Farah Fawcett, the original Charlie's Angel, dies at 62

Friends and family announced yesterday that Farrah Fawcett, the shimmering actress who became one of greatest sex symbols of her generation, had died in a Los Angeles hospital, ending a three-year battle against the cancer she dubbed her "terrorist".

A statement from her longstanding companion, actor Ryan O'Neal, spoke of the bravery with which the 62-year-old star faced her final illness, taking to the airwaves in order to draw attention to her painful struggle, in a moving television documentary called Farrah's Story.

Fawcett recently announced her intention to finally marry O'Neal, who had been her on-off partner for more than two decades. However she never had time to make the final, defiant gesture against a disease that had left her feeling "like a blonde nothingness".