Shelley in a publicity still for Charlie's Angels, 1979
Shelley became Angel no. 5 Tiffany Welles in 1979. She was cast because she blended really well with Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd in terms of looks and style - according to Aaron Spelling. Acting-wise, she had enough experience to handle the shows scripts. It was too bad her character was initially severely underused. She was given little to say and do at the beginning of the season. The reason, according to inside sources, was that she couldn't act - which is nonsense, because she did fine job on the TV movie Death Car on the Freeway (Check out her scenes with Hal Needham; they're delightful.), on her guest stint on the Love Boat and on the filmed for TV play Vanities (for which she received glowing reviews from critics). So before (Death Car), during (Love Boat) and after (Vanities) Charlie's Angels, she came up with good acting performances. So how come they said she couldn't act when she was on Charlies Angels? I wonder.
Would Tanya Roberts, Shelley Hack and Cheryl Ladd
have been Charlie's Angels 1980 team if Jaclyn Smith left the show?
Anyway, she did get more to say and do in the latter part of her Angels season; but the ratings had already dipped and Shelley became the fall guy. Too bad, she turned out some fine performances in the latter episodes of that year. In fact, if she was given more exposure at the get go, she would have lasted seasons longer and Jaclyn Smith would have left by the end of that year (as was reported). Tanya Roberts, Shelley and Cheryl would have made a great Angels team if Tanya was still hired after Jackie left.
