She’s Still Touched by ‘Angels’
Farrah Fawcett can’t escape the ghost of a former hairstyle.
Twenty years after the actress’ one-year stint on Charlie’s Angels, there are
those who still see her as the ‘70s golden girl who gave curling iron
manufacturers a reason to live. “I see T-shirts everywhere, with my face, my
poster,” she says. “In Saudi Arabia they’re using photographs of me – not only
form Charlie’s Angels but from when I did ads for Faberge shampoo to advertise
everything: clothes, food, vitamins. It’s almost like I couldn’t stop (the
image) even if I wanted to.”
Which makes her break from Jill Munroe even more impressive.
Fawcett’s latest effort, the TV movie Dalva (ABC< March 3, 9 p.m.), is an adaptation
of the novel by Jim Harrison (Legends of the Fall). As the title character, she
plays a woman in search of a son she gave up at 16. “What I like about her,”
says the actress, “is that she chooses to do this at a time when she’s come to
terms with her independence and sexuality.”
The role is a change of pace for Fawcett, 49, whose attempt
to break the Angels mold led to a string of crazed/victimized female parts, including
the woman who torches her abusive husband in 1984’s The Burning Bed. “I feel responsible,”
she says of the exploited-woman-of-the-week trend. “But in a positive way, too.
Because there weren’t any roles like that (for women) before I did them. IT was
either Dynasty bitches or the other woman.”
Dalva “fits in none of those categories. It’s the first time
where I play a real woman,” says Fawcett, adding that her decision to do the
role coincided with her decision to pose for last December’s Playboy. “Those
two characters – because what I did in Playboy is a character – share a similarity
in the security in their sexuality.”
Fawcett now has security in abundance: a longtime
relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal, their son, Redmond, 11, and respect from
the industry. In fact, as far as the networks are concerned, she can write her
own ticket. “They say, ‘Let’s leave it to her. She delivers the numbers,’” says
Fawcett. “It’s not out of the kindness of their hears. People trust my instincts.”
– Kristen Baldwin.
