Farrah Fawcett dies at 62, Cannonballers mourn
The actress Farrah Fawcett passed away today at the age of 62 from cancer. She was known for many roles in her long acting career, but historians of popular culture will remember her most as a private investigator on the 1970s TV show Charlie's Angels and the pinup girl who posed for a poster that sold 12 million copies and made this actress an icon of sexuality. But automotive enthusiasts will remember Farrah for another role. She played Pamela Glover in the original Cannonball Run movie that was written by Brock Yates and released in 1981. Her co-stars included Burt Reynolds as J.J. McClure, Dom DeLuise (who also passed away this year) as Victor Prinzim and Captain Chaos, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Roger Moore, Jackie Chan and many others who combined to this movie a cult classic. Those with really good memories may also remember Farrah's appearance in a commercial for the 1975 Mercury Cougar XR-7 (follow the jump to watch).
[Source: Inside Line | Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty]
1975 Mercury Cougar XR-7 commercial
Cannonball Run original movie trailer
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jv2k 5:03PM (6/25/2009)
I feel bad that she's dead too, but this hardly qualifies as auto news, even if she was in racing movie.
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Randy 9:00PM (6/25/2009)
Bond = Aston Martin
Cannonball Run = Mercury Cougar XR-7
Kinda newsy!
modernlove 5:16PM (6/25/2009)
She qualifies, jv-- deal with it. Goddbye my sweetie-- you'll always be my girl.
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Tom Winch 5:18PM (6/25/2009)
Where's the Cougar commercial? I only see the Cannonball Run movie trailer.
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Lou Zucaro 5:26PM (6/25/2009)
She qualifies without question.
What's funny is we just discussed in our podcast today (before I heard that she'd died) what a strange beast 'Cannonball Run' is. Written by an auto journalist who didn't even want the movie to be what it ended up being, but being great despite that. Cast of Thousands movies are usually a recipe for disaster, but CR's mix of fantastic cars, pretty heavy-duty celebs, and a campy comedy that was, in a lot of ways, ahead of its time, worked really well and still very watchable today - meaning that it's just as fun, goofy and silly now as it was back then.
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nomosnow 5:30PM (6/25/2009)
her's the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv9_Qs3P9zU
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Redline 5:49PM (6/25/2009)
R.I.P.
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Blah 6:28PM (6/25/2009)
What Farrah coverage, but nothing about Michael? It's starting to look alot like TMZ around here!
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sitruc 6:56PM (6/25/2009)
Quite a day for the entertainment industry. Farrah Fawcett was an American icon. Michael Jackson was a global icon.
AndrewNoNumbers 11:09PM (6/25/2009)
It looks like an autoblog to me, not a gossip blog.
pointandlaugh 12:59AM (7/07/2009)
I think this story is releveant. Why? Because her poster was smack dab in the middle of all my car posters when I was a kid. She WAS a Ferrari in female form. I know I'm not the only one!
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dukeisduke 6:59PM (6/25/2009)
She fought her cancer with great determination and faith, but couldn't overcome it. And yes, I had a t-shirt with the famous picture on it, back in high school in the '70s.
Now we've lost her, Ed McMahon, and Michael Jackson. They say that famous deaths come in threes.
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dukeisduke 7:01PM (6/25/2009)
Here's the famous poster:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/MediaNav/articleId=151366/firstNav=Gallery/photoId=86534
Wish I still had that maroon t-shirt. Dang.
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RLQ 8:42PM (6/25/2009)
RIP to her and MJ.
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MikeInNC 7:59AM (6/26/2009)
I had the red bathing suit poster above my bed as a teenager. Sorry to hear about her and MJ. RIP.
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accelerating_cubicle 1:12PM (6/30/2009)
yea, she was freakin' hot back then, I had her poster too, and the one with the other hot chick from the Buck Rogers tv show.
Take care Farrah, god bless.
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