‘Charlie’s Angels’ at 50: Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith & the Stars Who Made It Iconic

There’s a reason young women still pose for group photos shoulder-to-shoulder with prayer-like finger guns pointed skyward, even if they weren’t born when the original incarnation of Charlie’s Angels ended its five-season run in 1981. The Aaron Spelling-produced series about a trio of gorgeous female detectives working for an unseen boss was such a ratings smash in its 1976 TV-movie debut that it became a near-instant pop culture phenomenon, surviving multiple cast rotations, spawning numerous big-screen remakes and more.

Though critics dismissed the crime drama as “jiggle TV,” the adventures of Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett), Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson) and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) , and later Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), Tiffany Welles (Shelley Hack) and Julie Rogers (Tanya Roberts) , gave viewers of both genders plenty of eye candy, plus female TV heroes who could be feminine and sexy while dominating in male-oriented fields.