Farrah Fawcett's Life Took A Tragic Turn
Farrah Fawcett could’ve gone down in history as the angel who fell from grace and messed up her career. But, despite winning awards for her bad acting, she didn’t give up. She eventually found her forte, really sinking her teeth into some heavy dramas. But in a cruel twist of fate, her real life became as traumatic as the roles she was playing.
1. Her Name Was Made Up
Farrah Fawcett was born in Texas, in the town of Corpus Christi on February 2, 1947. Fawcett had an interesting combination of Irish, French, English, and Choctaw ancestry—and she had an interesting name too. Her mother made up the name “Farrah” because it meshed perfectly with the family's surname, "Fawcett".
Her name did sound good—but there was something else about Fawcett that made her stand out from the crowd.
2. They Voted Her Gorgeous
During high school, her fellow students started noticing Fawcett’s beauty. When it came time to vote for the title of the “most beautiful," she took the trophy home not once, not twice, not three times, but an amazing four times. But there was more to Fawcett than just her looks—she was ready to put her brain to the test as well.
3. She Did An About Face
After a false start in microbiology, Fawcett did an about-face, changed her major, and started studying sculpture. When American sculptor Charles Umlauf became her mentor—and close friend—she seemed to be on the right track to becoming a sculpturist. But fate had another plan in store for her.
4. She Caught His Attention
Somehow, photos of Fawcett had made it to several Hollywood agencies, and one specific agent had his eye on her. This was David Mirisch who slowly worked away at Fawcett with his constant offers of a career as a model or actor. In 1968, Fawcett decided she'd give Mirisch a try—and, with her parent’s blessing, she moved to LA.
She had no idea what to expect.
5. She Joined A Sorority
Fawcett arrived in Los Angeles, where she moved into the Hollywood Studio Club, a place that was sort of like a sorority for young women in the entertainment business. Screen Gems quickly plucked Fawcett from the masses of hopefuls and signed her up. Fawcett, who was just 21 at the time, started working in TV ads, pitching anything from toothpaste to mattresses.
She made $350 a week. It was a humble start—but it would lead to an unbelievable future.
6. She Got Set Up
Even though Fawcett was an incredible beauty, she wasn’t above getting set up on dates. One coffee date was with Lee Majors, an up-and-coming actor who some called the “blonde Elvis”. Sparks flew between Fawcett and Majors—and a relationship began. This could only be good for Fawcett’s career.
7. He Got Her A Role
Fawcett’s boyfriend, who would go on to star in TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man, received an offer to appear in Myra Breckinridge. This was a controversial film version of Gore Vidal’s gender-bending novel. Majors didn’t want to be in the movie, but he thought Fawcett might.
She said yes, but it was a decision she’d soon regret.
8. She Learned Some Cruel Lessons
Fawcett had little experience in show business and was about to learn some cruel lessons. Her blonde co-star, Mae West, demanded that the producers dye Fawcett’s hair brown because she didn't want any competition. Then, Raquel Welch demanded that they redye it, as she was brunette. With all the huge egos, it's no surprise that Myra Breckinridge was a huge flop.
This wasn’t the start Fawcett wanted for her career in Hollywood.
History's most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily.
9. Her Name Got Longer
In spite of Majors’ terrible advice to do Myra Breckinridge, Fawcett still decided to marry him. She also decided to take his name, and on her TV appearances that followed they credited her as Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Unfortunately, when it came to workplace woes, there were far more in store for her.
10. She Agreed To Pose
By 1976, Fawcett’s beauty had claimed so much attention that a poster company convinced her to have a bathing suit photoshoot with photographer Bruce McBroom. Fawcett arrived at the photoshoot ready to do her own hair and makeup. That's when she got a rude surprise.
No one had bothered to pack a mirror.
11. She Performed A Miracle
Fawcett faced the near-impossible task of getting herself ready for a photoshoot without a single mirror. She did her best and went ahead with the shoot. They took 40 photos and she chose six of them. Even without the use of a mirror, this image became the best-selling poster in history.
But a poster can’t make someone into a star, she also needed some luck.
12. She Hit The Courts
If the poster of Fawcett in her red bathing suit didn’t make her a star, maybe playing tennis could. One day she was on the courts and actor Michael York saw what he described as a “blonde vision of delight”. Luckily he had a movie he was about to start working on, and he recommended her for a part.
She could only hope this was a better experience than her first film.
13. She Was A Symbol
The film York was working on was a sci-fi called Logan’s Run. In this fictional future, people worship youth and are very hedonistic. As a symbol of this hedonism, they gave Fawcett a shag haircut. The haircut was wildly popular and people were just as wild about Fawcett.
