the buzz log

Farrah Fawcett's swimsuit poster is one of the most iconic images of '70s pop culture. Perhaps the decade's equivalent to Marilyn Monroe's classic subway photo, Fawcett's supersized image sold a reported 12 million copies (a record that still stands) and launched the celebrity poster industry.

Fawcett, who died Thursday of cancer, had something rare: The late actress had created and owned her own lucrative image. She even filed a lawsuit to protect her claim earlier this year. All of that exemplifies the Fawcett paradox that troubled some feminists and inspired a new generation of girls. She flaunted a carefree, accessible sexuality and reaped the rewards herself without feeling compromised or commoditized.

Fawcett later carried that confident allure to “Charlie's Angels.” Following in a lineage that included Diana Rigg in "The Avengers," Anne Francis in "Honey West" and Angie Dickinson in "Police Woman," she and her Angel cohorts spawned the much maligned era of "jiggle TV," but continued to redefine women's roles by taking them out of the domestic sphere and into the workplace.

Fawcett only took 25 shots to reach poster perfection, but photographer Bruce McBroom took 400 photographs during that 1976 photo shoot. For a glimpse on those other shots, see this Access Hollywood interview and listen to McBroom's rundown on her "unerring sense for how she looked good."