An American leading lady, mostly on TV, Farrah Fawcett possessed thick, tousled, dirty-blonde hair that inspired a styling craze and her wide sunshiny smile, statuesque appearance and fluffy vivacity made her a poster phenomenon and major media focus of the late 1970s.
Beginning as a model in advertisements which emphasized her toothsome smile (e.g., Ultra-Brite toothpaste), flowing, “feathered” hair (Wella Balsam shampoo) and soft, seductive manner (Noxema men’s shaving cream), Fawcett really caught on as one of the stars of the Aaron Spelling TV series, “Charlie’s Angels”. As Jill Munroe, one of three beauteous detectives whose boss was the off-screen voice of John Forsythe, Fawcett (billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors; she was then married to TV star Lee Majors) stood out in contrast to her brunette co-stars, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith. The series, a camp classic for some, “family-style porn, a mild erotic fantasy” for others, hardly presented plausible situations or opportunities for complex characterizations, but Fawcett’s limited emoting skills if anything added a vulnerable modesty and appeal to her formidable California-girl image.
