Farrah Fawcett, who died Thursday of cancer at the age of 62, once made Gov. Rudy Perpich swoon.

According to a story related by the late Gerry Nelson, a former Associated Press correspondent who served as Perpich’s press secretary, the governor from Hibbing became acquainted with Fawcett -- or, rather, with her famous poster in a red bathing suit -- shortly after he took office for the first time in 1976.

Nelson said the governor was walking around the Capitol building when he came across a young state employee who had tacked up the poster near his work area. Perpich, who was something of a stickler for propriety, saw the poster and stopped dead in his tracks.

Nelson said everyone braced themselves for a tongue-lashing about pinups in the workplace. Instead, Perpich stared transfixed at the poster and slowly stepped forward until his face was less than a foot from it.

"Wow," he said, and then he reached up and tapped his forefinger against Fawcett’s teeth in the poster.

"Great work!" said the governor who had been a Hibbing dentist before getting into politics.