Farrah Fawcett Passes at age 62

June 26, 8:03 PMTampa Books ExaminerJulianne Draper

She was well known for ditzy/quirky/hard-boiled loveable flake, but there was more to her than met the eye in those saucy scenes. Do you recall? She flirted with the Scifi world, not only in her guest roles in the Six Million Dollar Man, but also in the film adaptation of William F. Nolan’s sf novel Logan’s Run, and the weird scifi flick Saturn 3. On the flip side of that, she also had… shall we call it a serious literary streak? The famed blonde was in quite a few adaptations; beyond Logan’s Run, she also starred in 1970’s Sunburn, an adaptation of the Stanely Ellin detective novel The Bind; there was also the adaptation of a Gore Vidal’s novel Myra Breckinridge and in 1983 she starred in a tv adaptation of the Jackie Collins novelHollywood Wives: The New Generation. That was not to be the end of her flirtation with novel-to-screen transformations, either; in 1996, she was still bringing literature to the masses, in the form of an adaptation of Jim Harrison’s 1991 novel Dalva. And in 2001 she starred in the adaptation of Brett Lott’s novel Jewel.  According to one article, she was a friend of author Ayn Rand, who herself was a huge Charlie’s Angels fan, and wanted Farrah Fawcett in the adaptation of her novel Atlas Shrugged (on which, you can read more here). There was also her role in the adaptation of a Gore Vidal’s novel Myra Breckinridge.

By now, you take my point, I’m sure.

Considering that most actors read the novels their movies are based on, I think it’s safe to say there was a lot going on under those blonde waves, those she, yes, lost to the cancer that claimed her life at last.

Of course, these works are just the tip of the iceberg that was Farrah Fawcett’s career, but as a whole, it may teach us something about her that we’ve forgotten. So while the world remembers her as the longtime companion of actor Ryan O’Neill, the ex-wife of Lee Majors ( AKA, The Six Million Dollar Man), the iconic bombshell of the 70s, the bikini posters, the ditzy bent of some of her interviews; while we remember her as a gutsy “Angel”, let’s here do the woman some honor, and remember her how she wished to be remembered: as a fighter, a woman of substance, the serious actress, with a brain, and a heart of gold.