Farrah Fawcett biography

Film Career

Fawcett turned her attention toward film roles, appearing in Logan's Run (1976), Sunburn (1979) and Saturn 3 (1980), all of which performed poorly at the box office. The subsequent roles she was offered reflected the industry's doubts about her talent as a serious actress.

Although Fawcett was praised for her first dramatic television performance in the 1981 miniseries Murder in Texas,

her appearance as a ditsy blonde in the film Cannonball Run (1981) was more typical of the scripts that came her way.

Fawcett and Majors separated in 1979 and divorced in 1982, ending their 9-year marriage. Fawcett began dating actor and notorious womanizer Ryan O'Neal. Fawcett and O'Neal had a son, Redmond, in 1985.

In 1984, Fawcett produced and starred in the made-for-TV movie The Burning Bed, which was a searing portrait of domestic violence. For her compelling performance as a woman driven to kill her husband after suffering for years under his physical abuse, Fawcett earned national recognition, as well as an Emmy nomination. Fawcett also won acclaim in the stage and a movie version of Extremities (1986), in which she played a rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. In 1989, She then played a mother who shot her children in another miniseries, Small Sacrifices, receiving a second Emmy nomination. Her third Emmy nomination came in 2001 for her work in The Guardian.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fawcett's projects were predominantly TV movies. Her credits included Nazi Hunter: The Beate Karsfeld Story (1986), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987), Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourge-White (1989), Criminal Behavior (1992), and The Substitute Wife (1994).

Aging Sex Symbol

After resisting any nudity in films or magazines for years, the 48-year-old actress posed topless in the December 1995 issue of Playboy magazine. The issue quickly became one of the most popular in the magazine's history, with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. Two years later, Fawcett once again graced the pages of Playboy. That same year, Fawcett played a significant role in the acclaimed religious drama The Apostle, opposite Robert Duvall, which introduced her to a new generation of moviegoers.

Although she was facing a successful reprise in popularity that year, Fawcett also faced some complications in her personal life. She and O'Neal split after more than 15 years together. Soon after their break-up, Fawcett and Hollywood director James Orr began dating. Rumors surfaced that Orr was unstable, and that their relationship was tumultuous. On June 5, 1997, Fawcett appeared incoherent during an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman. Her behavior on the show led many fans to speculate as to whether or not the actress was abusing drugs.

In January 1998, Orr was arrested for physically attacking Fawcett after she turned down his marriage proposal; he was later tried and convicted of assault and battery.