Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947, Corpus Christi, Texas – June 25, 2009, Santa Monica, California) was an American actress and entertainment icon. Farrah was also a pop culture figure whose hairstyle was emulated by millions of young women and whose poster sales broke records, making her an international sex symbol in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Farrah appeared in TV commercials for consumer products, including Noxema shaving cream, Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam shampoo, and the 1975 Mercury Cougar.
In 1976, Pro Arts Inc., pitched the idea of a poster of Fawcett to her agent, and a photo shoot was arranged. The resulting poster, of Farrah in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller; sales estimates ranged from over 5 million to as high as 12 million copies. As a matter of fact, she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in “Charlie’s Angels”.
I owned one of those copies, the only poster that hung on this then-high-schooler’s wall.
Rest in peace, Angel.
