{"id":588789,"date":"2026-04-07T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588789\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:56:08","slug":"charlies-angels-stars-kate-jackson-jaclyn-smith-and-cheryl-ladd-reunite-for-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588789\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Charlie’s Angels’ stars Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd reunite for 50th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Once upon a time there were three little girls who starred as private detectives answering to a never-seen boss in a show that turned into a pop culture phenomenon called \u201cCharlie\u2019s Angels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunited to mark the show\u2019s 50th anniversary at PaleyFest LA on Monday night. They were greeted with a standing ovation and whoops and cheers from an audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

The hour-long crime adventure series debuted on Sept. 22, 1976, in a pre-internet and streaming world when there were just three major television networks. It was a top-10 hit for ABC in its first two of five seasons, ending in 1981. <\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the show was different, special and unique,\u201d Smith told the audience. \u201cThree women chasing danger instead of getting rescued.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunite for \u2018Charlie\u2019s Angels\u2019 50th anniversary\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunite for \u2018Charlie\u2019s Angels\u2019 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Jackson added, \u201cWe made an impact, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farrah Fawcett-Majors<\/a> became a 1970s icon with her feathered hair and sexy swimsuit poster. She left after the first season to pursue a film career. She died in 2009.<\/p>\n

She was replaced by Ladd, who showed up on her first day wearing a Farrah Fawcett Minor T-shirt. She had turned down producer Aaron Spelling three times, knowing how beloved Fawcett had been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that there was nobody that was going to replace Farrah, so I made a joke of myself,\u201d Ladd said on the red carpet. \u201cEverybody laughed. Farrah would have done something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson added, \u201cCheryl stepped in and we didn\u2019t miss a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics weren\u2019t kind, however, calling the show \u201cjiggle television\u201d because the women dressed scantily to go undercover and slamming it for vapid acting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t bother me,\u201d Jackson said on the red carpet. \u201cI knew what we were doing and Gloria Steinem knew what we were doing, and some other very impressive people knew what we were doing. We were helping to punch a hole in that glass ceiling and that makes a big difference.\u201d <\/p>\n

Five decades later, the show remains popular in reruns and DVDs, having spawned a film series starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were giving people an hour to sit back, put their feet up, forget everything and watch television,\u201d Jackson said, \u201cand then again just kind of subtly getting the message in there that women are just as capable, intelligent, can do anything that a man can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mostly older audience cheered and laughed as scenes from various episodes were played. Included in the highlights were Shelley Hack, who lasted one season after replacing Jackson, and the late Tanya Roberts<\/a>, who appeared in the final season. Smith and the late David Doyle, who played Charlie\u2019s go-between, were on the show\u2019s entire run. <\/p>\n

Smith, who is 80, and Ladd, who is 74, went on to prolific careers in made-for-TV movies and guesting on other shows. Jackson, who quit after three seasons, later starred in the CBS hit \u201cScarecrow and Mrs. King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson left the business nearly 20 years ago to raise her son. Now 77, she said, \u201cI\u2019m ready to go back.\u201d <\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s sisterhood includes all of them overcoming breast cancer, with Ladd revealing for the first time publicly Monday that she had an aggressive form of the disease. She didn\u2019t say when it occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Cheryl called me,\u201d Smith said, \u201cthe first thing I did was send her my wigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was at Jackson\u2019s bedside during her cancer battle. Each of them urged the audience to have regular health screenings.<\/p>\n

In one of many lighter moments, the women were asked to name their favorite outfits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wore a lot of turtlenecks,\u201d Jackson said, drawing laughs.<\/p>\n

Smith singled out her tiny white bikini seen in the opening credits. <\/p>\n

Ladd recalled, \u201cBikinis, a lot of bikinis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith joked, \u201cOur ratings went up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson, Smith and Ladd will reunite again on May 14 when they are among the recipients at the Paley Honors gala in New York. Smith\u2019s memoir titled \u201cI Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie\u201d comes out in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really proud to be part of that show,\u201d said Ladd, who always welcomed fans expressing their fondness for the Angels. \u201cI felt so loved. You couldn\u2019t be in a bad mood. It was always uplifting to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Once upon a time there were three little girls who starred as private detectives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[170248,49,3335,84246,48,361,224331,224485,40354,75,224482,1187,156461,224096,224332,73128,337,3430,224484,224483,1788],"class_list":{"0":"post-588789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-aaron-spelling","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-cameron-diaz","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-celebrities","14":"tag-cheryl-ladd","15":"tag-david-doyle","16":"tag-drew-barrymore","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-farrah-fawcett","19":"tag-fashion","20":"tag-gloria-steinem","21":"tag-jaclyn-smith","22":"tag-kate-jackson","23":"tag-lucy-liu","24":"tag-movies","25":"tag-new-york","26":"tag-shelley-hack","27":"tag-tanya-roberts","28":"tag-television"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}