Possessing impeccable TV beauty, blonde, bright and “sexy” Cheryl Ladd burst into the national spotlight as one of the title characters of the immensely popular 1970s series “Charlie’s Angels” (ABC, 1976-1981), replacing Farrah Fawcett-Majors by playing her younger sister, Kris Monroe.
Ladd began her career in high school singing with the group Music Shop, and when a tour brought them to Los Angeles, Ladd stayed. She quickly secured work (most notably as the singing voice of Melody in the animated series “Josie and the Pussycats” 1970-74) and slowly began making her visual presence felt on the tube: as a regular (“The Ken Berry ‘Wow’ Show”), a guest (“Happy Days,” “Police Woman”), and in character parts in movies (“Satan’s School for Girls” 1973, where future “Angels” producer Aaron Spelling probably got his first glimpse of her).
The results of success as an angel have included a short-lived solo recording career, TV specials and a spate of made-for-TV movies (e.g., “Grace Kelly”, ABC 1983) with herself as star. While Ladd’s big screen work has lagged behind, she has demonstrated not only a willingness to stretch herself, but an ability–at the very least on par with the bulk of current “mature” actors–to do so as well. In 2000, she tackled a musical comedy role on Broadway replacing Bernadette Peters in the revival of “Annie Get Your Gun”.
