Jaclyn didn't release a blockbuster poster, didn't made unreasonable contract demands, and she didn't complain about working in the shadows of co-star Farrah Fawcett. or of acting with a new Angel every season..
Along with her exquisite beauty, Jaclyn brought charm and grace to the show. Often dressed in a bikini or some other revealing outfit that showcased her shapely figure, Jaclyn cheerfully embraced her role all five seasons on America's first "jiggle" show.
Jaclyn understood the role "Charlie's Angels" played in 1970s American
pop culture, a series about three beautiful private detectives that exploded on the scene in 1976.
Veteran actor John Forsythe, who played
the unseen Charlie, understood the show's attraction. “They were three unusual and quite different ladies and the fact that they were beautiful and good actresses helped,” he said.
The show was an immediate hit, and while all of the Angels became overnight stars, Farrah's popularity soared to super-stardom status. Her famous swimsuit photo sold millions of posters, and of course, half the American female population attempted to emulate her feathery hairstyle.
“Charlie's Angels” writer and producer David Levinson described the thrill of the “Angels” ride “like being at the craps table and suddenly the sevens have come off the dice and you just keep rolling and rolling.”
Levinson said in a 2001 interview for a United Kingdom documentary that the three female stars's personalities contributed to the show's success. “I'd turn off the typewriter and let them talk. I'd find in any given scene Kate would take command, Jackie would be concerned that everything would turn out all right, and Farrah would have something funny to say.”
Jaclyn didn't realize that “Charlie's Angels” was such a pop culture sensation until the night the show's ratings beat “Gone With The Wind,” her all-time favorite movie.
Jaclyn's Kelly was raised in an orphanage and lived in numerous foster homes. She avoided a life of crime and became a police officer until Charlie hired her.
A gig in the TV show “Switch,” which starred Robert Wagner, proved to be a fortuitous break for Jackie. When Spelling originally developed the all-female detective series – called “The Alley Cats” – Wagner recommended Jaclyn for a role as one of the “alley cats” because he was impressed with her work in his series.
Spelling had already cast a blonde (Farrah) and a brunette (Kate), and was auditioning for a red head as the third female lead. but Wagner convinced him to screen-test Jaclyn. So Jaclyn became the “second brunette,” and other changes were made, including the name of the series.
After “Charlie's Angels,” Jaclyn became the queen of made for TV movies. She portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy and Florence Nightingale in biopics and appeared in more than 30 TV movies. In 2007, she hosted Bravo's reality series “Shear Genius.”
A savvy businesswoman, Jaclyn pioneered the concept of celebrities developing their own fashion brand when she launched a women's clothing line for K-Mart in 1985. Her brand of apparel has been purchased by more than 100 million women.
"Charlie's Angels" was as much a statement on current women's fashion as it was a private detective show as the three women modeled the latest styles.
“The three of us had a great deal to say of which clothes to wear,” Jaclyn said in the UK documentary.
“Women did tune in to see the fashion. We were sort of like Barbie dolls prancing around in pretty clothes.”
Jaclyn was born in Houston and moved to New York to dance with the ballet. She began modeling and landed the job as the “Breck girl” for Breck shampoo. (She later switched brands and modeled for Wella Balsam shampoo).
She had small roles in several made for TV movies, and appeared in TV series “The Partridge Family,” “McCloud,” and “The Rookies,” a show which starred her future “Angel” co-star Kate Jackson.
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No. 7
Classic TV Beauties 1970s Countdown
JACLYN SMITH as Kelly Garrett in "Charlie's Angels"
"It wasn't meant to be Shakespeare, it was total escapism," she told ABC. “I think young girls really identified with us because we were emotionally independent, financially independent, and we were role models. We set out to do a job and we succeeded, and we weren't depending on anybody but ourselves.”
“Charlie's Angels” was originally an Aaron Spelling-produced made-for-TV movie
that aired in March 1976. The movie earned huge ratings so ABC developed the concept as a weekly series. Kelly and Farrah's character (Jill), along with the third angel, Sabrina ( Kate Jackson), left their mundane jobs with the police department to work for the Townsend Detective Agency.
