MovieChat Forums > Charlie's Angels (1976) Discussion > Kate turned "Sabrina" into "Kelly"

Kate turned "Sabrina" into "Kelly"

posted 8 years ago by kmj-35654
11 replies | jump to latest

As most Angel fans know, the "Kelly Garrett" character was originally written for Kate Jackson to play. The "Kelly" character was a motorbike riding, blue jeans wearing tomboy. The "Sabrina Duncan" character was supposed to be the glamorous fashionista of the team. But right before filming the pilot movie for the series, Kate decided that she didn't want to play the down- to- earth tomboy part of "Kelly". She wanted to play the glamour girl part of "Sabrina". This was a odd choice considering that Kate did not care for clothes, fancy hair-dos, and costume fittings. When the show became a weekly series, Kate soon turned "Sabrina" into "Kelly". So as it turned out, Kate just as well had played "Kelly" anyway. LOL Because Kate started playing "Sabrina" the way "Kelly" was originally written. And of course, with Jaclyn Smith playing "Kelly", that character eventually became the stylish glamour girl. Perhaps Kate should have just trusted the writers? Because they obviously understood what character best suited her personality.

[–] jimdarling 8 years ago

What is your source for this "information?"

[–] horizonbeach 8 years ago

This "information" (why the quotation marks?) is described in detail in "The Charlie's Angels Casebook", which was written by Jack Condon, a friend of Jaclyn Smith's, and has a written endorsement in the front of it signed by her. If she finds the information in it to be true, well, she ought to know, she had a front row seat for the entire five years of the series.

[–] kmj-35654 8 years ago

Jaclyn Smith has mentioned that Kelly Garrett was originally written for Kate Jackson on several occasions ( TV and magazine interviews). I read about it in the "Charlie's Angels Casebook". I remember Kate Jackson mentioning how she requested to play "Sabrina" instead of "Kelly" on one of those Charlie's Angels behind the scenes documentary shows ( you could most likely view it somewhere on YouTube). Those are my "sources" for the "information". LOL

[–] kmj-35654 8 years ago

Also, if you watch the pilot episode, it's easy to imagine Kate Jackson playing the "Kelly Garrett" part( riding a motorcycle, wearing jeans and a turtleneck) and Jaclyn Smith playing the "Sabrina Duncan" role ( dressed in furs and jewels).

The Kelly character plays the biggest part in the caper while the Sabrina and Jill characters don't show up until later. The "Kelly" character was originally intended for and written for Kate to play ( before Kate decided she wanted to play the Sabrina character instead). Kate was the most well-known and the most experienced actress of the three when the pilot episode was filmed.

[–] InherentlyYours 8 years ago

another problem:
Kate signs on for the series based on the pilot, yet becomes so disdainful of the writing later. Was the pilot much different than the series, and more of what she thought the series would be? The same thing could be applied to Fawcett who said acting needs to "stimulate" her, though sudden popularity was also at the helm of her walk-out

[–] horizonbeach 8 years ago

Well, one could argue that the pilot was more of a clever mystery story than most episodes of the series ended up being, and I don't remember there being a lot of T & A in the pilot except for the part where Kelly answers the phone in the intro wearing her white bikini. Maybe Kate expected more of a serious police drama type show based on the pilot.

I have always read that one of Kate's greatest gripes with the series was the trade off of clever writing for cheesecake titillation. In other words, don't worry about writing good dialogue that will attract viewers who like to think, just make sure that there are beautiful women who wear tiny bikinis or go braless when they're not wearing bikinis to make up for silly, lazy writing. For example, it says in the Casebook that when Kate heard that the show was seeking well endowed girls not wearing bras for the running scenes in "Marathon Angels", her response was, "Oh, $@#%!"

Had the pilot looked anything like some of the more provocative, sexist, light as fluff episodes that came later on, maybe Kate would have balked and not signed on to do the series. Then again, she was paid twice what the other two Angels were being paid per episode, so it had to stroke her ego to some extent, knowing that, and she's only human.

[–] InherentlyYours 8 years ago

Isn't it Fawcett who refused to wear bras , and why her tee shirts looked they way they did? And Jackson either became discontent over the writing and/or the Sophia's Choice fiasco. Ironically, it might have been a smoother ride if the series was a modest success instead of a sensation, that way there would had been less fame to fuel egos.

[–] rascal67 8 years ago

Jackson either became discontent over the writing and/or the Sophia's Choice fiasco.
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[–] kmj-35654 8 years ago

Isn't it ironic that Kate complained that the Charlie's Angels scripts were too light weight but then she went right into another fluffy series (Scarecrow and Mrs. King) after CA? I remember watching a few episodes of SAMK, from what I recall it wasn't exactly Masterpiece Theater! LOL Not to mention that she received 2 emmy nominations for her work on CA but not for SAMK.

As for Farrah Fawcett, in my opinion, the three films she appeared in right after she left CA were far from cinematic masterpieces. I felt FF's sex appeal was more exploited in the movie "Saturn 3" ( she briefly appeared topless) than it ever was on CA. As for her movie, "Sunburn", it was really no better than a CA episode! LOL

[–] horizonbeach 8 years ago

Well, there was actually about a five year break between CA and SAMK during which Kate signed a big contract to make TV movies or something and made a few feature films that were not big hits, so maybe by the time she was offered SAMK she was having a Farrah moment and realizing that maybe she wasn't meant to be a big box office star and that doing fluff on TV for huge money wasn't actually that bad of a gig.

I actually think she was at her best doing something in which she could incorporate some comedy. She added a lot of comic moments to both CA and SAMK. A more serious actress in SAMK especially would not have been great, since it was already a show about Soviet spies and the like. They needed something to lighten it up. I have read that Kate and Bruce Boxleitner did not get along, but you would never have known it by watching the show. They had a lot of chemistry. Just wish she wouldn't have had to do the obligatory '80s poodle perm...

[–] mastbradped 7 years ago

My theory on this is, and if you have ever watched "The Rookies," Kate was the only woman but very pretty, long hair and was very often the victim on that show. She was shot, kidnapped, knocked out, captured, etc. so she probably didn't want to play that part again and again. If you watch a lot of the Angel episodes, Kelly is the one that these things happen to. Kate was always beautiful in anything she did, even Sabrina, with short hair. That beautiful face was always there!