IN THE UNENDING coverage of Michael Jackson’s death, someone has been pushed aside.
Farrah Fawcett died Thursday, and that is sad. Even sadder is the likelihood that she will be remembered for the wrong things.
The obituaries all began by recalling her one-season role on “Charlie’s Angels,” a popular but inconsequential television series in the 1970s. At the time, and for years afterward, a famous poster of her — tawny hair, gleaming smile and clinging swimsuit — was standard decor for the rooms and apartments of adolescent and post-adolescent boys.
But there is a difference between being an object of nostalgia and being remembered for worthy deeds. Fawcett’s one season as a television action hero did not, so far as we know, change anyone’s life or make the world a better place.
Certainly she was beautiful — buffed and airbrushed to perfection — but no more beautiful than dozens of other starlets. Walter de la Mare was right when he wrote: “But beauty vanishes, beauty passes; However rare — rare it be.”
Fawcett forsook her beauty in one role she played — a battered wife in the 1984 movie “The Burning Bed.” Her character, Francine Hughes, is raped and beaten, savagely, by her husband. In fear of her life, she sets fire to the bed while he sleeps.
The movie raised the nation’s awareness of domestic violence and made people more sensitive to the existence of conjugal rape. There can never be a count of the number of abused women who saw the film, recognized their own lives and determined to escape the cycle of violence before they were killed or driven to kill.
There is no doubt that with that one performance, Fawcett changed lives for the better.
Think fondly of “Charlie’s Angels,” if you must. Dust off the old poster and sigh.
But if you want to honor Farrah Fawcett, remember her not for her beauty, but for the lives she saved.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
kuSportsPA (anonymous) says...
Patrick,
Thanks for your wonderful insight on something that effects the entire world like this... It's a wonderful thing that in your position you can afford to talk about Farrah Fawcett who's role in this world had an impact on few, however, I am yet to hear you mention anything about what's goin on in Iran. I'm sure Farrah saved hundreds of lives, which is wayyyy more than the thousands of protestors in Iran.
Thanks!
June 29, 2009 at 4:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kuSportsPA (anonymous) says...
I hope you saw the Sarcasm in my last post, I can't wait for your next article where you embrace Billy Mays and how millions of lives had been positively cleansed by his wonderful voice, and desire to Whiten Whites and Brighten Brights!
"BILLY MAYS HERE, TALK ABOUT ME TOO PATRICK!!!"
June 29, 2009 at 6:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
judyam104 (anonymous) says...
This is a wonderful statement. I really like the first line.
Michael Jackson struggled with life. I hope he is finally at peace.
Farrah Fawcett struggled to live and shared that struggle to help others.
I remember seeing "The Burning Bed" and cheering for her character all the way.
The only comfort I take from the inequity of the coverage of these two deaths is that Ms. Fawcett's family and loved ones are being left alone by the press and are able to mourn in relative peace.
Thank you.
June 29, 2009 at 7:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
Patrick....nice write-up about a lady who was a celebrity without acting like one....and never once got accussed of molesting children.
Sounds like kuSportsPA has some axe to grind and any old excuse will do.....Don't take it out on Farah. Get a grip.
June 30, 2009 at 7:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DJrocksthemic (anonymous) says...
KUSportsPA, if you have an axe to grind, do it with CNN and Headline News and Fox News, which all interrupted national and international news to bring us up to the minute coverage of Michael Jackson in the Hospital. I commend Mr. Kelley, he's writing to his strengths as an editorialist, you see I'm sure he's seen Farah Fawcett in something has done, I mean she's been in plenty of movies and on TV. So why don't we leave reporting on IRAN to someone who has actually been to the country and is devoted to studying it, that's what I want to read anyway. Great Job, Mr. Kelly, don't let these folks bully you.
July 1, 2009 at 12:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )