Farrah Fawcett profile

Born in Texas, Farrah Fawcett was – like her alter-ego Jill Munroe – a natural athlete from a young age. She was also conspicuously easy on the eye, and was voted Most Beautiful Student by her schoolmates for four years running.

Still, there was more to Farrah than looks. A brilliant student, she was accepted by a university to study microbiology, but her real burning desire was to be an actress. It was a dream that would be fulfilled after she was spotted by an agent and offered a modelling contract in Hollywood, where she was eventually picked up for TV ads and programmes like I Dream of Jeannie (alongside future JR Ewing Larry Hagman). She had arrived.

Birth of a pop icon

Farrah's life changed in 1968 when she met the more established TV actor Lee Majors, who would later become a huge star in the classic sci-fi series The Six Million Dollar Man.

Majors used his influence to get more roles for Farrah, who became his wife in 1973. She actually starred in The Six Million Dollar Man herself for a time, but true fame came thanks to a now-famous bathing suit poster she released. It sold several million copies across America, making her one of the best-known faces in the country. It was this that led to her being selected for a new TV show called Charlie's Angels – the series that made her a phenomenon.

AWOL Angel

Charlie's Angels swiftly became one of the most popular TV shows of its day, and all three leads became famous overnight. But it was Farrah who was the undisputed star of the show, garnering endless media coverage just as Pamela Anderson would for Baywatch many years later.

Which is why everyone was stunned when Farrah decided to leave following the very first smash-hit season. She was keen to capitalise on her success and explore a film career, but her decision was made so suddenly that even series producer Leonard Goldberg apparently had no idea until he saw it mentioned on the evening news.

After the Angels

Although she did indeed leave the show after the first season, it wasn't the last viewers would see of her character Jill Munroe, as Farrah made fairly regular guest appearances in future seasons.

While her star faded in the ensuing decade, she continued to work regularly on films like The Cannonball Run, and she had a fresh burst of fame in 1995 when she agreed to pose for Playboy at the age of 48 (it became the magazine's bestselling issue of that decade). And, lest anyone forget that she's actually a rather good actress, she also wowed critics in the highly acclaimed Robert Duvall movie The Apostle in 1997.

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