM, 6/26/2009

REPORT ABUSE

as a child watching charlies angels, she was my favorite. i could never quite get my hair like hers, but i tried... she was beautiful, i was unable to watch Farrah's story. i wanted too. just couldn't bring myself to watch it. she fought hard, and what a spirit she had. even through all the pain and what was ahead for her. today was truely a sad day.

concearned
12:29 AM, 6/26/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Heaven has rejoiced this day for an Angel has come to join them...she fought the good fight! This is a sad day with her passing, she never gave up hope and I believe her fans held onto hope too! God Bless...

Nona
11:48 PM, 6/25/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Although her death will undoubtedly be overshadowed by that of Michael Jackson's, it does not lesson the sadness. Even though she blighted my adolescence because I knew I'd never be as perfect, may she finally rest in peace.

Julie
9:03 PM, 6/25/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Beautiful woman. She fought a tough battle.

RIP Farrah.

mjm
8:52 PM, 6/25/2009

REPORT ABUSE

There are 22 additional comments

SHOW ALL

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.