The three-girl Charlie's Angels line-up went through a number of changes during the series, but one Angel was there from beginning to end. That was Kelly Garrett, played with aplomb by the lovely Jaclyn Smith. But why did she almost not get the part at all? And what other lucrative career did she embark on after Angels came to an end...?

Angel: Kelly Garrett Jaclyn Smith was Kelly Garrett, possibly the most sensitive and vulnerable of the Angels. She came from a hard background - raised in an orphanage, she grew up in a number of foster homes and came dangerously close to a life of crime. Luckily, she managed to turn her life around by joining the police force, where she gained confidence and integrity. She was later recruited by Charlie, but probably had the bumpiest time of any Angel, enduring kidnappings, explosions and two separate gun shots to the head. It's a miracle she survived - but it's also a testament to the strength under that sometimes shy exterior.

Jaclyn Smith Profile

Smith was born Jacquelyn Ellen Smith on Oct. 26, 1947 in Houston, Texas to Jack Smith and Margaret Ellen Hartsfield. She graduated from high school in 1964, originally aspiring to be a famous ballerina like so many other young girls. After high school, she studied drama at Trinity College before moving to New York City to try her hand at modeling and acting. She worked in regional theatre and performed in such plays as “West Side Story” and “Bye, Bye Birdie,” but her first taste of commercials success came in 1973, where she became the quintessential “Breck Girl” in numerous print and TV campaigns for Breck hair care products.

The veteran actor was so impressed, he recommended the budding actress for a role in a new all-female detective series, “The Alley Cats,” being executive-produced by Aaron Spelling. Although the producers initially wanted a blonde, a brunette and a redhead, Wagner convinced them to hire Smith, even though they had already cast their "brunette." That series was later renamed “Charlie’s Angels,” debuting in 1976 to unimaginable success. Although the media and fans predominately latched on to the token blonde with the million dollar smile, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Smith’s character – the brainy, leggy Kelly Garrett – was a close second. Playing Garrett week to week provided a level of fame most actors only dream of, as well as financial security, with Smith earning $40,000 a week.

Miniseries Queen Although she was the only Angel to last all five years of the series, Jaclyn was already making a new name for herself as the "Queen" of miniseries. One of her earliest films was "The Users" (with John Forsythe), and she continued her miniseries career after Charlie's Angels closed the office in 1981. She was also the only star from the original series to appear in the silver screen version, reprising the role of Kelly Garrett alongside Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003). While her career was riding high, her personal life was occasionally choppy – much to the delight of tabloids of the time who relished every Angel marriage gone awry.
	She married four times – to actors Roger Davis (1972-75) and Dennis Cole (1978-1981), to filmmaker Tony Richmond (1981 – 1989), with whom she had two kids, and to surgeon Brad Allen (since 1997). Through all the very public tumult, Smith managed to successfully balance family and work, acting in numerous post-“Angels” television projects, including Sidney Sheldon’s “Rage of Angels” (NBC, 1983); the highly rated TV biopic, “Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy” (ABC, 1981) – for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination – “Florence Nightingale” (NBC, 1985), and in the Robert Ludlum suspense thriller mini-series “The Bourne Identity” (ABC, 1988) (the first incarnation of the now-popular feature trilogy starring Matt Damon)

Although the series did not last, Smith continued to land roles in TV movies, such as “In the Arms of a Killer” (NBC, 1992), “Married to a Stranger” (Family Channel, 1997), “Three Secrets” (CBS, 1999) and  the  Lifetime film "Navigating the Heart" in February 2000 as well as guest spots in various TV series. In August of 2002, she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment for breast cancer after a lump was detected during a routine check-up. Ironically, for a show renowned for its ample (for the time) display of “T & A,” Smith was the second Angel to go public with her breast cancer scare – the first being Kate Jackson. Fortunately, the two actresses, who had remained good friends throughout the decades, both successfully won their battle against the disease. She fully recovered and joined the cast of CBS’ “The District” (2002-04) as Craig T. Nelson’s love interest, Vanessa Cavanaugh.

Jaclyn Smith keeps  a very busy schedule to date. In 2007 she  hosted the Bravo reality series, "Shear Genius"  The Jaclyn Smith range is still one of the most popular clothing brands in the States, and she's since entered the textiles and home furnishings market as well, becoming a multi-millionaire in the process. Impressive, eh