Jaclyn Smith is pulling back the curtain on the chaotic reality behind the glossy facade of “Charlie’s Angels.”
The 80-year-old original Angel, who played Kelly Garrett for all five seasons of the hit ABC series, has released her memoir “I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie” this Tuesday. In it, she trains her focus squarely on co-star Kate Jackson, 77, portraying the Sabrina Duncan actress as a volatile force who repeatedly sent the 1970s set into turmoil.
Smith described Jackson as a “complex person” whose anger “could get the best of her.” The memoir details one incident where Jackson, despite being “savvy and skilled, and at times downright silly,” suddenly “flew into a fury over some slight” during production.
“She climbed behind the wheel of her motor home, with me by her side, and just drove it in circles around the lot, over and over,” Smith wrote. “It was funny at first, but the teamsters were not happy with us.”
The tension between the two stars apparently ran deeper than isolated blowups. Smith recalled Jackson’s resentment over the show’s success, which the “Dark Shadows” alum partly blamed on uncredited creative contributions. According to Smith, Jackson helped conceive both the series title and the central premise that the Angels never met their unseen boss Charlie, instead receiving assignments via speakerphone.
“She felt that she was owed both an acknowledgment and a piece of the profit as a creator,” Smith wrote, adding that “the producers disagreed.”
Jackson’s frustrations sometimes ensnared the entire cast. Smith remembered one day when all three original Angels — herself, Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett — were asked to sacrifice their lunch break for a promotional photoshoot. Jackson responded by allegedly “locking” the trio inside her trailer, forcing crew members to scramble for tools to free them.
The “Rage of Angels” star developed her own pre-scene ritual that left veteran Hollywood technicians startled. Smith wrote that Jackson would “shout every four-letter word in the book (including some [she’d] never heard before) at the top of her lungs” to prepare herself.
“[She’d let out] just a long, bellowed string of expletives that made even the cameramen and lighting guys blush,” Smith wrote.
The original trio’s bond frayed further when Fawcett departed after the first season and Cheryl Ladd joined as her replacement. Smith found herself caught in the middle of the resulting friction.
“Kate never fully accepted Cheryl,” Smith explained to readers. “Maybe it was because she missed Farrah, and in Kate’s mind no one could take her place.”
“It was difficult feeling caught between Kate and Cheryl,” she added.
The on-set atmosphere deteriorated in other ways as the series progressed through its 1976 to 1981 run. Smith observed a marked increase in drug use among cast and crew during the later seasons, with cocaine becoming particularly prevalent.
“People were doing drugs, in particular, cocaine … with some people using it constantly,” Smith remembered. “The more drug use I saw on set, the more time I spent in my motor home. I was in there a lot by the end of the series.”
The memoir generated additional headlines Tuesday with Smith’s revelation that late co-star Tanya Roberts once propositioned her for a threesome with husband Barry Roberts. Smith declined the offer but praised Roberts’ “honesty about her sexuality” as “brave and self-aware.”
Jackson’s representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Smith’s characterizations.
“I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie” is available now from Harper Select.