Celebrity Nooz: Jaclyn Smith

Jaclyn Smith (Actress) - Charlie's Angels

Updated: 2/05/20

Name: Jaclyn Smith

Birth Name: Jacquelyn Ellen Smith

Born: October 26, 1945 in Houston, Texas, USA

Claim To Fame: Jaclyn Smith is an American actress, and businesswoman, best known for her role as Kelly Garrett in the television series Charlie's Angels (1976-1981), and was the only original female lead to remain with the series for its complete run.

Family Life: Smith has been married four times. Her first marriage was to actor Roger Davis, from 1968 to 1975. She married Dennis Cole, an actor who appeared on Charlie's Angels several times, in 1978 and they divorced in 1981. Smith married filmmaker Tony Richmond in 1981, with whom she had two children, Gaston (born 1982) and Spencer Margaret (born 1985), before divorcing Richmond in 1989. Smith has been married to Houston cardiothoracic surgeon Brad Allen since 1997.

Info: Born to Margaret Ellen and Jack Smith, a dentist.

She graduated from Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in 1964.

She majored in psychology and drama at Trinity University (Texas) in San Antonio but only completed a year.

Moved to New York and joined the Balanchine School of American Ballet.

On March 21, 1976, Smith first played Kelly Garrett in Charlie's Angels; the show was aired as a movie of the week. It earned a huge Nielsen rating, causing the network to air it a second time and confirm production for a series, which ran for 5 seasons. The show would become a big success not only in the U.S. but, in successive years, in syndication around the world. It even spawned peripheral products, like bubble gum cards, fashion dolls, posters, puzzles, a board game, and more.

In 1985, Smith entered the business world with the introduction of her own collection of women's apparel for Kmart.

She pioneered the concept of celebrities developing their own brands rather than merely endorsing others.

Smith's "Charlie's Angels" costar Kate Jackson became Smith's daughter (Spencer Margaret Richmond)'s godmother in 1985. In 1995, Jackson adopted a son, Charles Taylor Jackson, to whom Smith became a godmother.

In 1990, She was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.

Smith battled breast cancer in 2003. In 2010, Smith was featured in 1 a Minute, a documentary about breast cancer.

She, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett supported each other during their personal fight against cancer. She and Kate are both breast cancer survivors, while Farrah fought and lost her three-year battle with anal cancer in 2009.

Bravo TV's producers cast Smith as the celebrity host of Bravo's weekly competitive reality series Shear Genius, which began airing in March 2007. Smith hosted the show for its first two seasons.

Her foray into home furnishings was extended to Kmart stores in the fall of 2008, with the chain's introduction of its Jaclyn Smith Today product line of bedding and bath accessories.

In September 2008, Smith launched the STYLE by Jaclyn Smith wig collection for Paula Young Wigs.

Trivia: She was reportedly offered the role of Victoria Winters on the ABC daytime series Dark Shadows in 1968, but turned it down.

She landed a job as a "Breck girl" for Breck Shampoo in 1971, and a few years later joined the model/actress, Farrah Fawcett, as a spokesmodel for Wella Balsam shampoo.

Smith played her role for all five seasons of Charlie's Angels until 1981, also portraying the Garrett character in a cameo in the 2003 feature film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and later in the 2019 film Charlie's Angels.

Her favorite memory of "Charlie's Angels" (1976) was when she and her co-stars Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson appeared on cover of "Time" magazine on November 22, 1976. The show's producers wanted them to give up their lunch hour to do it. The three locked themselves in Jackson's trailer in protest. The three friends had their lunch together for 45 minutes, when the producers struggled to open the door and begged them to pose for "Time" magazine, which they did in the last 15 minutes of their lunch hour.

She is the only member of "Charlie's Angels" who has appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine twice, since she did a solo "Time" cover while she was pregnant with her son for the February 22, 1982 issue.

She turned down the leading role in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979), because the shooting schedule would have created a conflict with "Charlie's Angels". The role went to Lois Chiles.

She was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Film for the title role in the TV film Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981).

In 1989, Smith received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1998, the French musical group Air released the single "Kelly Watch the Stars", which is about the Charlie's Angels (1976) character "Kelly Garrett".

Smith turned down the role of Gwendolyn "Gwen" Williams on the soap opera 'Titans' (2000).

In August 2006, Smith reunited with her angels co-stars Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson at the 58th Primetime Emmy awards in tribute to producer Aaron Spelling who died earlier that year.

Where Are They Now: In January 2019, Smith was seen promoting the Charlie's Angels television series on the MeTV network. She also made a cameo in Charlie's Angels (2019); the second reboot of the film franchise.

View other 'Where Are They Now' celebrities

Read the latest issue of Celebrity Nooz

Subscribe!