Althouse: "The hair is gone. Her famous hair. I have it at home. She didn't care. I rub her head."

May 8, 2009

"The hair is gone. Her famous hair. I have it at home. She didn't care. I rub her head."

"It's kind of fun, actually, this great, tiny little head. How she carried all that hair I'll never know. She doesn't have a vanity about it."

44 comments:

MadisonMan said...: I read that last night, and it really seems like she's near the end. Very sad.; 5/8/09, 10:27 AM
Graham Powell said...: I suppose this is no sadder than when any non-celebrity dies of cancer - but that's still pretty damn sad.

My grandmother died from brain cancer ten years ago. Fortunately all of her numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren got to see her when she was still lucid.; 5/8/09, 10:30 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: I was sad to read this. Celebrities are part of your life, even if you're not part of theirs. I hope the end is peaceful and painless.; 5/8/09, 10:43 AM
chuck b. said...: Oh, how terrible. I didn't know she was sick.

Farrah Fawcett will live forever. She's the only thing from the 1970s that never seemed awful.

Is she going to be the third to Bea Arthur and Dom Deluise? That's a morbid thought.; 5/8/09, 11:29 AM
chuck b. said...: "She's the only thing from the 1970s that never seemed awful."

(I don't mean to damn her with faint praise. Can I spin that remark more positively?); 5/8/09, 11:30 AM
Darcy said...: Aww...Farrah. I'll never forget how gorgeous she was - and that mane of hers - her poster was taped over my brother's bed when we were young.

Very touching little piece. I'm glad she has Ryan.; 5/8/09, 11:31 AM
Bissage said...: Being a sullen adolescent male given over to pointless nonconformity, I took it as a personal defeat when I finally succumbed to the obsession inducing effect of this ubiquitous image and could no longer resist the urge to rub one out in her honor.

Afterwards, I felt dirty all over.

This sad news isn’t helping any.; 5/8/09, 11:46 AM
Stephen said...: To men of a certain age Ryan O'Neal was the luckiest guy in the world. Now he's my hero.; 5/8/09, 12:47 PM
Amy said...: I'm losing my hair as I write this - going through chemo now. So I identify, although my hair was never even REMOTELY comparable to hers. The sad part isn't the hair, it's the outcome.
Contrarily, for me, the prognosis is excellent. But I am sad for her as she comes to the end of her journey. Touching to read about Ryan's devotion.; 5/8/09, 12:56 PM
Amy said...: I'm losing my hair as I write this - going through chemo now. So I identify, although my hair was never even REMOTELY comparable to hers. The sad part isn't the hair, it's the outcome.
Contrarily, for me, the prognosis is excellent. But I am sad for her as she comes to the end of her journey. Touching to read about Ryan's devotion.; 5/8/09, 12:56 PM
MayBee said...: Ryan and Farrah have had a long and complicated relationship, with children and breakups and reconciliations.
During the Charlie's Angels years, she was with Lee Majors and they were just....golden.
Then Ryan, then James Orr who beat her severely.
With all she and Ryan have been through (arrests for bringing drugs to kids in prison, one son being arrested for beating another son), it is touching and telling that he is there for her now.

I hope she gets to feel the sun and watch the Malibu waves as she spends her last hours on this earth.; 5/8/09, 1:02 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: She was more than just another celebrity. She was an icon that reflected an particular era.

Many teenage boys of the late 70s had their first intimate experience with a gal, who wasn't even in the room .....

That's what Farrah represents, but also a certain type of look, that we don't see anymore.; 5/8/09, 1:23 PM
SteveR said...: "I won't know this world without her"

I hope I never have to contemplate that in my own life.; 5/8/09, 1:23 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: I had that poster of her when I was a teenager. of the roles I saw her in she did best job in "Burning Bed."

Man, I'm so damn sick and tired of hearing about cancer. Every week it's someone new personally or publicly. Damn cancer.; 5/8/09, 1:26 PM
Darcy said...: Amen, SteveR.; 5/8/09, 1:34 PM
Wince said...: NBC announced that May 15 they will air “Farrah’s Story”.

It is a two hour special documentary on 62 year old, Farrah Fawcett’s two and a half year battle with anal cancer.

This documentary is a personal approach at her battling with her cancer. During filming Fawcett stated that she didn’t know if anyone would ever see it, but the personal footage hit a point and it was dictated that it be seen.

The film also is narrated by the Fawcett and includes some of the former Charlie’s Angels stars close friends, Ryan O’Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, Kate Jackson, Farrah’s father, Jim Fawcett, and the team of doctors that are taking care of her.

Alan Stewart was a co producer and shot most of the film. This show was made with her own video recorder and is stated as an emotional video diary, where Fawcett shares her feelings and thoughts and the treatments she has been through.

Fawcett stated that as much as she would of liked to kept her cancer a private issue, she realizes that she has a responsibility to all of those fighting their own battle and may benefit from learning about hers.

