As a boy growing up in the 1970s, I can tell you with absolute authority that there were two women who were on every pubescent boy’s mind– Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Tiegs. Sure, there were others– but Farrah & Cheryl were the cream of the crop. And the major rite of passage was to have one of their epic posters up on your bedroom wall. That was huge. It showed you’d graduated from the land of legos and had entered the exciting, awkward, and confusing hormonal journey into manhood. Are we there yet?
Over 20,000,000 of this iconic Farrah Fawcett poster have been sold since 1976! She styled her own hair and makeup– without a mirror. From 40 rolls of film selected Farrah six favorite pictures, eventually narrowing it to this shot in the one-piece red swimsuit that made her instantly famous.
Farrah Fawcett-Majors and huby lee Majors. Farrah Fawcett was not only hot– she was also married to the Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin (Lee Majors). That was major street cred. Man, they were quite the couple. Being Lee Majors definitely seemed like the perfect life — being all Six Million Dollar Man-like on TV during the day, and having the most coveted, incredible women as a wife waiting for you at home. That definitely works.
Hot rollers… the secret behind Farrah’s fabulous hair.
Farrah Fawcett
Epic shot of Farrah Fawcett on a skateboard – and rockin’ the Nike Cortez?
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Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett in Charlie’s Angels
Cheryl Tiegs did not have a hot television show or celebrity husband, but no one seemed to mind. She was the top model back then and seemed to be on every magazine cover, from fashion & beauty magazines to the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, in which she caused quite a stir. below–
The epic and controversial Cheryl Tiegs mesh swimsuit shot from sports Illustrated.
Epic & sexy Cheryl Tiegs pin-up (it even had a cameo in Boogie Nights!
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Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Tiegs swimsuit pose
So who takes the honor of being the ultimate 1970’s cheesecake– Farrah Fawcett or Cheryl Tiegs?
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The Selvedge Yard 
classic ladies, always a great post.
According the a survey taken for the popular TV game show ” The Family Feud” back in 1978, the most beautiful women in the world were-
1 Cheryl Tiegs
2 Farrah Fawcett
following far behind were-
3 Sophia Loren
4 Jaclyn Smith
5 Susan Anton
6 Cheryl Ladd
JP
I gotta vote for Farrah. Is that a young mark walhberg sporting a canadian tux?
Not even close man…Farah was and will always remain the sh*t!
Farrah!
Looks like Farrah still reigns supreme. God bless her.
JP
Farrah over Cheryl without question.
My older brother had THE Farrah above his bed for several years. Wood paneling all around of course.
Until I got my own poster and trumped him. Bo Derek in the surf. Cornrows and wet clinging shirt. *sigh*
Farrah!
Great post!
All these ladies were smokin’ HOT back in the day!
it was 1977, so my Farrah poster was ripped, torn, sliced, duct-taped, safety-pinned and hung with chains.
My father had a t-shirt with the farrah poster. He never wore it for fear my jealous mom would make him pay.
My brother and I had the Tiegs poster. I compare all “hot girls” posters (okay, just all hot girls, damn the poster) to it in terms of sexy but not tawdry.
I was always a Kate Jackson boy myself.
me too. loved Kate Jackson – the other Angels never held any interest for me. Kate’s eyes alone left every other woman in the dust.
Great post. My two older brothers both got the Farrah Fawcett pinup iron-on t-shirts for Christmas somewhere around ’78. (I got an Ace Frehley solo album iron-on t-shirt.)
Love your blog.
Joe T.
Jon,
I have to ask, is that photo of the young guy holding the poster a personal shot? I have seen that photo before, like it was one of my brother’s friends. Uncanny.
Great site by the way.
Hey xristopher,
Actually, it’s an awesome found pic off the web that really resonated with me in terms of how I remember feeling about Farrah at that time of life. I was about that age though, most likely. Yikers.
There’s a link at the very bottom of the post for the pic source.
