Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films like The Big Bird Cage (1972), Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974) and Sheba Baby (1975). Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for a SAG Award as well as a Satellite Award for her performance in Jackie Brown. Grier is also known for her work on television, for 6 seasons she portrayed Kate 'Kit' Porter on the television series The L Word. She received an Emmy Award nomination for her work in the animated program Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. Rotten Tomatoes has ranked her as the second greatest female action heroine in film history. Director Quentin Tarantino remarked that she may have been cinema's first female action star.
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Pictu...
Movies
Foxy Brown, Jackie Brown, Coffy, Friday Foster, The Big Bird Cage, The Big Doll House, Sheba, Baby, Black Mama White Mama, Scream Blacula Scream, Ghosts of Mars, Above the Law, Escape from L.A., Fort Apache, The Bronx, The Arena, Hit Man, Mars Attacks!, Bucktown, Just Wright, Jawbreaker, Larry Crown...
TV Shows
The L Word, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, Linc's, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
You know, I had to bump heads with a lot of men in the industry. They were not comfortable with showing a progressive black female in an action role. As a strong woman, I was seen as a threat. There was a fear that women would mimic me in real life. I remember certain people saying: "Oh, she's taking our jobs, she's castrating men" -- as far as I was concerned, I thought: "We don't need to walk behind you, we should walk beside you."
2
When I was a young girl, I never thought of acting. I never thought of television, of fans, movie stars, signing autographs. It never crossed my mind.
3
(On the emotional back-story of how she landed Mars Attacks) I was familiar with the comic book, and Tim Burton had called me to audition, but one of my dogs was dying of cancer, so I wasn't in the frame of mind to audition to do that role. So I said, "I can't," and I turned down Tim Burton. And I remember one of my dearest friends who I knew before he became an actor - Michael Keaton, who was in Beetlejuice and should've won an Oscar for that role, he was so brilliant - I told him that I'd turned Tim down. I said, "I'm just not ready to read, because one of my dogs, one of my family members, is very ill. I just can't do it. So I passed." But they called back again, and they said, "Well, would you put something on camera?" And I said, "No, because what I'll put on camera is sadness, and I'm not ready to do that right now." I'm one of those people who can afford to say "no." Even to Tim Burton, as badly as I wanted to work with him because of Beetlejuice. And he related. He respected that. And then they called back again...and they said, "Well, you've just auditioned. Because in the story, she's a mom who protects her children. Even under the worst situations, she won't leave her children. She's a true mom." And I wouldn't leave my dog, not for anybody - including Tim Burton - or for a huge salary or to work with Jack Nicholson or Glenn Close or the rest of the stellar cast of that film. So he said, "You passed the audition. You wouldn't leave your family for me, so you've got it. And we'll shoot around you. We'll wait, and you let us know when the time is right, when you're ready to shoot." And I said, "Thank you, but it could be awhile. I don't know. But I'm not leaving his side, because I had cancer, and he was with me." But they waited. They shot around me until I was ready to say, "Okay, he's passed on. He let me go." And Tim and I have been great friends ever since...because I said "no." Sometimes you just have to say "no." But once I was in it, it was such a joy working in those scenes, and with Ray Jay and Brandon. And it was great to work with Jim Brown. We had scenes, too. It's amazing when you work on films of such stellar directors, you know the budgets are gonna be incredible and the sets are gonna be incredible. There's no expense spared. It's just gonna be fabulous. When you work with directors like that, on that level, you go, "Oh, my God, just enjoy it!" Because you know it's just going to be a superb experience. And not only did I learn a lot about myself, but I learned that I want to work with Tim Burton in anything. He's just a very special person.
4
People see me as a strong black figure, and I'm proud of that, but I'm a mix of several races: Hispanic, Chinese, Filipino. My dad was black, and my mom was Cheyenne Indian. So you look at things beyond just race, or even religion: I was raised Catholic, baptized a Methodist, and almost married a Muslim.
5
Film and television is the bulk of my work. I get my personal fulfillment from theater; plays are where you can take chances and really work with the moment. Movies and TV just aren't like that.
6
[1/7/06, interview in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution"] I can't talk about myself. I just can't. I know I've influenced people, and I'm proud of that. But as I see it, I really haven't done anything. I haven't saved anybody from a burning building. Foxy Brown actually approached me at the start of her career to ask if she could use the name. I told her, "You didn't need to ask". If you're an independent woman, every woman is Foxy Brown.
#
Fact
1
Pam was born on exactly the same day as co star Philip Michael Thomas, May 26, 1949.
2
Inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame in 2012-2013.
Profiled in "Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture" by Yvonne D. Sims (McFarland, 2006).
6
When she met her boyfriend they found out they both grew up in Denver, Colorado. Upon further conversation she found out that he grew up in her house, after her family moved out.
7
Graduated from East High School, Denver, Colorado.
8
Her early films such as Women in Cages (1971) and The Big Doll House (1971) were filmed in the Philippines. While there she contracted a deadly tropical disease and nearly died. She lost her hair and was temporarily blind for almost a month. It took nearly a year for her to recover.
9
Awarded a "Career Achievement Award" at the 34th Annual Chicago International Film Festival. [October 1998]
10
Named as one of Ebony Magazine's "100 Most Fascinating Women of the 20th Century".
11
Was the first black woman to appear on the cover of MS. Magazine (August 1975 issue).
12
While a student at UCLA, she sang back-up for singer-composer Bobby Womack. Interestingly, Womack's composition and 1972 recording of the song "Across 110th Street" was the theme song of the film Jackie Brown (1997), which marked a major comeback for Grier in the starring and title role. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and an NAACP Image Award for her performance.
13
Auditioned for a part in Pulp Fiction (1994) and at the time, right after Rosanna Arquette took the nod, was considered for the part of Bonnie (Jimmie's wife). She didn't land either role. Then Jackie Brown (1997) came along. Quentin Tarantino renamed the character of Jackie Burke from "Rum Punch" to "Jackie Brown" as an homage to Foxy Brown (1974).
$15 Million
