TV and pin-up icon Farrah Fawcett lost her longtime battle with cancer today, at the age of 62. Though she only appeared on the memorable 1970’s detective series Charlie’s Angels for one full season, the legacy of her performance on the cult favorite would last for the rest of her career, fueling her status as a sex symbol, even as she tried her hand at more dramatic work, like 1985’s The Burning Bed.

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1947, Fawcett was attending the University of Texas at Austin when her fresh-faced good looks were discovered by a talent scout. She soon moved to L.A. to pursue a career in showbusiness, and landed a series of appearances in TV commercials, selling everything from cars to toothpaste with her signature smile. This led to a number of recurring roles on TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, and The Six Million Dollar Man, where she met Lee Majors, her husband from 1973-1982.

Fawcett eventually scored one of the starring roles on the kitschy spy series Charlie’s Angels, which premiered in 1976. The show was a major hit, and spawned a marketing sensation with related toys and other merchandise. Sales also skyrocketed when it came to Fawcett’s now iconic swimsuit poster, capturing the actress’s feathered hair and svelte figure in an image that would follow her for decades to come.

She understandably had trouble moving into other areas of acting, as audiences and casting agents alike rarely saw her as a dramatic actress. Fawcett nonetheless found success with a handful of projects, including some off-Broadway plays, including a critically-acclaimed 1983 production of William Mastrosimone’s Extremities. In 1986, she starred in a big screen adaptation of the play, garnering the actress a Golden Globe nomination.

She would continue to find work in TV-movies throughout the 80’s, like Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story. Though she found consistently satisfying work in the 90’s and 2000’s with selective roles in projects like Robert Duvall’s The Apostle, Fawcett became more involved in other areas of art, collaborating with sculptor Keith Edmier for a piece that would exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Fawcett began undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer in 2006. Though the disease was subsequently thought to be in full remission, Fawcett’s doctors discovered a malignant polyp less than a year later, and told her that the cancer had spread. The star fought aggressively against the illness for the next few years, and her struggle was documented by filmmaker and friend Alana Stewart, who would edit the footage into a film about Fawcett’s battle with cancer called Farrah’s Story. Fans grew increasingly concerned in 2009, as it was rumored that Fawcett’s condition was worsening, and her life-partner since 1982, Ryan O’Neal, was quoted as saying that Fawcett was able to do little more than sleep. On June 25th, she passed away in the intensive care unit of Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, with O’Neal and Stewart at her side.