No to be unkind, but let's face it; the actress was pretty much a hot mess from the mid-80s on, what with her turbulent relationship with Ryan O'Neal, various tabloid scandals, gonzo talkshow behavior, a Broadway show that closed in previews, etc. She was famous for being semi-famous, erasing good work in earlier TV movies and making every small, decent part (as in Robert Duvall's The Apostle in 1997, or Robert Altman's Dr. T and the Women in 2000) part of a perpetual comeback. But she was a genuine phenomenon back in the 70s, one my prepubescent self was not immune to (though I was always more a Jaclyn Smith kind of guy). She warmed up movies like Logan's Run (1976) and Saturn 3 (1980), of which one critic wrote, "She shows a T and he (Kirk Douglas) shows an A and they both should have behaved themselves," a memorable line. If the self-generated reality TV hoopla around her death got a few fans of hers to the doctor for a checkup, some good was done.
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