The Accidental Icons

Farrah Fawcett
Forget Charlie's Angels. Farrah Fawcett became a star without saying a word. This 1976 photo of her, clad in a red swimsuit and tossing her blond hair, is the best-selling poster of all time. The poster's creators sold more than 5 million copies, for $1 million net profit.

But how much did the photographer earn? "Probably a thousand dollars if I was lucky," says Bruce McBroom, a longtime movie-set and poster photographer.

He was friendly with Fawcett in the early 1970s, so when the poster project arose, she asked him to shoot it. The promoter told McBroom she should wear a bikini, but when he arrived at her home for the shoot, she didn't have one. "I said, 'Oh man, I'm already in trouble.'"

After hours of work, McBroom still didn't have the perfect shot. "I said, 'You sure you don't have a bikini?' She said, 'No I don't, but I've got something else.' Then she came out of the house in this famous red suit."

Inspired, McBroom took an old Mexican blanket from his truck, used it as a background, and proceeded to snap one of the most popular pinup images ever. He heaps praise on Fawcett for the final, iconic image. "It wasn't styled, it wasn't art-directed," he says. "Is was all spontaneous -- just Farrah being this fantastic beauty."