This wouldn’t be the last time Fawcett’s hair caused a stir.
14. She Was Going To Be Perfect
Meanwhile, back on the tennis courts, Fawcett and Majors were playing doubles with TV producer Aaron Spelling. Spelling was developing a movie-of-the-week for ABC and he'd seen Fawcett flexing her acting chops in Logan's Run. Fawcett would be perfect for one of the parts.
Little did she know, this role would change Fawcett’s life forever.
15. She Was An Angel
The project Spelling was working on was called Charlie’s Angels and it quickly became a series. The show starred Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith as female private detectives. Jackson had a tad more experience than Fawcett and Smith, which meant her salary was actually double what the other two got.
The strange thing was that the viewers had become very focused on Fawcett and not her costars.
16. She Upstaged Them
It was odd that Fawcett was earning less than Jackson because she was certainly the most popular angel. Even more popular than Fawcett herself was her hairstyle. It became famous internationally and received three different names: “Farrah-do," “Farrah-flip,” and “Farrah hair”. But it wasn’t just Fawcett that drew in viewers—there was just something about this show.
17. She Took Home A Trophy
During the first season of Charlie’s Angels, Fawcett took home the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. During an interview, she stated, “When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra.”
Fawcett was onto something.
18. They Said She Jiggled
The critics were not always kind to Charlie’s Angels—and even invented a new term to disparage it. Because Fawcett and the other angels were often in revealing outfits, they called it “jiggle television”. But critics don't always know what audiences like, and soon Charlie’s Angels became a huge hit.
However, Fawcett was still making half of Jackson’s salary. She had to fix this.
19. Sales Went Through The Roof
It wasn’t really about the money. Since appearing on Charlie’s Angels, sales of Fawcett’s red bathing suit poster had gone through the roof. In fact, the poster became so popular it made more money for Fawcett than what the show was paying her. But Fawcett knew that she was carrying the show.
She was ready to make some demands.
20. Her Face Was Everywhere
ABC was taking advantage of Fawcett’s popularity and plastering her face on any kind of merchandise they could think of. There she was on a lunch box, and she was only getting two percent of the revenue. In addition, they only offered her a raise to $10,000 an episode for Charlie’s Angels. Reportedly, what Fawcett wanted was 10 percent of the merchandise and $75,000 an episode.
But this wasn’t the only thing she was looking for.
21. She Was Done
While they were negotiating her contract, ABC noticed that Fawcett was saying no to almost everything they offered. The truth was, Fawcett just didn’t want to continue with Charlie’s Angels. She was through with “jiggle TV”. Fawcett was ready to walk away, but there was a problem. According to the production company, she was still under contract. In response, Fawcett argued that she'd already started acting in Charlie's Angels before signing a contract.
That’s when the lawyers arrived.
22. There Was A Battle
Between the first and second seasons of Charlie’s Angels, lawyers for Fawcett and ABC battled it out. In the meantime, Fawcett started looking into doing the movies she’d always wanted to do. She was up for a role in Foul Play opposite funny-man Chevy Chase. When ABC found out, they did something that would stop Fawcett in her tracks.
23. She Was Unemployable
The producers of Charlie’s Angels made it very clear that if anyone wanted to hire Fawcett for an acting job, they would face a lawsuit. The makers of Foul Play got nervous and gave the role to Goldie Hawn. This scared Fawcett and she quickly went back to the negotiating table and settled with Charlie’s Angels.
Fawcett was now free and ready to show the world she had so much more to offer.
24. She Landed A Part
Fawcett had missed out on Foul Play, which went on to be a hit, but landed a part in Somebody Killed Her Husband opposite Academy Award-nominated Jeff Bridges. The film raked in $1 million in pre-sales, and there was a huge anticipation of it being the project that would launch her cinematic career.
She had all her eggs in one basket.
25. They Put Her On Top
When it came to the poster for this film, Fawcett actually had top billing over the more experienced Bridges. Sadly, the film was a flop, and the media were particularly unkind. One critic nicknamed the film, “Somebody Killed Her Career”. This was not the way Fawcett wanted to start her post-Charlie’s Angels career.
But there was worse coming.
26. She Went South
Leaving Charlie’s Angels was a way for Fawcett to finally slip into a serious role. Well, 1979’s Sunburn did nothing to fix this situation, as Fawcett spends a lot of time in a bathing suit. What else would you do in Acapulco, Mexico? Sunburn was another box office flop, and Fawcett’s career continued its downward spiral.
She and her career needed a life raft.
