Shelley with Jaclyn Smith,
David Doyle and Cheryl Ladd
in a promo pic for Charlie's Angels, 1979
Shelley joined the cast of Charlie's Angels in 1979, taking over the slot vacated by Kate Jackson. Shelley was already one of the highest-paid Supermodels in the modeling industry at the time, and she was trying her luck in Hollywood. Prior to joining the cast of Charlie's Angels, Shelley had appeared in a number of productions, both for the big and small screens. Her first big screen appearance was in the 1977 Academy-Award-winning Woody Allen film Annie Hall where she had a short (but definitely very memorable) cameo appearance. In 1978, she auditioned for and got her first big screen leading lady role in the movie If Ever I See You Again. In 1979, she guest-starred in the short-lived series Married: The First Year, had a voice-over role in the Nicholas Meyer movie Time After Time (she turned down the lead role which went to Mary Steenburgen), and played the lead role in the TV movie Death Car on the Freeway. She was definitely on her way to Hollywood stardom.
a writeup about Shelley joining
the cast of Charlie's Angels, 1979
In 1979, Shelley was cast as Tiffany Welles in Charlie's Angels, joining incumbent Angels Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd, and overnight she became one of Hollywood's newest superstars. Her face appeared on every magazine in the world and her casting was even mentioned in the evening news. "I couldn't believe it. What was I doing in the evening news?" Shelley exclaimed at the time. In St. Thomas, at the Caribbean, where her first Charlie's Angels episode "Love Boat Angels" was to be shot, she described, surprised, "When I got off the plane, there were maybe eight million paparazzi. I looked around for Sophia Loren. It was for me. I couldn't believe it." And when it finally aired, Shelley's debut episode topped the Nielsen ratings; and she became a bonafide Hollywood star.
Shelley with Jaclyn Smith,
David Doyle and Cheryl Ladd
in a promo pic for Charlie's Angels, 1979
