Farrah Fawcett's red bathing suit from famous poster to be auctioned.

Farrah Fawcett's red bathing suit to be auctioned

Items from actress Farrah Fawcett's career will be enshrined in national history on Wednesday with a donation to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, including that red bathing suit.

Ryan O'Neal stands next to the red swimsuit belonging to the late actress Farah Fawcett Photo: AP

9:30PM GMT 02 Feb 2011

The 1976 iconic image of Fawcett curled up in a red bathing suit and a wide smile sold over 12 million posters and became a recognisable sign of the decade.

The bathing suit forms the centrepiece of the donation, according to the Smithsonian's website.

An original copy of the poster, a leather-bound book of Fawcett's personal copies of scripts for the first season of the television series "Charlie's Angels," magazines with her on the cover and other Fawcett paraphernalia will also be donated in a ceremony attended by actor Ryan O'Neal, with whom she had a long romantic relationship, and Nels Van Patten, friend and observer of the 1976 poster photo shoot.

The items will be a part of the popular culture history collections.

Fawcett died in 2009 at the age of 62 from cancer.