a closeup of Shelley from a promo pic
for Charlie's Angels, 1979
Shelley became Angel no. 5 in 1979 when she joined the cast of Charlie's Angels. Her character was Tiffany Welles, a Boston-bred (originally Connecticut-bred) policewoman who was the daughter of one of Charlie's oldest friends. Shelley was already a Supermodel when she joined the hit TV series and was known worldwide as THE Charlie Girl in those Revlon Charlie TV commercials and print advertisements. She auditioned, went though a screen test, and even a personality test; but what really got her the part, it seems, was the headline "THE Charlie Girl becomes Charlie's newest Angel" which was going through Angels exec producer Aaron Spelling's head as he was choosing TV's latest cherub. Also, just like the original Angels team of Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith, Shelley had good rapport with her new co-Angels Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn; and the three photographed so well together.
a writeup about Shelley
joining Charlie's Angels, 1979
And just like the Angels before her, as soon as the announcement of her casting was made, the paparazzi was all over her. Many things (true and untrue) were written about her. "Yesterday, I was a schnook, and today I can't get across the street" is how Shelley described her sudden rise to Hollywood superstardom. "I go through phases of not believing it, thinking we're talking about a third person who's not here in the room at the moment," she said of her sudden Hollywood fame. "It has been quite a whirl," she added. And her casting was even mentioned in the evening news - it was that big a deal. "I couldn't believe it. What was I doing in the evening news," she exclaimed at the time. "I had press people crawling in my windows," she told E! in 2002.
Shelley with Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith
in a promo pic for Charlie's Angels, 1979
