( CNN ) -- The picture says it all . Curtis D. Tucker was thrilled to receive a Farrah Fawcett poster for his 14th birthday in 1976 . The shot of 14-year-old Curtis D. Tucker shows him unrolling one of his birthday treasures in 1976 , mouth slightly agape and eyes intensely focused on the gift . The present was one he had fervently requested from his parents and a hot item for many a young , red-blooded male during that bicentennial year : a poster of Farrah Fawcett ( then known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors ) . `` I was a huge Farrah fan , '' said Tucker , now a cartoonist and entrepreneur living in Enid , Oklahoma . `` I had started collecting all of the magazines and pictures and I was basically pinning up every picture that came out of every magazine . Then along came that poster . '' `` That poster '' reportedly became the best-selling of all time -- with more than 12 million copies sold -- and helped make Fawcett one of the last great pinups . A private funeral is scheduled Tuesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles , California , for the actress who died at the age of 62 from cancer . With her famously thick blond hair , red swimsuit , and smile as big and bright as the California sun , the actress was the epitome of the wholesome , all-American girl . `` She was full of life and so happy with that blond hair and that huge smile , '' said Tucker , who is n't sure if he still has the poster in his attic . `` Without that poster , I do n't think she would have become what she was . '' That freshness and beauty is what landed her poster on Tucker 's , and countless others ' , bedroom walls . Maria Elena Buszek , the author of `` Pin-up Grrrls : Feminism , Sexuality , Popular Culture , '' said pinups `` straddled the line between portraiture and pornography '' and included early stage actresses , the famed models of Alberto Vargas and the most famous pinup of all , Bettie Page . Fawcett has her place in pinup history , said Buszek , an assistant professor of art history at Kansas City Art Institute , School of Liberal Arts . `` The Farrah Fawcett poster really is one of the last iconic pinup images of the 20th century , '' Buszek said . `` By the 1970s , because of the sexual revolution and mores about sexuality becoming looser in the west , the pinup does start to become more nostalgic . '' When the photo was taken , Fawcett had not yet become one of `` Charlie 's Angels , '' the role which helped make her a star . She was instead better known for her commercials and ads , most notably -- and not surprisingly -- for Wella Balsam shampoo . Photographer Bruce McBroom shot the now iconic image and told Entertainment Weekly that the starlet was at the time a young innocent from Texas who did her own hair and makeup for the shoot . `` She had no idea of how beautiful and how attractive she was , I 'm sure , '' McBroom recalled . `` She was just like apple-pie , girl-next-door kind of girl , and in all the years I knew her she never changed . '' Now Fawcett 's image , which was considered racy at the time , is a huge part of nostalgia . Ken Leicht , a manager of Hollywood Book and Poster Company in Los Angeles , said that before Fawcett 's death , the poster was most in demand from production companies looking to stage the 1970s . `` That poster , that shot of her , is just one of the definitive images of that time , '' Leicht said . `` Most of the time with the posters , the teen girls are driving the market , and Farrah is probably one of the last ones that was for the guys . '' Leicht said actresses today , with the exception of a few like Pamela Anderson , do n't really opt to market themselves using posters anymore . iReport.com : Share your memories of Fawcett . Matt Delzell , group account director for marketing and promotions agency The Marketing Arm , said that eventually the pinup transitioned more into supermodel pictures with the likes of Cindy Crawford , Claudia Schiffer and Elle MacPherson , as well as the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue . Fawcett had the crossover appeal that went beyond just being a model , Delzell said . `` The poster came along at a time when posters were popular and she had the right photographer and took the right photo , '' Delzell said . iReport.com : Fawcett 's hairstyle was in high demand . It certainly was the right shot for cartoonist Curtis D. Tucker . He was n't a big fan of `` Charlie 's Angels , '' he said , so he was n't that distressed when Fawcett left after only a year . After all , he was still able to keep her close . `` The poster was something you had at home that you could look at every day , '' said Tucker , who kept the image up for several years . `` I collected a few other pictures of some of the other Angels , but there was n't anybody else after Farrah . She was the last . ''
Iconic poster of Farrah Fawcett reportedly best-selling of all time . Image graced many a young man 's bedroom wall . Professor : Poster `` one of the last iconic pinup images '' and it was also the first to feature an actual nude woman in full frontal nudity.