Pam Grier
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| Pam Grier | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pamela Suzette Grier May 26, 1949 Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. |
Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress. She came to fame in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison films and blaxploitation films, and has generally remained in the public eye, starring in B-movies such as 1974's Foxy Brown, and in mainstream films such as Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film, Jackie Brown.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S., the daughter of Gwendolyn Sylvia (née Samuels), a homemaker and nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier, who worked as a mechanic and Technical Sergeant in the United States Air Force.[1] She has one sister and one brother. Because of her father's military career, Pam's family moved frequently during her childhood, to various places such as England, and eventually settled in Denver, Colorado, where Pam attended East High School. While there she appeared in a number of stage productions, and participated in beauty contests to raise money for college tuition toward Metropolitan State College.
[edit] Career
Grier moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1967, where she was initially hired as a receptionist at the American International Pictures company. She was discovered by director Roger Corman, who cast her in his women in prison films The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). She became a staple of early 1970s blaxploitation movies, playing big, bold, buxom roles, beginning with 1973's Coffy, in which Pam plays a nurse who seeks revenge on drug dealers; her film character was advertised in the trailer as the "baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town!" The film, which was filled with sexual and violent elements typical of the genre, was a box office hit, and Grier was noted as the first African-American female to headline a film, as protagonists of previous blaxploitation films were all male. In his review of Coffy, film critic Roger Ebert noted that Pam Grier was an actress of "beautiful face and astonishing form" and that she possessed a kind of "physical life" missing from other actresses.[2] Grier subsequently played similar characters in the films Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster, and Sheba, Baby (both 1975).
With the demise of blaxploitation, Grier's career went on hiatus for several years. She acquired progressively larger character roles in the 1980s, including notably the stoned prostitute in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), a witch in Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983), and Steven Seagal's detective partner in Above the Law (1988). She made a guest appearance on Miami Vice in 1985, and made a guest appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a woman who slept with her daughter's boyfriend, Will Smith. She also had a recurring role in the TV series Crime Story between 1986 and 1988. Grier highlighted a successful television series during the 1990s on BET. She again appeared in 1997 with the title role in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, which many consider her best work to date. As of 2004, she appears in the cable television series The L Word as Kit Porter and occasionally guest-stars in such television series as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where she is a recurring character).
[edit] Personal life
Grier dated basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the early 1970s and actor/comedian Richard Pryor in 1977. She was also romantically linked to actor/comedian Freddie Prinze in the 1970s. In 1998, she was engaged to music executive Kevin Evans, but they split in 1999.
According to one of the many John Lennon biographies, she was at the famed Troubadour night club in Hollywood the night Lennon was ejected for drunkenly heckling The Smothers Brothers.
Pam Grier is also first cousin of Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier the football player. On the now defunct VIBE talk show, host Sinbad once claimed to have dated Pam Grier's sister, though he wanted to go out with Pam herself.
Measurements: 38-22-36.[3]
[edit] Awards/nominations
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- 2002, Best Actress: Bones (Nominated)
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- 2000, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program: Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Ever Child (Nominated)
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- 1998, Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
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- 2006, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: The L Word (Nominated)
- 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: The L Word (Nominated)
- 2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Law & Order: SVU (Nominated)
- 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Law & Order: SVU (Nominated)
- 2002, Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series/ Television Movie: 3 a.m. (Nominated)
- 2000, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Linc's (Nominated)
- 1999, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Linc's (Nominated)
- 1998, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
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- 1998, Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Motion Picture: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
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- 1998, Oustanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | Partygoer | |
| 1971 | Women in Cages | Alabama | |
| The Big Doll House | Grear | ||
| 1972 | Hit Man | Gozelda | |
| Black Mama, White Mama | Lee Daniels | ||
| The Big Bird Cage | Blossom | ||
| Cool Breeze | Mona | ||
| 1973 | The Arena | Mamawi | |
| Scream Blacula Scream | Lisa | ||
| Coffy | Coffy | ||
| The Twilight People | Ayesa, the Panther Woman | ||
| 1974 | Foxy Brown | Foxy Brown | |
| 1975 | Friday Foster | Friday Foster | |
| Bucktown | Aretha | ||
| Sheba, Baby | Sheba Shayne | ||
| 1976 | Drum | Regine | |
| 1977 | Greased Lightning | Mary Jones | |
| 1981 | Fort Apache the Bronx | Charlotte | |
| 1983 | Something Wicked This Way Comes | Dust Witch | |
| Tough Enough | Myra | ||
| 1985 | On the Edge | Cora | |
| 1987 | The Allnighter | Sgt. McLeesh | |
| 1988 | Above the Law | Delores 'Jacks' Jackson | |
| 1989 | The Package | Ruth Butler | |
| 1990 | Class of 1999 | Ms. Connors | |
| 1991 | Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | Ms. Wardroe | |
| 1993 | Posse | Phoebe | |
| 1996 | Mars Attacks! | Louise Williams | |
| Escape from L.A. | Hershe Las Palmas | ||
| Original Gangstas | Laurie Thompson | ||
| 1997 | Jackie Brown | Jackie Brown | |
| 1999 | Holy Smoke! | Carol | |
| In Too Deep | Det. Angela Wilson | ||
| Jawbreaker | Detective Vera Cruz | ||
| 2000 | Snow Day | Tina | |
| 2001 | Bones | Pearl | |
| Ghosts of Mars | Commander Helena Braddock | ||
| 2002 | The Adventures of Pluto Nash | Flura Nash | |
| 2005 | Back in the Day | Mrs. Cooper |
[edit] References
- ^ Pam Grier Biography (1949-)
- ^ RogerEbert.com. Coffy. Retrieved on May 11, 2006.
- ^ Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine
[edit] External links
- Pam Grier at the Internet Movie Database
