Thursday, June 25, 2009

Farah Fawcett: A Personal Recollection


I met Farah Fawcett on several occasions during the late 1970s after she achieved fame for her role in the popular TV show, Charlie’s Angels. She and the other co-stars … Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, and Jaclyn Smith … were retained by the Wella Corporation to act as testimonial spokespersons for a line of consumer and professional hair care products. I started my film production company at about this time, and Wella was one of my very first clients. Yes, those TV and print ads were my handiwork. I wish I had better photos of her to share, but all outtakes became the property of Wella subject to strictly limited usage rights per contract terms. Nevertheless, I used to bring home Farah posters, hot off the press, for my young daughters to hang in their bedroom. Today, those Farah posters are selling on Ebay for a sum.

She was as lovely in person as she appeared in film and was an icon of an era. Born February 2, 1947, she was exactly one day younger than me. Life is fragile and fleeting; my generation is aging. Rest in peace.
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.

(Goethe, Wandrers Nachtlied)

6 comments:

  1. Octo: You're lucky to have had the honor of knowing Farrah. When I was a pre-teen I used to cut out and save every picture I could find of her. I had 3 full set of Charlie's Angels collectible cards. Unfortunately, I didn't save any of those things. I'm really bummed about that.

    So, you were in the film industry. I talked with Jay Bernstein, Farrah's agent once. He called me after I sent him a photo. This was over 20 years ago.

    May she rest in peace.

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  3. What a cool story. I of course, adopted the hair cut at the time, but a modified version, since I had much different hair. Required significant time spent with a curling iron.

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  4. I was sorry to hear of her passing, OCTO. A film in which I thought she was excellent: Robert Duvall's The Apostle, in which Farrah played an eccentric preacher's estranged wife.

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  5. To her credit, she saw herself as a serious actress ... taking low paying off Broadway roles to reposition herself away from those teeny bopper and commercial beauty roles.

    Perhaps I should note parenthetically, I lost interest in the film business shortly afterward, sold the firm, and went to grad school and beyond.

    FF's role that intrigued me the most: The Beate Klarsfeld Story. Years later, I met Beate Klarsfeld's son, Arno, while living in Paris.

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  6. Bloggindino: I liked Farrah in that role. She also did really well in Small Sacrifices and The Burning Bed, both of which she was nominated for Emmy's and Golden Globes, if I'm not mistaken.

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