27. They Talked Her Into It
In her next film, Saturn 3, Fawcett’s co-star was the hugely experienced actor Kirk Douglas. Because of Charlie’s Angels and her red bathing suit poster, Fawcett again got top billing. Sadly, the producers insisted she go topless for one scene that later won an award for being completely gratuitous.
When Douglas got into the director’s chair, things just got worse.
28. He Couldn’t Keep His Hands Off Her
Partway through filming Saturn 3, the producers fired the director and before they could find a replacement, Douglas stepped in as director. In one scene, Fawcett needed to have dirt on the back of her pants. Douglas used his own hand to apply the dirt to Fawcett’s clothes and insisted that she be in them.
Fawcett may have compromised her dignity, but at least she had a good film she could be proud of. Oh wait, actually, that didn’t happen.
29. She Won The Wrong Awards
When Saturn 3 flopped, the producer started adding up the reasons why. They included an inexperienced director, Kirk Douglas’ ego, and, sadly, Fawcett’s bad acting and underdeveloped character. Fawcett got a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Actress and two Stinkers Bad Movie Awards nominations.
But it wasn’t just the movie that was bothering Fawcett, she had other troubles.
30. It Was All Falling Apart
While filming Saturn 3, Fawcett had to miss several days due to an unnamed illness. As it turned out, Fawcett wasn’t ill, her marriage was. Fawcett and Majors were having problems, and after filming was over, the two decided to call it quits. In 1979, they separated—and in 1982, they officially got a divorce.
Fawcett could now focus entirely on her quickly deteriorating acting career.
31. She Stood Out
Fawcett had to recover from her separation and Saturn 3. She decided to join an all-star cast in The Cannonball Run. This is a slapstick, star-studded endeavor which did nothing to get Fawcett away from “Jiggle TV”. Worse still, out of the entire cast of actors, only Fawcett got a nomination for yet another Golden Raspberry. Fawcett had failed again, and time was running out.
She decided to try something completely different.
32. She Went Serious
So far, the cinema hadn’t been the best thing for Fawcett, so she went back to TV. Instead of another series, she appeared in the TV movie, Murder in Texas. This was serious stuff and one of her costars, Katherine Ross, was an Academy Award nominee. The movie was a hit and while no one spoke out about Fawcett's great acting, at least no one said she was bad.
Fawcett had finally found something she was good at.
33. It Was Extreme
Fawcett had succeeded in a serious drama, so she took it to the next level. Susan Sarandon had been playing in an Off-Broadway production called Extremities and she wanted out. Fawcett happily stepped into the role, which was about a woman who gains the upper hand over her attacker.
This was an intense role, and a disturbance from the audience made it even more so.
34. He Talked To Her
While Fawcett was on stage in the emotionally exhausting Extremities, an audience member decided to break the fourth wall, interrupting the production. Turns out, this wasn't just any audience member—but rather, a creepy stalker. He stole the spotlight by inquiring whether Fawcett had gotten the photos and letters he'd sent her. Luckily, officers arrived to take the man away,
Strange audience member aside, Fawcett was a hit in this production. But when it came to hard-hitting roles, her most difficult one was yet to come.
35. She Got Really Serious
Fawcett continued to pursue serious acting work. In 1984, she starred in the TV movie The Burning Bed, which tells the true story of a woman who lights her bed on fire... with her husband still in it. Why? Well, because this particular character had suffered domestic violence at the hands of her husband. This very dramatic role was a real risk for Fawcett.
She just had to hope that the critics and the viewers liked it.
36. They Loved Her
Audiences and critics loved The Burning Bed, and they especially loved Fawcett’s performance. One critic called it “the 7th greatest American TV movie of all time” and another called her performance "one of the finest in the history of TV movies”. To seal the deal, Fawcett also picked up a nomination for a Primetime Emmy.
This was a huge leap forward for Fawcett’s career, but there may have been a sad reason why she was so good.
37. She Had First-Hand Experience
There may be a reason why Fawcett did so well in The Burning Bed. Sadly, she had first-hand experience of domestic violence. She’d been dating actor Ryan O’Neal and everyone knew the relationship was trouble. Fawcett admitted that sometimes he broke her heart. O’Neal’s daughter, Tatum O’Neal didn’t mince words.
She said that her father beat Fawcett.
38. It Was Intense
Fawcett’s life with O’Neal was always intense. His own son even called him a "narcissistic psychopath". The two shared an on-again-off-again relationship from 1979 to 1997. In spite of the volatile nature of their relationship, they decided to have a child together. In 1985, they welcomed Redmond James Fawcett O’Neal into this world.
But as we'll see, it wouldn’t be long before young Redmond was having troubles of his own.
