Pin-up model and star of Charlies Angels

Farrah Fawcett who died on 25 June, 2009, aged 62 from cancer, was the star of the hugely-popular 1970s television series Charlies Angels. Her long, tousled flicked-back hairstyle was copied by girls and women across the globe throughout the decade.

The beautiful actress was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, on 2 February, 1947. She graduated with a degree in Microbiology from the University of Texas, and was also a talented artist but acting was always her real passion. She took her first steps to fame through small appearances in TV shows such as I Dream of Jeannie (1969) and The Partridge Family (1970).

She wed actor Lee Majors - then a huge star through his series The Six Million Dollar Man - in 1973 and began to bill herself under a new married name of Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Her stunning good looks helped to catapult her to stardom after she posed in a red bathing suit for an iconic poster which sold some 12 million copies. Around the same time she landed the role as Jill Munroe, one of a trio of female private investigators in Charlies Angels (1976) and became a household name.

She left after just one season to pursue other roles on stage and film but did return to the show as a guest star in each of seasons three and four.

She separated from Mr Majors in 1979, and from 1982 onwards was romantically involved with the actor Ryan O'Neal.

Farrah won critical acclaim for her work in the New York Off-Broadway production of Extremities - in which she played a rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. A year later she took on the role again in the feature film version of Extremities, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Actress in a Leading Role - Drama.....