Watching the news of Farah’s death I recalled an unforgettable Farah interview.

Part of conducting interviews on Eyewitness News at Noon was occasionally doing interviews with celebrities at various sites around the country. One of those trips planned by a Hollywood studio was a trip to Atlanta to interview Farrah Fawcett and view her new movie.

The studio flew interviewers from around the country to Atlanta, press, television and radio. Commander Coconut from the Orlando Sentinel and I sat together in posh seats at a viewing of a movie that was totally forgettable. The next day all the media gathered in one room with one cameraman. Farrah sat in the middle of the room with hot cameras bearing down on her. Her agent was a man I had at first mistaken for Colonel Saunders. He was extremely protective of Farrah and told us we would be thrown out if we even mentioned Lee Majors. Their marital split had just made entertainment headlines. Every interviewer runs into this block. If I don’t mention what is on every viewer’s mind I will be accused of not asking the hard questions. If I do, the interview will end abruptly. Her agent paced up and down occasionally rapping his cane as if to make his pointer even clearer. Ok how to do this? I asked the usual questions about the movie, which is of course the entire point of the studio setting up these interviews.

And then in a sudden moment of inspiration I confided that I had recently gone through a difficult time during my life. Did she have any suggestions that would help? She launched into the entire story of her breakup, how they still loved each other but their needs were different. He wanted her to be a full time wife she still had many goals in the entertainment industry. The colonel stopped his pacing and glared at me.

She continued that she and Lee still talked by phone and they were still friends. I could hear pencils in the background scribbling frantically. This might be the only chance to broach this subject. I thanked her profusely and she flashed one of those glorious smiles that made every dentist in America proud. The cameraman winked at me as he handed me the tape of the interview. I walked past the agent who said nothing but continued to glare. The next day The Atlanta Constitution had a full page of Farrah and quoted the exact words from the interview she had done with me. It would not be the last time I would find my way around roadblocks to the interview view