RSS
Home
Death of two icons
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
He was a king of pop; she was a queen of pin-ups. Two icons of the latter half of the 20th Century have shuffled off this mortal coil within hours of each other, both leaving behind bodies of work that are still discussed, debated and deconstructed to this day. Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon in Los Angeles, CA at the age of 50, leaving behind three children. Farrah Fawcett passed away at the age of 62, leaving behind a son and recent fiancee, actor Ryan O'Neal.
Although he is known by most people as a pop and video star, Jackson made his big screen debut in 1978's The Wiz, a movie musical retelling of The Wizard of Oz. Directed by renowned auteur Sidney Lumet, The Wiz transplants the familiar characters of L. Frank Baum's classic tales into a modern urban setting featuring an African-American cast, capturing the essence of the African-American experience. The film provided Jackson, who played the Scarecrow, with a hit single in the song "Ease On Down The Road."
Jackson would go on to make a name for himself as a video star, by defining and redifining the format of the music video. "Thriller," the music video for the tite song of his Album "Thriller," is, in itself, a short film, directed by John Landis, of Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London fame.
Throughout his career, Jackson would work with other titans of cinema, including Martin Scorsese, who directed the video for "Bad," and Francis Ford Coppola who directed Jackson in the Disney theme park 3D attraction Captain Eo. George Lucas served as executive-producer of the special effects extravaganza that took the audience on an intersteller musical odyssey with Jackson at the helm of a starship.
Later in his career, Jackson filmed the video "Ghosts," directed by special effects maven Stan Winston based on an original story by Stephen King. Shot in 1997, this would be the last short-film music video that Jackson would star in.
Fawcett rose to the upper echeleon of celebrity sex symbols in 1976 as 1/3 of the crime fighting trio known as Charlie's Angels. Before the fame of Charlie's Angels, Fawcett had minor roles in some high profile films of the early 70s, including the cult sci-fi classic Logan's Run, and the infamous sex-change satire Myra Breckinridge, a critical and commercial disaster.
Fawcett would return to science fiction three years after leaving Charlie's Angels when she starred with Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel in Saturn 3, a space opera that raised eyebrows over Fawcett's several nude scenes with the 31-years-older Douglas.
In 1986, Fawcett took on one of the most critically acclaimed roles of her career in Extremities. Based on an off-Broadway play in which she had also starred, Extremities tells the story of woman who is the victim of a home invasion by an assailant who physically and mentally abuses the heroine until a turn of events gives her the upper hand.
Throughout the 80s, Fawcett would continue to garner critical acclaim in made for TV films such as The Burning Bed, based on the true story of a battered housewife who retaliates by setting her husband on fire while he slept in their bed, and Small Sacrifices, also based on a true story about a mother who attempts to murder her three children.
In 1997, Fawcett would again win over critics with her performance in Robert Duvall's The Apostle. Directed by and starring Duvall, The Apostle tells the story of a charismatic minister and his wife, played by Fawcett, who conspires to have him removed from the church.
Three years later, Fawcett would work with another giant of cinema, Robert Altman, in his Dr. T and the Women, also starring Richard Gere.
One of her last filmed appearances was in the documentary Farrah's Story, which detailed her battle with anal cancer. The documentary aired on NBC last month.
More coverage on Michael Jackson
More coverage on Farrah Fawcett
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
