Exit of an 'Angel'

If you were a young male of a certain age in the 1970s, you probably had The Poster. Against the backdrop of a Southwestern-patterned blanket sat a smiling Farrah Fawcett pictured in a one-piece bathing suit.

The image became ubiquitous -- on posters, T-shirts, even throw rugs. It ranks with images of Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Christie Brinkley as iconic photographs highlighting female beauty.

Fawcett, who skyrocketed to stardom in the 1970s on the ABC detective TV show Charlie's Angels, died Thursday in a losing battle with cancer. She was 62.

It was that battle that spurred the documentary Farrah's Story, aired May 15 on NBC and drawing nearly 9 million viewers. Her steely determination amid painful, weakening cancer treatments painted a compelling portrait of Fawcett's last days.

In her glory days, she was a pop icon -- a '70s fantasy girl. She tried to shed that image in the '80s and '90s by trying to tackle more serious acting roles, and succeeding in such movies as The Burning Bed, in which she played an abused wife.

But once you go iconic, you can't go back. Her face is a fixture in American pop culture.