"Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy." Yes, but what happened to those 'little girls' after they left the Charles Townsend Detective Agency? Like many TV actors, they were unable to transform small screen stardom into big screen fame. Interestingly, though, some have built new careers in different arenas that would make their feisty fictional counterparts proud.
Take Jaclyn Smith, for example. Dubbed 'Queen of the Mini-Series' following epics like "Rage of Angels" and "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy", she became a millionaire thanks to her clothing line with a US supermarket chain. Replacement Angel Shelley Hack quit acting (despite working for Scorsese in "The King of Comedy") and is now a media consultant for an international peace-keeping organisation in Bosnia; while Cheryl Ladd writes children's books and is currently appearing on Broadway.
They're the fortunate ones.
Kate Jackson's career never recovered after her TV contract forced her to turn down the Meryl Streep role in "Kramer vs Kramer", and has since had the misfortune of battling both breast cancer and cardiac surgery.
After stripping for "Playboy" and a near-death encounter with a jealous ex-boyfriend, rehab-regular Farrah Fawcett is only now resurfacing thanks to appearances in "Ally McBeal", Robert Duvall's film "The Apostle", and the upcoming "Dr T and the Women".
The last Angel to join the show, Tanya Roberts, went on to star in the forgettable jungle film, "Sheena", took on Bond girl duties in "A View to a Kill", before residing in straight-to-video obscurity in a series of bargain basement erotic thrillers.
Some insiders talk of a "Charlie's Angels" curse, but that hasn't halted plans for a new series about everyone's favourite female crimefighters. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with the movie, but one thing's for sure: John Forsythe won't be retiring any time soon...
