Farrah Fawcett Dies At 62

CNN.com:

Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and "Charlie's Angels" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, has died. She was 62.

Fawcett, who checked into a Los Angeles, California, hospital in early April, had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years.

Ryan O'Neal, Fawcett's romantic partner since the mid-1980s, recently told People magazine that the sex symbol was declining.

"She stays in bed now. The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment. The treatment has pretty much ended," he said in a story posted May 7.

Fawcett's cancer journey has been documented in a television special partly shot by the actress. Fawcett began shooting "Farrah's Story," by taking a camera to a doctor's appointment. Eventually, the film expanded to include trips overseas in hopes of treating the cancer.

The documentary aired on NBC on May 15.

Fawcett's beauty -- her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters -- initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie "The Burning Bed." She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities."

I can't even lie. I'm a black man born in 1972 and growing up that Farrah Fawcett poster was iconic. I first saw it on the wall of Tony's room in the classic "Saturday Night Fever" and for years it'd go on to set the standard of what was beauty. Later, Farrah Fawcett would certainly have her ups and downs in her personal life (which unfortunately sort of turned her into a kook), but for awhile there, when it came to good looks, she set the bar.