Pretty and fresh, the girl next door. A world of possibilities in front of her.
Here she is in an early photo shoot:
Natural hair, bright eyes, and the infectious square smile for which she would later become so famous.
Just a little trip to the park, in a white jumpsuit
The glamour shot.
Then came the famous haircut.
Oh, and a little Aaron Spelling show called Charlie's Angels.
It seemed at first as though Farrah wasn't supposed to be the sex symbol of the show. If the Angels had been the Spice Girls, Farrah would have been Sporty-Girl-Next-Door Spice. Kate Jackson was of course Pretty-Enough-But-Smarter-Than-All-Of-Them Spice, and Jacklyn Smith was So-Sexy-It-Hurts Spice.
Farrah, as the girl next door:
But then there was The Poster.
The Farrah marketing machine took her on a wild ride through the sexploitation 70s. But she kept her girl-next-door appeal, working hard and trying to get acting gigs. Hollywood, thanks in no small part to Aaron Spelling, wouldn't let her off the sex appeal pedestal.
Roles in The Burning Bed and Extremities earned her some hard-won acknowledgement as an actress, but as is the case with with many female icons she still had a difficult time being taken seriously. Still, it has been wonderful to see her grow into herself as an independent woman who has faced adversity, and so sad to see her suffer the last few years of her life. She handled her struggle with cancer with such determination and dignity.
Rest in peace, fair angel.
This is a beautiful and gorgeous post you've put together of Farrah. I would love to put a link of it on my blog. Well done.
Thought I would mention I'm having a giveaway of a fab vintage hat and bag you may be interested in entering - and its free postage of course.
Posted by: Countess de Vintage | June 29, 2009 at 11:48 PM
beautiful entry, indeed. thank you.
Posted by: Tom Tuttle from Tacoma | July 02, 2009 at 06:56 AM
Lovely collection of photos, I never knew much about her (just watched Canonball Run). She does have a square smile, its gorgeous!
Posted by: eyeliah | July 02, 2009 at 11:54 AM
One question--why are the Angels doing Namaste?
Posted by: Kathryn | July 03, 2009 at 10:06 AM