Senior Vice President of specials and alternative development, Doug Vaughan made a statement that Farrah wanted people to know about what she is facing with cancer and the treatment she takes and her personal outlook on the future. It is a moving and intimate story about Fawcett’s struggle.; 5/8/09, 1:42 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Bissage:

Is Maxine saying she was watching you?; 5/8/09, 1:58 PM
rhhardin said...: O'Neal is doing the right thing, except for talking to the media.

But maybe he doesn't mind entertaining people with his situation.

It forces a role on you more than I'd like myself, when there's something more important to do.; 5/8/09, 2:04 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: O’Neal did “steal” her away from Lee Majors.

I just thought I dredge that up.; 5/8/09, 2:12 PM
rhhardin said...: Imus got prostate cancer and is shopping around on the air for a doctor with a wiener warranty.

His discovery so far is that the doctors all lie. Everybody wants a straight answer about odds and no doctor will give one.

He's enough of a jerk to force one out of them though, and remark on the difficulty of getting one.

There's a public service.

There's no empathy entertainment component.

Nobody minds straight talk, and nobody can get it.

Compare the MSNBC prospective contribution.; 5/8/09, 2:13 PM
KCFleming said...: "Nobody minds straight talk, and nobody can get it."

Mostly it's innumeracy, rather than unwillingness. It's hard to convey your "chances" of anything in numbers that are meaningful to anyone.

As for Farrah, godspeed; may she shed this temporal skin and don bright new clothes, and smile that radiant smile once more.

We laid my father-in-law to rest a week ago, after nearly 20 years of decline. He was a good guy, one of the last of a breed.

Entropy is always just outside the door, sometimes just whistling absently, sometimes stamping his feet.; 5/8/09, 2:41 PM
Methadras said...: I've always been a huge fan of Farah Fawcett. Her name alone triggers 70's iconic imagery that I will tell you was quite satisfactory. What a shame and O'Neill is right, cancer is an insidious enemy. Someone said Farah Fawcett will live forever, they are right.; 5/8/09, 3:34 PM
Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...: I have never been a huge fan, but I like her work. This is a very moving love story, however. Love and loss, somehow find the way to walk together...; 5/8/09, 3:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Thank you for that, Pogo.; 5/8/09, 3:38 PM
Night2night said...: Entropy. Always increasing if the second law of thermodynamics is correct (which seems likely). People used to think living organisms violated the second law; now we only live with Maxwell's demon. Still, if entropy values correspond to a normal distribution for living things, what's on the other side of the curve?; 5/8/09, 3:38 PM
Susan said...: Beautiful picture of Ryan and Farrah at the link.; 5/8/09, 3:55 PM
srfwotb said...: Best wishes to Amy.

Much the same feelings as seeing Patrick Swayze fight cancer. There's something about seeing one of nature's golden girls or boys knocked down in slow motion just like they were anyone else that is particularly chilling. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Intellectually, I know better of course- some people after all get knocked down by fate and events beyond their control from day one, but it's almost a clock striking midnight, bell tolls for thee, no escape kind of feeling. It re-emphasizes the randomness of cruelty.; 5/8/09, 5:26 PM
Night2night said...: Concluding sentence of James Thurber in My Life and Hard Times, "As F. Hopkinson Smith long ago pointed out, the claw of the sea-puss gets us all in the end".; 5/8/09, 5:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: Farrah was the it girl of the late 60's. She project great female empathy mixed with a glamorous image. We all loved her.; 5/8/09, 5:49 PM
chickelit said...: Many teenage boys of the late 70s had their first intimate experience with a gal, who wasn't even in the room .....

Oddly enough, I did not have that poster as a teenage boy in the 70s, but my father did. Go figure. I guess I never got over Julie Newmar.

Very touching story anyway. :); 5/8/09, 6:18 PM
Michael McNeil said...: People used to think living organisms violated the second law; now we only live with Maxwell's demon.

Sorry to hear about Farrah; however the foregoing is wrong. In the first place, life doesn't violate the second law of thermodynamics, while Maxwell's demon is impossible (any such effort actually increases entropy rather decreasing it).

No, what living creatures live off of (for the most part, except for certain suboceanic volcanic vent dwelling organisms) is the power of the Sun, which as our star rushes towards positive entropy (disorder) whilst scattering vast amounts of energy in all directions, allows living agents on Earth to concentrate order (negentropy) in their immediate vicinity.; 5/8/09, 6:45 PM
Palladian said...: "Man, I'm so damn sick and tired of hearing about cancer. Every week it's someone new personally or publicly. Damn cancer."

Amen, brother, amen. We agree completely and passionately on one point at last.

I watched cancer destroy one of the most important people in my life. It's the worst thing you can ever imagine. Courage and comfort to Farrah and Amy (from this thread) and to anyone reading this who is facing a similar situation.; 5/8/09, 7:08 PM
Irene said...: "Amen, brother, amen. We agree completely and passionately on one point at last."

