Farah Fawcett Biography
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Farrah Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947
in Corpus Christi, Texas to Pauline (Evans) Fawcett and James Fawcett.
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She was always beautiful, even as a young
girl, and her senior class of W.B. Ra High School (Corpus Christi) in
1965 voted her “Best Looking” senior.
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She went to college for two years
(1965-1967) at the University of Texas-Austin, majoring in microbiology,
eventually changing her major to art. In 1968, she left Texas to move
to California to pursue a career as a model and actress.
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She decided that she wanted to become an
actress, and quickly made her way onto television in 1969, appearing in
the episodes of a few popular television shows in 1969, including,
The Flying Nun (her debut), I Dream of Jeanie, Mayberry R.F.D and
Three’s a Crowd. Her big screen debut also came in 1969, when she
appeared as Patricia in Myra Breckenridge.
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She continued to do television in the early
1970’s, appearing on more shows, including appearing in a few episodes
of The Six Million Dollar Man (with her husband) in 1974. A year
earlier, she got married to Lee Majors, the star of the show. She
changed her name to Farrah Fawcett-Majors during the time period of
their marriage. Her and Majors formed a production company,
Fawcett-Majors Productions.
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By the mid-1970s she was also modeling and
began to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry. In
1975, she was awarded the Golden Apple Award for Female New Star of the
Year. Then, after a poster of her posing in a bathing suit sold millions
of copies, producers knew it was time to capitalize on this Texas
beauty. So in 1975, Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg contacted
Farrah about co-starring in a television show about three crime solving
women detectives. The show, Charlie’s Angels became a huge hit
the following year (1976) and Farrah’s career climbed to an all-time
high in the role of Jill Monroe. She also started a fashion trend and
every girl wanted to have blond hair and a “Farrah Fawcett” haircut. She
was also nominated for a Golden Globe award for this role.
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Although the show was receiving great
reviews and ratings after its first season, Farrah was not happy and
decided to leave the show. After lawsuits for breaking the contract,
she came to an agreement to appear in 12 more episodes over the
following two seasons.
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In 1979, she was not happy with her
marriage to Lee Majors and they separated for a few months, and
eventually received a divorce in 1982.
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After leaving Charlie’s Angels, she tried
to further pursue her career as an actress and starred in three movies
over the next three years: Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), Sunburn
(1979) and Saturn 3 (1980). Unfortunately for her, none of the movies
did very well at the box office.
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Farrah dated actor Ryan O’Neal for
beginning in 1980, until they broke up in 1997. During this time, they
did not get married, but had a son together, Redmond O’Neal in 1985.
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In the 1980’s, Farrah’s acting career
turned back to television, where she once again gained some credibility,
beginning with the made for TV movie, Murder in Texas in 1981 and
The Burning Bed. For her role in Burning Bed, she was nominated
for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a
Special, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. Even with the
critical acclaim, she never received the same heights she did in the mid
70s. She also appeared on Broadway and received acclaim for her acting
in the play Extremities.
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She continued to appear on television, and
occasionally in the movies over the next two decades. Some of her
acting highlights included Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfield Story
(1987 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a
Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV), Extremities (1987
Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion
Picture – Drama), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
(1988 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a
Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV), Small Sacrifices (1990 Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special,
and 1990 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a
Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV), Good Sports (it is
worth mentioning this short lived television with her boyfriend O’Neal)
and The Apostle (1998 Independent Spirit Award nomination for
Best Supporting Female). More recently, she has been nominated for
another Emmy Award (in 2003) for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama
Series for her appearance in an episode of The Guardian.
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In 1995, her fame brought her a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1995, Farrah also made waves when she got
naked and appeared nude in Playboy magazine. The December 1995
issue, in which she appeared was the highest selling issue of the 1990’s
for Playboy. She also appeared in the magazine again two years later in
1997.
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When she is not working, she is very active
in many charities, including work with the American Cancer Society, and
working to fight domestic violence.
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You can
now catch Farrah in the star of her own reality TV show, Chasing
Farrah. On one memorable episode, she completely flipped her lid and
the scene of her carrying on made national headlines.
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Her mother, Pauline
Fawcett passed away on March 4, 2005.
Biography by Ian Ripley,
PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer
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