Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunite for 'Charlie's
Angels' 50th anniversary
[April 07, 2026]
By BETH HARRIS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 “Charlie's Angels.”
Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd reunited to mark the show's
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.
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.
“I knew the show was different, special and unique,” Smith told the
audience. “Three women chasing danger instead of getting rescued.”
Jackson added, “We made an impact, I think.”
Farrah Fawcett-Majors 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.
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.
“I knew that there was nobody that was going to replace Farrah, so I
made a joke of myself,” Ladd said on the red carpet. “Everybody laughed.
Farrah would have done something like that.”
Jackson added, "Cheryl stepped in and we didn’t miss a beat.”
Critics weren’t kind, however, calling the show “jiggle television”
because the women dressed scantily to go undercover and slamming it for
vapid acting.
“It didn’t bother me,” Jackson said on the red carpet. “I 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."
Five decades later, the show remains popular in reruns and DVDs, having
spawned a film series starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy
Liu.
"We were giving people an hour to sit back, put their feet up, forget
everything and watch television,” Jackson said, “and 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.”
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Cast members Kate Jackson, from left, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd
pose on the set of "Charlie's Angels" in Los Angeles in March 1978.
(AP Photo/George Brich, File)
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,
who appeared in the final season. Smith and the late David Doyle, who
played Charlie's go-between, were on the show's entire run.
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 “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.”
Jackson left the business nearly 20 years ago to raise her son. Now 77,
she said, “I’m ready to go back.”
The trio's 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't say when it occurred.
“When Cheryl called me,” Smith said, “the first thing I did was send her
my wigs.”
Smith was at Jackson's bedside during her cancer battle. Each of them
urged the audience to have regular health screenings.
In one of many lighter moments, the women were asked to name their
favorite outfits.
“I wore a lot of turtlenecks,” Jackson said, drawing laughs.
Smith singled out her tiny white bikini seen in the opening credits.
Ladd recalled, “Bikinis, a lot of bikinis.”
Smith joked, “Our ratings went up.”
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's memoir
titled “I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie” comes out in September.
“I was really proud to be part of that show,” said Ladd, who always
welcomed fans expressing their fondness for the Angels. "I felt so
loved. You couldn't be in a bad mood. It was always uplifting to hear
it.”
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