Fawcett's son freed long enough to attend funeral

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Redmond O'Neal will be temporarily freed from jail to attend the funeral of his mother, actress Farrah Fawcett, on Tuesday, officials said.

Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and "Charlie's Angels" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62, and had battled anal cancer off and on for three years.

O'Neal was arrested in September when deputies found methamphetamine during a probation search at the Malibu, California, home of his father, actor Ryan O'Neal. The younger O'Neal was on probation for a 2008 felony drug conviction involving heroin and meth.

Monday's court order will allow Redmond O'Neal out of jail for up to three hours for the funeral. A sheriff's deputy is to accompany him at all times, according to the order, issued in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

O'Neal, 24, will be allowed to wear civilian clothes for the funeral.

He is undergoing what the sheriff's department has called an "intense drug rehabilitation program" in the L.A. County jail.

A private service will be held for Fawcett on Tuesday afternoon at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, according to her publicist.

The family did not release details about who would deliver the eulogy or how many people had been invited.

Fawcett's beauty -- her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters -- initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie "The Burning Bed."

She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities," a performance she reprised on film in 1986.
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Other Fawcett films include "Logan's Run" (1976), "Saturn 3" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1981), "The Apostle" (1997) and the Robert Altman-directed "Dr. T and the Women" (2000).

But to many, Fawcett will always be best known for her red-swimsuited image on the pinup poster, which sold a reputed 12 million copies after its release in 1976.

Labels: Farrah Fawcett