Femme fatale Fawn Hall

Striking blonde Fawn Hall was not a femme fatale in the usual sense in that she was not romantically linked with the powerful political figure she served as secretary. She was merely a glamorous looking young woman who stood by her boss despite the legal risks involved.

Specifically, she doctored and shredded documents linking her boss, Lt. Col. Oliver North, and other conservative government figures to the tangle of deceptions that came to be known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

In brief, the Reagan administration was playing fast and loose with the U.S. Congress regarding the sale of weapons to Iran after which some of the money was diverted to support the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua, which was illegal but suited the conservative agenda just the same.

Hall, who had a mane of blonde hair second only to that of actress Farrah Fawcett, testified under oath, with immunity, in Oliver North's 1989 trial. He was found guilty but his conviction was later overturned upon appeal on constitutional grounds. The other government figures involved also escaped punishment either on appeal or by being later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. North became a syndicated columnist and pundit.

Hall, who had left North's employ in 1986, moved to the West Coast and worked as a secretary for MP3.com. She married Danny Sugarman in 1991. Sugarman was manager for The Doors and later for Iggy Pop and also published five books. The couple had trouble with illegal drugs, and Sugarman died of cancer in 2005. It is doubtful that Fawn Hall would have lingered in the public memory had she not had such striking good looks.