Sizzling, stunning, and seriously iconic: Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit poster has been a pop culture staple for decades. But what's the deal with a son's poster request starting it all?
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00:00Sizzling, stunning, and seriously iconic, Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit poster has been
00:05a pop culture staple for decades. But what's the deal with a boy's poster request starting
00:09at all?
00:10In early spring of 1976, Ted Trachilas, then head of Pro Arts Posters, was working on his
00:15farm alongside his neighbor's son, Pat Partridge. Young Partridge, being of a certain age, fancied
00:19himself a certain model he'd been seeing on television commercials and in fashion magazines.
00:24Is this a commercial or something?
00:26Knowing that Trachilas made posters of famous people like the Fonz, Partridge suggested
00:30that Trachilas make a poster of his new muse, Farrah Fawcett. Bemused by the fact that teenage
00:35boys were buying fashion magazines to gawk at some model, Trachilas followed his instincts
00:39and reached out to Fawcett's people. The decision ended up being a boon for both his business
00:43and the rising star.
00:44In early 1976, Fawcett was indeed an up-and-coming starlet. Spending the early 1970s as the fresh-faced
00:50Noxzema Girl as well as making several guest appearances in popular TV shows, she hit the
00:55big time in 1974 when she starred in a few episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man. Not
00:59only did Fawcett catch young Pat Partridge's eye, but she also got the attention of Lee
01:04Majors, the star of The Six Million Dollar Man himself, whom she eventually married.
01:08According to Seen, after looking into exactly who this rising star was, Trachilas reached
01:12out to Farrah Fawcett's then-agent Rick Hirsch. Pitching the idea of featuring his clients
01:17on a poster of her own, Hirsch relayed the proposal to Fawcett, who found the idea agreeable.
01:21As the actress stated in a 1977 interview with The Washington Post,
01:25"...the reason I decided to do a poster was, well, if you don't sign a deal to do one,
01:29somebody does one anyway, and then you get nothing."
01:32Her agreement came with certain terms, however. According to Biography, Fawcett retained control
01:36over the images due to her displeasure with past photographers. This time around, she
01:40brought her own photographer to the shoot, freelancer Bruce McBroom. The shoot for the
01:44new poster was held at Fawcett's Los Angeles mansion, which she owned with her then-husband,
01:48Lee Majors.
01:49The shoot wasn't without its hitches. ProArts wanted the actress to wear a bikini and pose
01:53in a flirtatious manner. She refused both propositions, telling The Washington Post
01:57that she thought it would be more her style to appear happy and carefree, rather than
02:01lustful. Due to some embarrassment over a childhood scar, the actress took to wearing
02:05one-piece bathing suits as a cover-up. Of course, it was this look that won out with
02:09Fawcett opting to go with several different one-piece suits for the shoot.
02:12According to Biography, after deciding she wanted control over the photo shoot, Fawcett
02:16also forwent the usual team of stylists and even opted to style her own hair. After the
02:20initial conflicts were resolved, the shoot went fairly well for most of the day. However,
02:24Bruce McBroom still felt they hadn't captured the spirit of the actress. Fawcett apparently
02:28felt the same way. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2009, McBroom told the actress,
02:33"'You know how you look best. Is there anything else that you've got that we haven't shot?'
02:37Fawcett returned in the now-iconic red swimsuit, ready to grace the walls of teenage boys across
02:42the globe.
02:43According to Biography, the poster would go on to sell a record-shattering 12 million
02:46copies, with the actress accruing well over $400,000 in royalties. Speaking about the
02:51success of the photo, Trachilis joked to Scene,
02:53"'There's an old expression, a picture's worth a thousand words. And I said, a pro-arts poster
02:58is worth 10,000. That's what it came down to. We were the best.'"
03:01Shortly after the poster's release, Fawcett went on to star in Charlie's Angels, which
03:05earned her $5,000 per episode and cemented her place in pop culture history. As for Trachilis,
03:10his role in the creation of the famous poster earned him some fame as well. He notably appeared
03:14on The Regis Philbin Show.