Farewell to Farrah

A few days ago, the world lost two entertainment icons, Farrah Fawcett, 62, and Michael Jackson, 50. In her prime, Farrah looked better in a red bathing suit than the siliconized Pamela Anderson could ever imagine. Farrah was probably the most famous of all Charlie’s Angels, despite leaving the show after only one season to concentrate on feature films.

Even with a million-dollar hairstyle, a billion-dollar smile, and a trillion-dollar tan, Farrah’s movie career never really ignited. In the last dozen years, both Michael and Farrah have been more newsworthy for their bizarre behavior than almost anything else. When she was 50, Farrah painted her nude body for a Playboy video and made an ultra-whacky appearance on The David Letterman Show.

Most recently, she’s been in the news because of her courageous fight against a rare form of cancer. Once hospital employees illegally revealed Farrah’s medical condition, she became very public about her treatment regimen. Her decision to do so was brave and sad at the same time.

Despite her courage in facing death on her own terms, Farrah had the misfortune to die on the same day as infamous man-child Michael Jackson. Print and televised news reports about Michael Jackson outnumbered Farrah by about 50:1 on the day they died, and the day after their deaths, news on Farrah had all but disappeared, while Michael continued to dominate worldwide news media. You couldn’t even go to Amazon.com without a short eulogy about Michael at the top of the page, and an offer to hawk more of his music on their website (I personally found this a little sickening).

So, while Farrah unceremoniously fades into the sunset only days after her death, I just wanted to take a moment to remember one of the most beautiful and idolized women of the seventies. In her final days, she was more about substance than style.