Best,
JP
I just found both your blogs and they are both fantastic. As for this post, I was a Cheryl guy. I wrote her a fan letter when I was in Jr. High School and she sent me a photo with a long note on it and an autograph. What a woman! I still have it. Don’t tell my wife.
ML
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Cheryl for me.
Jacquelyn Smith Outshined both for me..
The other must have was the 1977 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders poster
Farrah all the way, by miles!
No offense to Ms. Tiegs, but she was merely a pin-up (actually the biggest model in the world), and didn’t have much of a personality or sexiness or verve in those rare moments when she spoke on television.
Farrah Fawcett — particularly as frothy sleuth Jill Munroe in “Charlie’s Angels” — was the total package. I wasn’t allowed to have THE poster, so I got three others of her, the nothing-but-a-man’s white shirt with the toothpick you have at the end, a shot from “Logan’s Run”, and one kneeling in a swimsuit.
I had a particularly sexy Cheryl Ladd poster in a yellow kimono that was about to burst open. I later had one with Tanya Roberts.
But I gotta agree with a few guys above and give props to Kate Jackson. While I was obviously an “Angels” fan in general, and although Jackson was in some ways the antithesis of Fawcett, it was Fawcett and Jackson who gave that show its spark and its chemistry and were the glue that held it together. There was a poster of Jackson just standing there with Ladd and Smith in outfits from the circus episode of “Angels” that proved Jackson was as strikingly attractive in a long-sleeve shirt, vest and pants as a dozen other women in bikinis.
When Fawcett left the show, it remained every bit as successful, and people credited Ladd, who clearly deserves much credit. I know, to a certain eye Jackson was “just the smart one in the middle”, but it was when Jackson left the show that its ratings dropped. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Shelley Hack or Tanya Roberts. It was that Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jacskon both were so incredibly unique, multidimensional and irreplaceable, and who were the twin engines of that trio.
Great page!
Mirror, Mirror on the wall, whos the FARRAHest of them all!! I agree with alot of the comments…NO COMPARISON. Farrah ruled! and her long long career as a sex-symbol PROVED it. Playboy at 50?? and a top-seller at that? Strikingly beautiful till the unfortunate day she died. Tiegs, Ladd, Somers, Anderson( Loni AND Pam),White(Vanna not Betty lol),Locklear, etc.etc….all ladies-in-waiting to the Queen of the SexSymbols!!
I too had a soft spot( well, not exactly…lol) for Tanya Roberts too. Something very alluring about her looks, and Im a BLONDE guy all the way usually.
Choose??!! The notion that one may be able to choose is silly. I love them all for the wonderful range of femaleness they exude. Why choose, but remember to include the wonderful sexiness of all the rest too from Cindi Lauper to Queen Latifah, Grace Jones to Cellia Cruze, and that whole Persian thing, then there’s my favorite, Betty Page!!
Farrah’s weakness was Ryan O’Neal. He shouldnt have been allowed to share the same planet with her…
I had the Farrah poster…that erect nipple haunts me to this day.
Wow…the memories! I had a Cheryl Ladd poster. We can’t forget the stunning hotness that was Cheryl Ladd. I was convinced as an 11 year old that if I wrote just the PERFECT love letter to her that she would see reason and we could run away together. Maybe Mexico? Of course I would have to borrow some money for bus fare to Los Angeles…
How ironic that Cheryl Tiegs is reportedly dating that scum-bag Ryan O’Neal. At least Farrah got him when he was hot…now he looks like the whoopie-cushion that he really is!I admit that Ms Tiegs didnt age HALF as well as Farrah but still, Im sure she could do better than THAT.
I was just reminiscing about the ’70s and all the iconic images from that era… I thought about the famous Farrah red swimsuit poster… I had one, BUT MY FAV was the one in the white one-piece swimsuit on a bicycle! THAT ONE was the hotter poster IMHO! It was taped over my bed and every night visions of Farrah swirled in my head… ah! She was an incredible gift to the world from my little state of Texas!