HOWZAT

She later said: "When the show was No 3, I figured it was our acting. When it got to be No 1, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra."

In 1973 she had married Lee Majors, who was to go on to star in The Six Million Dollar Man, and acquired the name she would use in the Charlie's Angels title sequence, Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

She left the show after one season but had a flop on the big screen with Somebody Killed Her Husband. She turned to more serious roles in the 1980s and 1990s, winning praise playing an abused wife in The Burning Bed.

In 1995, at age 50, Ms Fawcett posed partly nude for Playboy magazine. The following year she starred in a Playboy video, All of Me, in which she was equally unclothed while she sculpted and painted.

She told an interviewer that she considered the experience "a renaissance", adding, "I no longer feel ... restrictions emotionally, artistically, creatively or in my everyday life. I don't feel those borders anymore."

Fawcett's most unfortunate career moment may have been a 1997 appearance on David Letterman's show, when her disjointed, rambling answers led many to speculate that she was on drugs.

Her three-year struggle with painful treatments and dispiriting setbacks for her cancer was recorded in the television documentary Farrah's Story. Fawcett sought cures in Germany as well as the United States, and NBC estimated that the broadcast drew nearly nine million viewers.

In the documentary Fawcett was seen shaving off most of her trademark locks before chemotherapy could claim them. Towards the end she is seen huddled in bed, barely responding to a visit from her son.

TV crime-fighter who made women ask for ‘Farrah hair’

— Born February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Attended University of Texas in Austin and began her acting career in ads, including for Wella Balsam shampoo

— Shot to fame in the 1970s with her starring role as Jill Munroe in the hit television series Charlie’s Angels, which broke new ground by featuring seductive crime-busting women

— Became an international sex symbol in 1976, thanks to an iconic poster in which she appears in a red swimsuit with a huge smile and cascading curls of blonde hair, which sold 12 million copies

— Women worldwide flocked to hairdressers trying to emulate the “Farrah hair”

— Left Charlie’s Angels after 29 episodes but had a big-screen flop with Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978) and failed to achieve Hollywood megastardom

— Later earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as a battered wife in The Burning Bed (1984) and critical acclaim for her role as a rape victim in the film (1986) and play versions of Extremities. Also played Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld and photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White

— Married Lee Majors in 1973, above, and appeared in four episodes of his series The Six Million Dollar Man. They separated in 1979

— Had a son, Redmond, with her on-off long-term partner, the actor Ryan O’Neal, in 1985

— Split from O’Neal in the 1990s and dated producer-director James Orr, who was given three years’ probation for beating her up in 1997

— Caused a stir by posing nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy and again in 1997, at the age of 50. Also starred in a Playboy video, All of Me, in which she sculpted while wearing only body paint

— A rambling 1997 appearance on David Letterman’s talk show led to speculation she was having a nervous breakdown

— News of her fight against rectal cancer broke in October 2006

— Earlier this week O’Neal said the pair were to marry as Fawcett was on her deathbed. She died surrounded by family at about 9.30am yesterday

Source: Times database

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