Biography for Pam Grier
Pam Grier as Pearl
The year is 1979, and Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg) is the king pimp of his neighborhood. When a group of local hoodlums, including Jimmy's best friend (Clifton Powell), his best girl (Pam Grier) and a crooked cop (Michael T. Weiss, who appears in a fat suit for most of the picture and closely resembles Jiminy Glick), try to entice Jimmy to start selling crack in his community, Jimmy refuses and is killed by the gang. Flash forward to the present where a group of kids (lead by Khalil Kain, "Love Jones") decide to buy Jimmy's old house and open a dance club within the haunted walls. However, trouble arises when Jimmy comes back from the dead to exact revenge on those who double-crossed him all those years ago.
Biography for Pam Grier
Date of birth
26 May 1949
Birth name
Pamela Suzette Grier
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Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Pam was one of four children born to Air Force mechanic Clarence Grier and Gwendolyn Samuels, a nurse. One sister died from cancer in 1990 and the son of that sister committed suicide because of his mother's illness. Pam herself was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 and given 18 months to live which has had an effect on how she has chosen to live. She has never been wed, although she has been romantically linked to Richard Pryor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the past.
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Trivia
Auditioned for a role in "Pulp Fiction." That role eventually went to Rosanna Arquette, but Quentin Tarantino promised he would find another part for her in the future which lead to her role in "Jackie Brown."
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, until Jackie Brown (1997) came along. Quentin Tarantino renamed the character of Jackie Burke (from Rum Punch) to Jackie Brown as homage to Foxy Brown (1974).
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.
Was the first Black woman to appear on the cover of MS. Magazine (August 1975 issue).
Named as one of Ebony Magazine's "100 Most Fascinating Women of the 20th Century".
(17 October 1998) Awarded a "Career Achievement Award" at the 34th Annual Chicago International Film Festival.
Dated comedian Richard Pryor.
Her early films such as Women in Cages (1972) and The Big Doll House (1972) were filmed in the Phillipines. 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.
Mini biography
Pam Grier has been a major African American actress from the early seventies. Her career started back in 1971 when Roger Corman of New World Pictures launched her into The Big Doll House (1971), about a woman's penitentary and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Her strong role put her into a five year contract with Samuel Z. Arkoff of American International Pictures and from then Grier became a leading lady in action films such as two of the Jack Hill films: Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), and the comic strip character Friday Foster (1975) and the William Girdler film Sheba, Baby (1975). She continued work with American International where she portrayed William Marshall's vampire victim in the 'Blacula' sequel, _Scream, Blacula, Scream! (1973).
During the eighties she became a regular on "Miami Vice" (1984) and played a supporting role as an evil witch in Ray Bradbury's and Walt Disney Pictures Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) and then returned to action as Steven Seagal's partner in Above the Law (1988). Her most famous role of the 90s was probably Jackie Brown (1997), directed by Quentin Tarantino, which was a homage to her earlier 70s action roles, but she occasionally did supporting roles as in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), In Too Deep (1999) and her funny performance in Jawbreaker (1999). More recently, she appeared in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) and co-starred with Snoop Dogg in Bones (2001). Her entire career of over thirty years has brought only success for this beautiful and talented actress.
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Tall and voluptuous, the 1970s' Queen of Blaxploitation brought a formidable presence to such formulaic crowd-pleasers as Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), Sheba Baby (1975), and others, most of them vengeance-ismine tales loaded with graphic nudity and liberal bloodletting. The cousin of profootballer Roosevelt Grier, Pam actually got her start in babes-in-bonds exploitation epics churned out by Roger Corman's New World. She was launched in The Big Doll House (1971) and was felicitously squared off against the equally statuesque Margaret Markov in Black Mama, White Mama (1972, an outlandish female version ofThe Defiant Ones and The Arena (1974), where they played gladiators in Ancient Rome. She also appeared to good advantage in Scream Blacula Scream (1973) and Bucktown (1975), and tried to broaden her appeal as the comic-strip character Friday Foster (also 1975). But when the blaxploitation genre went into eclipse, so did her career. Grier's performance as the pathetic junkie in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) heralded her new career as a character actress, and she has since made impressive appearances portraying a witch in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), no-nonsense cops both serious (1988's Above the Law and comic (1987's The Allnighter and a beleaguered high school teacher in Class of 1999 (1990).
