Cheryl Ladd Click photo for larger image.

She was the angel who replaced Farrah Fawcett on the hugely popular 1970s television series "Charlie's Angels." Cheryl Ladd's life literally changed overnight with that role. Since then she's written a book, "A Woman's Guide to Golfing With the Boys," about her experience as the only gal with all the guys at celebrity golf tournaments.

She plays James Caan's wife on the NBC series "Las Vegas" and on Saturday will star in the inspirational Hallmark Channel original movie "Though None Go With Me." Ladd, 54, has been married 25 years to Brian Russell, and they live in California.

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Q. At what point did you know you had made it?

A. Oh, certainly when my "Charlie's Angels" shows started to air. It was doing better than it did the first year, and the phone never stopped ringing. All of a sudden I went overnight from nobody cared what I ate or what beauty products I used to absolutely everything I did, said, ate, wore was fascinating! [Laughs.] It was a bit overwhelming. Nobody gives you celebrity lessons, and I am not complaining about it. Let's put it this way: Every single woman who was on our television show in the first two or three years was divorced. So there's a lot of pressure. It was an overwhelming onslaught of attention and affection. This is why I had a 30-year career out of it. I mean, think about it, really.

Q. How do you see the concept of beauty changing since the 1970s?

A. I think women are getting skinnier and skinnier and doing terrible things to themselves to remain so, and to get so. I just think it's sad. So many of them would look so much more beautiful, just 10 pounds, 8 pounds heavier. They would be so much healthier, and they certainly wouldn't look fat. I think it's just terrifying what's going on -- this skeletal thing is not feminine.

Q. You have stayed in remarkable shape, and you are 5-foot-4?

[Laughs.] No, I used to be 5-foot-4. At this age, I am now 5-foot-3 1/4. That happens. And I'm 10 pounds heavier than I was on "Charlie's Angels."

Q. Are you as concerned about keeping your figure as you once were?

A. I'm not nearly as concerned, because I'm not in the category of competing on a level where your beauty is just absolutely analyzed from top to bottom. I'm not in that category any more, and thank God! I want to be fit, I want to be slim, I want to feel good about myself, and I want to look nice in my clothes, but I am not obsessive about it. I mean if I want to have that cheeseburger, I have it.

Q. You have been very open about your menopausal experience.

A. Well, for one thing, 40 million American woman are in menopause. For everybody to kind of walk around giggling and whispering about it like it's something horrible, I think is horrible. I mean, it's a natural passage of our lives. There are things we can do now to really stay healthy and have vibrant lives well past menopause. Menopause used to be a nonissue because women only lived maybe five, 10 years after it. It's not the end game anymore. There is just a whole generation of women who I am out there fighting for and standing up for and being.

Q. What is your view on plastic surgery as a way to turn back the clock and look younger?

A. I have no problem with plastic surgery. I have a problem with women who are 40 and 50 years old trying to look 20. That's when plastic surgery goes wonky. You can tweak what God gave you and freshen it up and look maybe eight to 10 years younger than what you are, but that's the limit. Otherwise it's just frightening what some woman are doing to themselves. They look masky and strange.

Q. Do you feel a shift in the way we view aging since the first wave of baby boomers turned 60?

A. I just think there are going to be so many of us, there will be no choice. We are going to be a vast body of consumers, and in a society like ours, the people who have the dollars are the people who get the attention. Also they used to say that as people got older they were locked into the products that they used. That is so not true with the baby boomer generation. We are always looking for the next great thing.

Q. Finally, playing James Caan's wife on "Vegas" -- a lot of acting or an easy role to play?

A. He's o-school cool. Jimmy Caan, Jimmy Caan, Jimmy Caan [laughs]. I love their relationship. Having been in a long-term relationship, I understand the glory of it and I understand the value of making it through all the highs and lows. And the sort of friendship that happens with people when they've been together for a long time, if you are really lucky. If you are with the right person, it's really wonderful.