Palladian, this is the thought that came to my mind when I read AL's comment.

Amy, hang in there. Someone reminded me that after you've had cancer, you live your life feeling as though you're the only sober person at the party.; 5/8/09, 8:23 PM
William said...: I like the old movies on TCM the best. Actors like Paul Muni, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart arced their arc before I was even aware of their existence. They exist outside of time and mortality, or at any rate outside of my time and mortality.... I saw Debby Harry in a movie recently. She looked healthy and plump and bereft of all glamour. And she's the best case scenario for a 70's sex goddess....I never owned a TV in the seventies, and Farrah was an extremely peripheral celebrity for me. I knew her mostly from her poster. It was an excellent display of a fine nipple and big hair. She was better at tossing her tresses than, say, Fermat was at solving his math puzzles. We shared part of the journey, and now she's at the door waving goodbye. We'll all be along a little later.; 5/8/09, 8:45 PM
Republican said...: I'm glad I watched "Chasing Farrah" when she was healthy(er) and rebounding.; 5/8/09, 10:50 PM
Republican said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_LC7c8K1vc

Farrah's stuff gets appraised.; 5/8/09, 10:57 PM
Michael McNeil said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/9/09, 1:48 AM
Michael McNeil said...: This thread concerns cancer, whilst in other recent threads we've been discussing evolution — so it's worthwhile and important to observe that cancer is itself the consequence of evolution (i.e., mutation, competition, and natural selection) occurring amongst the cells of one's own body.

As a recent review article on the subject of cancer genomics in the scientific journal Nature points out:

“Cancer is an evolutionary process

“All cancers are thought to share a common pathogenesis. Each is the outcome of a process of Darwinian evolution occurring among cell populations within the microenvironments provided by the tissues of a multicellular organism. Analogous to Darwinian evolution occurring in the origins of species, cancer development is based on two constituent processes, the continuous acquisition of heritable genetic variation in individual cells by more-or-less random mutation and natural selection acting on the resultant phenotypic diversity.

“The selection may weed out cells that have acquired deleterious mutations or it may foster cells carrying alterations that confer the capability to proliferate and survive more effectively than their neighbours. Within an adult human there are probably thousands of minor winners of this ongoing competition, most of which have limited abnormal growth potential and are invisible or manifest as common benign growths such as skin moles.

“Occasionally, however, a single cell acquires a set of sufficiently advantageous mutations that allows it to proliferate autonomously, invade tissues and metastasize.”

Michael R. Stratton, Peter J. Campbell, P. Andrew Futreal, “The Cancer Genome,” Nature, Vol. 458, Issue no. 7239 (9 April 2009), pp. 719-724.; 5/9/09, 1:55 AM
bagoh20 said...: Amy,
I am a cancer survivor. Once given a few months to live, I have been cancer free for 3 years. I was happy before the ordeal, but the gratitude and the appreciation of life I developed afterward are well worth the journey. Good luck and congratulations on what you will soon consider a gift. I often feel sorry for those who have not been challenged enough to realize how great every day of this life is. Enjoy your rebirth.; 5/9/09, 9:38 AM
Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...: Amy, you are in my prayers, and I wish you a speedy full recovery.; 5/9/09, 10:46 AM
Christy said...: Anyone else remember giving yourself a Farrah Fawcett haircut? You put your long hair into a top of the head ponytail, held the ponytail straight up, cut it at the desired length. The hair feathered out at the various lengths and formed a perfect cut. For the 70s.; 5/9/09, 10:46 AM
kentuckyliz said...: It's upsetting to go bald from chemo, but man I really grew to like it. Headscarves are comfy. Earlier this spring my scalp was so itchy I was tempted to shave off all my hair.

I've had three primary cancers (no mets) and continue to have a low, stable thyroid cancer cell count in my bloodstream, but that number is probably due to the sensitivity of the test, so my thyroid oncologist is calling it NED anyway. That and a clean PET CT scan in January, very reassuring. Still, I can't donate blood because an immunosuppressed bone marrow transplant patient might get my donated blood and incubate the remnants of my cancer. So I'm reasonably cancer free, but not perfectly so.

Still, with getting the good scan results, I felt that zest for life slipping away again rapidly. I'm trying to hold on to the good things that uncertainty brings. My sky was bluer and brighter than everyone else's and I could not be bored.

Trying to hang on to that.

Contrary to being the only sober person at a party, I felt like I was the only delighted person among a bunch of bored people.

But not everyone wants Emily from Our Town hanging around. They don't like the intensity.

Best wishes to Amy and bagoh20.; 5/10/09, 12:24 PM
amba said...: Good for Ryan for being there, after all is said and done. Good!; 5/10/09, 8:59 PM
Pat R said...: Fawcett's story is very sad. It shows the ups and downs cancer patients face, thinking they're cured or in remission only to have it come back again.; 5/31/09, 12:58 AM