Farrah Fawcett

Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters. Her mother, Pauline Alice Fawcett (née Evans; 1914–2005), was a homemaker and her father, James William Fawcett (1917–2010), was an oil field contractor. She was of Irish, French, English and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said the name "Farrah" was "made up" by her mother, because it went well with their last name. A Roman Catholic, Fawcett began her early education at the parish school of the church her family attended, St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Corpus Christi. She graduated from W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, where she was voted "most beautiful" by her classmates in her freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school. Between 1965 and 1968, she attended the University of Texas, where she studied microbiology before switching her major to art, studying under Charles Umlauf, her "favorite professor" with whom she had a close mentoring relationship; in 2017, works by Fawcett were shown at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin in the exhibit Mentoring a Muse. She lived at the Mayfair House on Pearl Street, west of the campus, and was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. In her freshman year of college, she was named one of the "ten most beautiful coeds on campus", and it was the first time that a freshman had been chosen for the honor. Her photos were sent to various agencies in Hollywood. David Mirisch, a Hollywood agent, called her and urged her to come to Los Angeles. She turned him down, but he continued for the next two years. Finally, in the summer of 1968, Fawcett moved to Los Angeles, initially staying at the Hollywood Studio Club, with her parents' permission to "try her luck" in the entertainment industry.