Charlie's Angel Farrah Fawcett dies at 62

LOS ANGELES --- Farrah Fawcett, the Charlie's Angels star whose feathered blond hair and dazzling smile made her one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1970s, died Thursday after battling cancer. She was 62.

The pop icon, who in the 1980s set aside the fantasy girl image to tackle serious roles, died shortly before 9:30 a.m. in a Santa Monica hospital, spokesman Paul Bloch said.

Ryan O'Neal, the longtime companion who had reunited with Ms. Fawcett as she fought anal cancer, was at her side, along with close friend Alana Stewart, Mr. Bloch said.

"After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away," Mr. O'Neal said. "Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world."

Ms. Fawcett burst on the scene in 1976 as one-third of the crime-fighting trio in TV's Charlie's Angels . A poster of her in a clingy swimsuit sold in the millions.

Her full, layered hairstyle became all the rage, with girls and women across America adopting the look.

She left the show after one season but had a flop on the big screen with Somebody Killed Her Husband. She turned to more serious roles in the 1980s and 1990s, winning praise playing an abused wife in The Burning Bed.

She had been diagnosed with cancer in 2006. As she underwent treatment, she enlisted the help of Mr. O'Neal, who was the father of her now 24-year-old son, Redmond.

This month, Mr. O'Neal said he asked Ms. Fawcett to marry him and she agreed, but they were unable to wed before she died.

Her struggle with painful treatments and dispiriting setbacks was recorded in the television documentary Farrah's Story . Ms. Fawcett sought cures in the U.S. and Germany, battling the disease with iron determination even as her body weakened. NBC estimated the May 15, 2009, broadcast drew nearly 9 million viewers.

In the documentary, Ms. Fawcett was seen shaving off most of her trademark locks before chemotherapy could claim them. Toward the end, she was seen huddled in bed, barely responding to a visit from her son.

Ms. Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith made up the original Angels , the sexy, police-trained trio of martial arts experts who took their assignments from a rich, mysterious boss named Charlie (John Forsythe, who was never seen on camera but whose distinctive voice was heard on speaker phone.)

The program debuted in September 1976, the height of what some critics derisively referred to as television's "jiggle show" era, and it gave each of the actresses ample opportunity to show off their figures as they disguised themselves in bathing suits and as hookers and strippers to solve crimes.

Backed by a clever publicity campaign, Ms. Fawcett -- then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors because of her marriage to The Six Million Dollar Man star Lee Majors -- quickly became the most popular Angel of all.

"She was an angel on Earth and now an angel forever," Mr. Majors said Thursday.

Ms. Fawcett's most unfortunate career moment might have been a 1997 appearance on David Letterman's show, when her disjointed, rambling answers led many to speculate that she was on drugs. She denied that, blaming her strange behavior on questionable advice from her mother to be playful and have a good time.

Born Feb. 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, she was named Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett by her mother, who said she added the Farrah because it sounded good with Fawcett. She was less than a month old when she underwent surgery to remove a digestive tract tumor with which she was born.

After attending Roman Catholic grade school and W.B. Ray High School, Ms. Fawcett enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. Fellow students voted her one of the 10 most beautiful people on the campus and her photos were eventually spotted by movie publicist David Mirisch, who suggested she pursue a film career. After overcoming her parents' objections, she agreed.

Soon she was appearing in such TV shows as That Girl, The Flying Nun, I Dream of Jeannie and The Partridge Family .