Cancer activist praises Farrah Fawcett

ATLANTA, June 26 (UPI) -- Farrah Fawcett, who died Thursday after a long battle with cancer, was a longtime activist in the fight against the disease, the American Cancer Society said.

Fawcett struggled with anal cancer for three years before she died at age 62. Best known as the star of TV's "Charlie's Angels" and the subject of an iconic glamour poster that helped make her a 1970s pop culture icon, Fawcett became active on cancer-related issues in the 1980s, Elizabeth "Terry" T.H. Fontham, national volunteer president of the American Cancer Society, said Thursday.

"We are saddened at the news of the passing of Farrah Fawcett," Fontham said in a statement posted on the American Cancer Society Web site. "Ms. Fawcett served as the American Cancer Society's chairperson for Women Against Cancer in the early 1980s, appearing in a public service announcement where she encouraged viewers to avoid smoking and get regular cancer checkups.

"Her public battle against cancer these past few years is a reminder of the work still to be done, and of the toll cancer still takes," Fontham said.

Fawcett was also an advocate for domestic violence victims and fought for patients' privacy in hospitals.