ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What do you remember about Farrah from the early days?
BRUCE MCBROOM: I had the pleasure of knowing Farrah when she was the young innocent girl who just arrived in Hollywood. She was a very smart young lady, but she was this little girl from Texas with these really wonderful parents and very innocent in the way of Hollywood, and very honest and open. There was no artifice about her, no phoniness. She had no idea of how beautiful and how attractive she was, I’m sure…. Even after becoming a hit on Charlie’s Angels, she was never one that lurked in her dressing room. I would be working with her on a set, and she was totally accessible. No attitude…. She was just like [an] apple-pie, girl-next-door kind of girl, and in all the years I knew her she never changed.
How did the shoot for the poster come about?
One day I got a call from some guy in the Midwest from a poster company. He said, “I’m doing this poster of Farrah Fawcett and Farrah said to hire you to shoot her. I’ve hired two photographers and they photographed her and she hates the pictures.” He said, “Here’s the thing, it’s gotta be her great hair, she’s gotta be smiling, she’s gotta be in a bikini and they’ve gotta be drop-dead, sexy pictures.”
Can you walk us through the shoot?
She and Lee Majors [her then husband] lived in a big house up on Mulholland Drive [in Los Angeles]. I showed up and it was just the two of us…. Farrah did her own hair and her own makeup, not that she needed much makeup. I said, “He wants you in a bikini” and she said, “I don’t have a bikini.” She was only about 29, and just gorgeous in anything. We took a lot of pictures. She’d go in, get something out of the closet and I’d find another background. I knew I didn’t have a picture that resonated with me even though she looked great. I was running out of ideas and I was getting desperate. We’d been there all day. I said, “You know how you look best. Is there anything else that you’ve got that we haven’t shot? The guy says he wants sexy.” So she said, “Lemme go look around.” She comes to the door and she’s standing in the doorway in that red suit. And she said, “What do you think of this?” It was like it was spray painted on her; I don’t think it was a swimsuit. I said, “You know what? That’s it!” I said, “Farrah, just get comfortable and do your thing.” When she did the series of sitting-up poses, I said, “We’ve got it.” And I heaved a big sigh of relief.
What else resonates about the shoot?
I literally ran out of color film about the same time that I took that picture. I knew I had it. Somewhere in that last roll of film is the picture that we’re looking for. She said, “I’m so tired of looking pretty and having this hair and makeup.” And she grabbed the garden hose and just held it up and drowned herself with a garden hose. I grabbed my Nikon, and I was looking for a roll of black-and-white film, and I said, “Don’t stop, don’t stop!” And what I have always maintained, the sexiest pictures I took are the pictures I took after the session. It was a totally innocent Farrah: “I’m so sick of looking pretty all day.” She just smeared her makeup, and it was the capper of the whole thing. We had so much fun. We just had a blast doing it.
The poster went on to adorn countless bedroom walls. Did you two have any idea how popular it would be?
Neither Farrah or myself thought that this was a big deal. This was like, “Come on up, we’ll take some pictures, and we’ll send them to this guy.” I give Farrah all the credit for knowing how she looked best. She knew how she photographed best and she knew what she was selling. She gave a gift to the publisher, coming up with the red suit, doing her own hair and makeup, and unerringly finding the one picture out of thousands that made her look the way she wanted to look…. She had the right to approve all photos. We shot 40 rolls of film and Farrah sent [the poster producer] six 35-mm slides. She marked her favorite and second favorite; they went with her favorite. Farrah picked that image — and she was right on the money.
Comments (1-30) of 39 Add your comment
R.I.P Farrah u r loved
All the guys loved her back then and the girls tried to do their hair like hers. Plus she has beautiful white teeth before all the teeth whitening came into play. No one could rock a one piece suit like that in the 70s like Farrah. Oh, the memories. Farrah turned out to be a very serious actress in the ‘Burning Bed’ and her documentary on her cancer was a gift to us all. We will miss that smile, those blue eyes, that hair but most of all that gentle soul. Prayers for Ryan, Redmond, her family and her friends. Thank you for sharing Farrah. She will not be forgotten.