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Links:
"The L Word" (2004) TV Series .... Kit Porter
1st to Die (2003) (TV) .... Claire Washburn
... aka F1rst to Die (USA: promotional title)
... aka James Patterson's F1rst to Die (USA: promotional title)
Baby of the Family (2002) .... Mrs. Williams
Diggin' Up Bones (2002) (V) .... Herself
Adventures of Pluto Nash, The (2002)
"Feast of All Saints" (2001) (mini) TV Series .... Suzette Lermontant
... aka "Anne Rice's The Feast of All Saints" (2001) (mini) (USA: complete title)
Bones (2001) .... Pearl
Ghosts of Mars (2001) .... Helena Braddock
... aka John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) (USA: complete title)
Love the Hard Way (2001) .... Linda Fox
It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures (2001) .... Interviewee
3 A.M. (2001) .... George (Georgia Mae Parker)
Wilder (2000) .... Detective Della Wilder
... aka Slow Burn (2000/II) (USA)
Snow Day (2000) .... Tina
Fortress 2 (1999) .... Susan Teller
... aka Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000) (USA: DVD title)
Hayley Wagner, Star (1999) (TV) .... Sam
Intimate Portrait: Pam Grier (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Holy Smoke (1999) .... Carol
... aka Holy Smoke! (2000) (USA: video box title)
In Too Deep (1999) .... Det. Angela Wilson
Jawbreaker (1999) .... Detective Vera Cruz
No Tomorrow (1998) .... Diane
"Hollywood Squares" (1998) TV Series .... Guest Regular
"Linc's" (1998) TV Series .... Eleanor Braithwaite Winthrop
Fakin' Da Funk (1997) .... Annabelle Lee
Jackie Brown (1997) .... Jackie Brown
Strip Search (1997) .... Janette
Mars Attacks! (1996) .... Louise Williams
Family Blessings (1996) (TV) .... Mrs. Quincy
... aka LaVyrle Spencer's 'Family Blessings' (1996) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Escape from L.A. (1996) .... Hershe Las Palmas
... aka John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. (1996) (USA: complete title)
Original Gangstas (1996) .... Laurie Thompson
... aka Hot City (1996)
"Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child" (1995) TV Series (voice) .... The Empress' Nightingale
Serial Killer (1995) .... Capt. Maggie Davis
Posse (1993) .... Phoebe
Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story, A (1992) (TV) .... Linda Holman
... aka Shattered Silence (1992) (TV)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) .... Ms. Wardroe
Class of 1999 (1990) .... Ms. Connors
Package, The (1989) .... Ruth Butler
Above the Law (1988) .... Delores Jackson
... aka Nico (1988) (UK: cable TV title)
Allnighter, The (1987) .... Sergeant McLeesh
Vindicator, The (1986) .... Hunter
... aka Frankenstein '88 (1986)
On the Edge (1985) .... Cora
Stand Alone (1985) .... Catherine Bolan
Badge of the Assassin (1985) (TV) .... Alexandra 'Alie' Horn
"Miami Vice" (1984) TV Series .... Valerie Gordon (1985, 1989)
Tough Enough (1983) .... Myra
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) .... Dust Witch
Making of 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', The (1983) (TV) .... Herself
Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) .... Charlotte
"Roots: The Next Generations" (1979) (mini) TV Series .... Francey
Greased Lightning (1977) .... Mary Jones
Notte dell'alta marea, La (1977) (as Pamela Grier) .... Sandra
... aka Night of the High Tide, The (1977) (Canada: English title)
... aka Twilight of Love (1977) (USA: video title)
Drum (1976) (as Pamela Grier) .... Regine
Bucktown (1975) .... Aretha
Friday Foster (1975) .... Friday Foster
Sheba, Baby (1975) .... Sheba Shayne
Foxy Brown (1974) .... Foxy Brown
Arena, The (1973) .... Mamawi
... aka Naked Warriors (1973) (USA: reissue title)
... aka Rivolta delle gladiatrici, La (1973) (Italy)
Scream, Blacula, Scream! (1973) .... Lisa
... aka Blacula II (1973)
... aka Blacula Is Beautiful (1973)
... aka Blacula Lives Again! (1973)
... aka Name Is Blacula, The (1973)
Coffy (1973) .... Coffy
Big Bird Cage, The (1972) .... Blossom
... aka Women's Penitentiary II (1972)
Black Mama, White Mama (1972) .... Lee Daniels
... aka Women in Chains (1972) (USA: video title)
Hit Man (1972/I) (as Pamela Grier) .... Gozelda
Twilight People, The (1972) .... Ayesa, the Panther Woman
... aka Beasts (1972)
... aka Island of the Twilight People (1972)
Cool Breeze (1972) (as Pamela Grier) .... Mona
Big Doll House, The (1971) .... Grear
... aka Bamboo Dolls House (1971)
... aka Woman's Penitentiary (1971)
... aka Women in Cages (1971/II) (USA: video title)
... aka Women's Penitentiary (1971)
... aka Women's Penitentiary III (1971/II) (USA: changed title)
Women in Cages (1971/I) .... Alabama
... aka Women's Penitentiary III (1971/I)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (as Pamela Grier) .... Fourth Woman
... aka Hollywood Vixens (1970)
