farrah

Her poster was part of my childhood. I don't think it was on my brother's bedroom wall, but I do remember distinctly when we were alerted to "crack the code" and spell out S-E-X in the curls of her amazing hair.

I of course grew up on Charlie's Angels and realized immediately how simultaneously silly and empowering for females the show really was. Completely absurd - the Angels always seemed to solve every mystery by rifling through file cabinets to find that one bit of evidence - it also depicted women as beautiful and kick-ass. Not a common thing on T.V. at that time. So Aaron Spelling wasn't all bad (Love Boat). It's hard to believe she was just on one season.

I remember going to see Logan's Run at the movies and being excited that she was in it - and disappointed that it was such a teeny part. But then Michael York caught my attention...I also remember some crazy mini-series with Sam Elliot (who I LOVE) where he is her murderous spouse that was pretty good.

But mostly Farrah was an icon for me via her relationship with Ryan O'Neal, which seemed solid for most of my dating years - a relationship lived out in the public sphere that showed there was life and love beyond, beside marriage. During my parents' divorce and my own ambivalent feelings about that institution, this was invaluable.

It sounds like she had a tough go of it at the end, and I'm very sorry for that, and for her family. One article I read said that as an infant she actually had to have a tumor removed from her intestine. Is it possible that such an event could be a blueprint for her later-in-life illness? A sobering thought. But she appears to have lived quite a full life, loved by many. That's something to be proud of, as it's really all that matters in the end. R.I.P. Angel.

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