Lisa,
You are the most tactless creep spammer one can imagine.
To bad you didn’t die!
R.I.P. Farrah.
Gonna have to go with Rob on this one. Lisa you are a tasteless b***h.
Really, EW should come up with some way to keep the spammers from posting links like that. Such BS.
I’d love to see the after pictures the guy took. Where have those been for the last 30 years?
only difference between lisas post and the sponsored linked below is Lisas are inline.
Both aim to make money.
That poster is framed and hanging in my basement. Part of my youth has died.
lisa you r a sick ass human being.we are all mourning here. Everyone is sharing thier wonderful memories of the iconic woman and you pull an idiotic stunt like that.You can take your little fetish and go elswhere, It is ot wanted or needed her. Pervert
We will all love her forever.
This is dedicated to the loved ones we have lost:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndIZuppIPkA
This is a real interesting story. Thanks for posting it.
Just so everybody knows, this poster can be seen 48 minutes into the director’s cut of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” right behind Francois Truffaut!
So many people maintain how lovely a person she was. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.
Thanks for a great article, we will all miss her. She was a great part of our past, present and will continue in our memories in the future. God Keep Farrah.
She will be missed. May Farrah rest in peace.
I was a big fan of her on Charlies Angels. She was very good actress. She will be very miss.
Watch Charlie’s Angles and other Farrah Fawcett videos (including tributes) here:
http://freenewmoviess.blogspot.com/
You just have to fill out a little survey then it takes you right to the videos… RIP FARRAH!
My she rest in peace. The pain in gone now and you are with the lord.
Thank you for concern of other people with cancer.
I never liked the poster but it was way back in 1970 s or something like that..At least it was wholesome and not Trashie..MY Son had it on his bedroom wall..I didnt like her nose or lips but she looked attractive..She is to Young to check out..Her son is in Jail, how SAD for him..Farah got to visit Redmond a few weeks ago..I hope she was saved
Hasn’t Farrah stated in interviews that she chose a pic which she wasn’t smiling. She didn’t want a pic with her smile at all. She did not choose that pic.
She was a beautiful person and she will be miss.My thoughts and prayers goes to her families.
RIP beautiful Angel.
I feel bad for her friend,(I forget her name) the one that traveled with her everywhere while seeking alternative treatments.
I don’t feel bad for Ryan or thier son. They’re selfcentered Fvck ups, who couldn’t even put thier bullsh*t on hold until the poor girl died.
Don’t get me wrong, Farrah imo got a little nutty. But in the end, she sacrificed her career and life for her “man” and her son.
That was the most admirable quality and deed of her life.
Even thou they were not worth it.
I guess you were an Angel.
She was a great angel, they all were. Sorry to see her death overshadowed by Jacksons hype.
She had nice teeth! http://www.christiansinglesdate.com/
Farrah a beautiful woman, wonderful smile and a good heart. Praying for the family
I don’t think they have given Farrah the publist she deserves . they have given all the focus on M.J. let’s hear more about the beauty queen that she was.Don’t get me wrong I loved M.J. also thanks DD
What a great story this is. Thank you Dan!
Farrah,, we love you and you will live forever in our hearts. I wonder what Lee Majors had to say after her death. That poster is the most famous poster,,, ever, selling over 12 million copies. Im glad the poster became the icon that it became because it made Farrah a bigger icon after that. I knew Farrah from the poster and Charlie’s Angels , and of course her marriage to Lee Majors from 1973-82. She was once known as Farrah Fawcett Majors.
R.I.P Farrah
Farrah, we love you and you will be missed. Her 1976 poster is the most famous poster ever,, selling over 12 million copies.
Ive known her as Farrah Fawcett – Majors when she was married to Lee Majors from 1973-82. But i will always remember her from the poster and from Charlie’s Angels. She also did a few episode with Lee Majors in his Six Million Dollar Man TV Series in 1974 and 1975.
I feel like i have been punched on both sides of my face with the deaths of Farrah & Michael. 6/25/09 will always be a dark sad day in Entertainment history.
R.I.P Farrah