Jaclyn Smith at 80: From 'Charlie's Angels' to building a business empire
She's an "angel."
She's a business mogul.
She's an icon!
At age 80, "Charlie's Angels" star Jaclyn Smith is looking back on her incredible career in a new episode of "On the Red Carpet: ICONS."
"Charlie's Angels," about a trio of beautiful private investigators working for a mysterious man named Charlie, premiered on ABC in 1976, instantly catapulting Smith, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett into TV superstardom.
"I think it really paved the way for women in television," Smith told On the Red Carpet. "Because if you really think back, women were a nurse, a secretary, a wife, a mom, which is [sic] all great roles, but we were really unapologetically central in that show and it was all around us and it was just great."
Farrah Fawcett famously left the series after one season and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd, but Smith says it was that very first season with Farrah when the show was at its best.
"I love that period," she said. "I must say that was never captured again, as great as Cheryl was. But there's something [about] starting out. And just three girls doing their work, wondering if we'd find an audience, and we found much more than an audience. It's followed us through our life."
Smith's lifelong connection to her "Charlie's Angels" role inspired the title of her new memoir, "I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie."
Meanwhile, along with her successful career in Hollywood, Smith has also been a groundbreaking businesswoman.
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"I'm proud of that," she said. "The first, you know, apparel line that went into a mass market, the longest-running really. It's no longer a celebrity brand, it's a true brand. So that's been something that I'm very proud of."
Smith talks much more about her business success and "Charlie's Angels" in the new "On the Red Carpet: ICONS" special, and that's not all.
No topic is off-limits.
From her four marriages: "When I finally left, he got sober."
To the darker side of fame: "I had to leave the hospital with armed guards."
And her final days with lifelong friend Farrah Fawcett: "She never gave up, she was brave."
Plus, those moments we all remember: "Oh yeah, the white bikini!"
Watch the full episode, "On The Red Carpet ICONS: Jaclyn Smith," in the video player above.
