Remembering Farrah Fawcett

We knew this was coming and yet, it is still so very sad.

Farrah Fawcett, who waged a more than two-year battle against cancer, died this morning at the age of 62. Ryan O’Neal was at her side and she is also survived by their son Redmond.

Farrah also leaves behind an impressive body of screen work, something that did not seem likely in the 70s when she was a poster phenomenon and one of the stars of Charlie’s Angels.

But she took matters into her own hands and changed her life and career. She quit the show and after a trio of unsuccessful feature films (although I liked Somebody Killed Her Husband with Jeff Bridges), Farrah focused on her craft and began making quality TV movies like Murder In Texas, Between Two Women, Small Sacrifices, Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story;  Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story and, of course, The Burning Bed which earned her the first of her three Emmy nominations.

Farrah showed grit in turning her career around – especially in the early 80s when she performed off-Broadway in Extremities and later was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film version. The role was a big-screen highlight for Farrah who also was a sensation opposite Robert Duvall in The Apostle.

Farrah’s acting career did suffer when she seemed to undo that hard-earned respect by posing nude in Playboy – twice – as well as make the video All of Me which showed her using her nude body as a paint brush! A loopy appearance on David Letterman’s show also got a lot of unfavorable attention. She and O’Neal also broke up after 17 years together and Farrah was involved for a time with producer-director James Orr who was sentenced to three years probation in a highly-publicized domestic violence case for abusing Farrah.

But Farrah did rebound some and played Richard Gere’s troubled wife in Dr. T and the Women and made a trio of nice television movies: Baby, Silk Hope and Jewel. She also got an Emmy nomination for a recurring role on the TV series The Guardian and recurred on the sitcom Spin City. Her last TV movie was 2003’s Hollywood Wives: The New Generation and final feature film appearance was a small role in 2004’s The Cookout.

It’s so sad that she was stricken with cancer two-and-a-half years ago, and was unable to show us what kind of roles she would do in her 60s.

Farrah’s diagnosis came shortly after she made one of the most memorable appearances in Emmy Awards show history. She walked out onto the stage with Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith to pay tribute to the late Aaron Spelling who gave them iconic status by casting them as the original three Charlie’s Angels. It was a moment no one who saw it would never forget.

And we will never forget the lovely Farrah.