# Which 1976 issue of LIFE magazine had the famous Farrah Fawcett picture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616 "2016-09-23T02:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/1 "2016-09-23T02:21:26Z")
I mean [this photo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farrah_Fawcett_iconic_pinup_1976.jpg). All I can find, everywhere online, is that it was “from 1976.” No indication as to which month in 1976. Anyone have better google-fu? (Or one of those scary basements full of every LIFE magazine and National Geographic?) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/2 "2016-09-23T02:41:30Z")
It wasn’t Time magazine? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/3 "2016-09-23T02:44:22Z")
The information I can find indicates that the photo in question was from a photo shoot for a poster company. That’s not to say it might not have been in a magazine as well, but that would have been after the initial use. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/4 "2016-09-23T03:00:40Z")
From the Wiki img link: > [@](#): > > the original poster was created at a photo shoot held in 1976 by Bruce McBroom of Pro Arts Inc., and first published in Life magazine in 1976. From [People](http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20240623_20243180_20544005,00.html): > [@](#): > > The photo of Farrah Fawcett in her red swimsuit first appeared in Life magazine in 1976 as an image that defined a decade. The poster soon found a home on the walls of teenage boys’ bedrooms, making Fawcett the most popular pin-up of our time, with 12 million copies sold. That same passage seems to be cut-and-pasted into zillions of stories following her death (mentioning “published in Life magazine” and “12 million copies sold”). So that _could_ also mean that it’s internet crap that spread widely despite it being incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/5 "2016-09-23T03:06:22Z")
Yes, it was a poster that was very well known. Steve Martin once complained that she wouldn’t answer any of his letters, “after all those hours I’ve spent holding up her poster with one hand.” I never had one, but I had friends who did, and I saw it in the stores. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/6 "2016-09-23T03:12:13Z")
Between January 1973 and September '78, Life magazine didn’t exist as a regular publication. During that time it was only published in the form of one or two special issues a year. An overview of the contents of those special issues can be found [here.](http://2neatmagazines.com/life/1973-79.html) ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/7 "2016-09-23T03:16:43Z")
I’m sure the wiki about it appearing in Life magazine is erroneous. The backstory is that it was taken at a photo shoot specifically for a poster. [http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1907185,00.html](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1907185,00.html) It’s doubtful that the same pic would be given away in a magazine the same year. What makes the claim even more suspicious is that it happened in 1976. _Life_ went out of print in '72 and came back in '78. 😃 ETA: What journeyman\_southpaw said ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/8 "2016-09-23T13:08:18Z")
I would think we could narrow it down to one of the winter months. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/9 "2016-09-23T13:36:28Z")
The link in **journeyman\_southpaw** post shows an issue in 1976 “Remarkable American Women” … [sigh] … Farrah didn’t make the cut apparently … ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/10 "2016-09-23T14:51:58Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I’m sure the wiki about it appearing in Life magazine is erroneous. The backstory is that it was taken at a photo shoot specifically for a poster. > > [Behind the Picture of Farrah Fawcett That Made her an Icon - TIME](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1907185,00.html) > > It’s doubtful that the same pic would be given away in a magazine the same year. > > What makes the claim even more suspicious is that it happened in 1976. _Life_ went out of print in '72 and came back in '78. 😃 > ETA: What journeyman\_southpaw said Nothing in that article at all about the picture being taken for _LIFE_(or any other) magazine. he was contracted to shoot her for the poster, and that’s what he did. ---
**Author:** ![jbaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/11 "2016-09-23T17:49:06Z")
Bear in mind that the poster was enormously popular and was reprinted in magazines. It would not surprise me if Life were one of the magazines; in fact, it would seem an obvious choice for Life (although of course it would have to fit in one of the few special editions that Life published in 1976). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/12 "2016-09-23T18:08:55Z")
Yes, I remember the poster was ubiquitous. I don’t think there was an American who wasn’t aware of it in 1976. I even had a jigsaw puzzle of that poster. It sure was fun putting it together. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-1976-issue-of-life-magazine-had-the-famous-farrah-fawcett-picture/766616/13 "2016-09-23T19:48:46Z")
It hung in my bedroom right next to my Dallas Cowboy cheerleader poster where we we got high listening to “Frampton Comes Alive!”. If the walls of that room could talk I’d have to kill them.