In 1976, Fawcett posed in a red bathing suit in front of a Mexican blanket for photographer Bruce McBroom, instantly turning the Texan into a California-girl icon. The poster sold more than 12 million copies.

Fawcett only appeared on one season of Charlie's Angels as private eye Jill Munroe, but her subsequent fame eclipsed that of co-stars Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith.

Fawcett co-starred with friend Burt Reynolds in the successful road-race flick Cannonball Run as Pamela Glover, a feisty con woman determined to win.

Fawcett surprised critics and earned an Emmy nomination for her strong, shocking portrayal of a battered wife who gets fiery revenge in the TV movie The Burning Bed.

Similarly, her work in the feature film Extremities, as a fed-up homeowner who turns the tables of violence on a burglar and would-be rapist (James Russo), nabbed her a Golden Globe nomination.

Ryan O'Neal played a former football star to Fawcett's ex-Miss America in Good Sports, a short-lived sitcom for CBS in which the real-life pair played sparring co-anchors of a sports news show.

At age 48, Fawcett posed nude for Playboy in December 1995. Two years later, she did it again for the July 1997 issue. The earlier shoot was the best-selling issue of the '90s; the latter spawned a pay-per-view special.

A coy, flirtatious Fawcett appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote her Playboy pay-per-view special. The result was perplexing and entertaining.

Fawcett was nominated for a guest-star Emmy in 2003 for her performance as Mary Gressler, a troubled single mom with eyes for Dabney Coleman's Burton Fallin, on CBS' The Guardian.

A robust-looking Fawcett reunited with Jackson and Smith for a tribute to the late Charlie's Angels creator Aaron Spelling at the Emmys in 2006.

In Robert Altman's sprawling Dr. T & the Women, Fawcett danced naked in a mall fountain to play a suburban Dallas wife (opposite Richard Gere) whose grasp on sanity suddenly unravels.

In her last film role, Fawcett played hot-to-trot neighbor Mrs. Crowley in The Cookout, a film co-written by Queen Latifah and starring rapper Ja Rule and SNL vet Tim Meadows.