Friday Mieography

I had someone different all lined up, but, I can go with the flow....

Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the youngest of two daughters. She was of French, English, and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Her name, Ferrah, was made up by her Mother to go with their last name. The "e" was later changed to "a".

The family was Roman Catholic, and her early education was at the parish school of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, in Corpus Christi. She graduated from school, and high school, then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a sister in the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. She ended up in a photo of the "Ten Most Beautiful Coeds", where a Hollywood publicist saw her, called her, and lured her to Los Angeles.

She started in commercials, like Noxema shaving cream, Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam Shampoo, and, of course, the Mercury Cougar. Her first TV appearance was on I Dream of Jeannie. She quickly moved on, and ended up on The Six Million Dollar Man, and, even, The Dating Game. During this time, she was in a photo shoot, with the resulting Red swimsuit photo, which sold somewhere around 8 million posters.

In 1976, a movie of the week entitled "Charlie's Angels" aired. She was married to Lee Majors, whom she'd met on the set of The Six Million Dollar Man at the time. The movie was so popular that it aired a second time, and then, got the green light to be a series. She was a quick fan favorite, and won a People's Choice Award for the show. She actually earned more money in royalties from the sale of her poster than for the television series. Her hairstyle became an international trend (The Farrah).

She left Charlie's Angels after just one season (which is STILL a controversial subject). There was a lawsuit over over her early departure, but she did end up returning for 6 guest appearances over seasons three and four.

After Angels, she had a series of flops. Then, she won acclaim for a role she played on Broadway, the play was called "Extremities". She was a would have been rape victim who turned the tables on her attacker. During this show, and its difficult, both physically and emotional challenge, a stalker came out of the audience and disrupted her. I cannot even imagine.

The year after, she got her roll in "The Burning Bed", which earned her an Emmy nomination. It was the highest rated TV movie of the season. She went on and did a movie of the play Extremities, and many other dramatic movies.

During her youth, she continuously refused offers to pose in the nude. However, in 1995, she changed her mind, posed for Playboy, and her issue became the best selling issue of the 1990's. She did another shoot for them when she was fifty. Also, a sculptor by the name of Keith Edmier did a sculpture of her that was at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

She continued on to many other roles, television, broadway, movies. As far as her love life, she had been involved with Ryan O' Neal since 1982. In 1985, they had a child, Redmond.

She was diagnosed with caner in 2006, and immediately sprung into action. She had both chemotherapy, and surgery. For a short time she was cancer free. In May 2007, a cancerous, malignant polyp was found. Instead of choosing to have surgery, she went to Europe, and pursued some alternative treatments. She did have surgery, both in Europe, and eventually, in the US. The tumors kept coming back, and spreading. A two hour documentary, "Farrah's Story" was filmed by herself, and her best friend, Alana Stewart, aired this last May. 9 million people watched it. It's been re-aired, and I am sure it will be again. The cancer finally took her life yesterday, about 9:30 am.

Her family says she would want to be remembered smiling. So there she is. Smiling. In her red swimsuit.