39. She Played It Real
Despite her problems with O’Neal, Fawcett's career continued to thrive. If she had a niche, you could call it playing roles inspired by real women. She played war criminal hunter Beate Klarsfield, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, and child killer Diane Downs. All totaled up, she received six Golden Globe nominations for her work.
It was very clear that Fawcett had done what she'd set out to do. And then she did something strange.
40. She Shocked Us All
Against all odds, Fawcett agreed to appear in Hugh Hefner’s infamous men’s magazine. She was now 50 years old, and she agreed to show some skin. There was a video that went with the photoshoot and in it, Fawcett uses her body as a huge paintbrush. To promote the magazine spread, Fawcett visited David Letterman on his show.
It was nothing short of a disaster.
41. She Was Not Herself
From the very beginning of her interview with David Letterman, it was clear that Fawcett was not herself. She even had trouble getting onto the stage. While her answers made sense, she just didn’t seem like herself. The tabloids went for the jugular and speculated that she had a drug problem.
Fawcett denied it, but the truth behind her behavior remains a mystery. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only troubling aspect of her life.
42. They Took Him In
Around this same time, Fawcett began a relationship with Canadian filmmaker James Orr. Fawcett even appeared in her husband’s film for Disney, Man of the House. Sadly, the relationship ended under horrible circumstances. Authorities took Orr in and charged him with physically harming Fawcett.
Fawcett hadn’t been lucky when it came to love. But there was one man who really wanted her.
43. She Was Undecided
Robert Duvall was making a film called The Apostle, and he knew he wanted Fawcett in it. He offered one of two parts to her. She could play a character named Toosie or play his wife. Fawcett chose Toosie and then switched to the wife. When Miranda Richardson got the role of Toosie, Fawcett decided that she wanted it back.
Duvall was getting impatient, and he gave her an ultimatum.
44. She Made The Right Choice
Duvall told Fawcett that she could play his wife in The Apostle or she could walk away. Fawcett decided to stay, and it was a good thing she did. The film was a success, and both Fawcett and Richardson received nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards. It was yet another feather in Fawcett’s cap.
Now it was time to repair her dating record.
45. She Turned Back Time
To find her next romance, Fawcett turned back the clock. Back when she was at the University of Texas, she’d dated Greg Lott, who’d been a football star. In 1998, they got together again and started dating. The thing was, they kept it secret as there may have been some overlap with Fawcett’s relationship with Ryan O’Neal.
This would come back to haunt her.
46. She Went Back
In 2001, O’Neal got a scary diagnosis. He had leukemia. According to O’Neal, he and Fawcett rekindled their romance. It seemed that they had turned a new page, with each of them approaching this second chance with more maturity. O’Neal survived cancer, but it wasn’t smooth sailing afterward.
47. He Suffered
O’Neal’s children from previous marriages had their share of difficulties with drinking and drug addiction. Sadly, Fawcett’s son with O’Neal was no different. Redmond’s list of troubles is shocking. In addition to addiction issues, he suffers from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and antisocial personality disorder. He’s also spent time behind bars and in mental health facilities.
And then Fawcett had her own devastating medical problem.
48. He Took Control
Starting in 2006, Fawcett had a well-publicized battle with cancer. During her battle, O’Neal came to Fawcett’s side. Since he didn’t know anything about Greg Lott, O’Neal wouldn’t let Fawcett see her current boyfriend. He also refused to let Fawcett spend her final days with Cher at her beach house.
On June 25, 2009, Fawcett passed of anal cancer. Her will spoke volumes about how she felt about O’Neal.
49. She Didn’t Include Him
Fawcett left most of her estate to her son Redmond. She left other sums to various relatives and $100,000 to Lott. She did not mention O’Neal in her living trust. Instead, O’Neal grabbed an Andy Warhol painting that belonged to Fawcett—worth somewhere between $800,000 and $12 million—and went to court to hang on to it.
But O’Neal wasn’t through with Fawcett yet.
50. She Didn’t Rest In Peace
Reportedly, Farrah Fawcett preferred cremation over burial—at least, according to her friend Craig Nevius, who claimed that the actress never wanted to become a "tourist attraction". However, if this truly was her wish, it was one she never got. Instead, she was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park—a cemetery in Los Angeles. But that wasn't the worst part.
When O’Neal passed in 2023, he did one more disservice to Fawcett. He had himself buried beside her and added his name to her tombstone. Unfortunately, some have considered this a jaw-dropping insult.
You May Also Like:
The Short Life and Sad Death Of Anna Nicole Smith
Remembering “The Ten Commandments” Star Anne Baxter
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
