Pam Grier Actress - Born 26 May 1949 · Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

Birth name Pamela Suzette Grier

Height 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)

Biography Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC, one of four children of Gwendolyn Sylvia (Samuels), a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr., an Air Force mechanic. Pam has been a major African-American star from the early 1970s. Her career started in 1971, when Roger Corman of New World Pictures launched her with The Big Doll House (1971), about a women's penitentiary, 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 she became a leading lady in action films such as Jack Hill's Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), the comic strip character Friday Foster (1975) and William Girdler's 'Sheba, Baby' (1975). She continued working with American-International, where she portrayed William Marshall's vampire victim in the Blacula (1972) sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973).

During the 1980s 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), then returned to action as Steven Seagal's partner in Above the Law (1988). Her most famous role of the 1990s was probably Jackie Brown (1997), directed by Quentin Tarantino, which was an homage to her earlier 1970s action roles, She occasionally did supporting roles, as in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), In Too Deep (1999) and a funny performance in Jawbreaker (1999). She also appeared in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) and co-starred with Snoop Dogg in Bones (2001). Her entire career of over 30 years has brought only success for this beautiful and talented actress.

A sister of Grier's 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.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

Family Children No Children

Parents

Gwendolyn Grier

Clarence Grier

Relatives

Rodney Grier (Sibling)

Gina Grier-Townsie (Sibling)

Roosevelt Grier (Cousin)

Relationship Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor - AKA Lew Alcindor - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Relationship 1969 Abdul-Jabbar proposed to Grier on the condition that she immediately convert to Islam. Grier refused, and he married a different woman that day.

Freddie Prinze

Richard Pryor

Jimmie "Big Wheel" Wheeler

Kevin Evans

Trivia

Her early films such as Women in Cages (1971) and The Big Doll House (1971) were shot 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.

When she met her boyfriend they found out they both grew up in Denver, CO. She subsequently found out that he grew up in her house, after her family had moved out.

Was the first black woman to appear on the cover of "MS. Magazine" (August 1975 issue).

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).

Profiled in "Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture" by Yvonne D. Sims (McFarland, 2006).

Named as one of "Ebony" Magazine's "100 Most Fascinating Women of the 20th Century".

On 10/17/1998 she was awarded a "Career Achievement Award" at the 34th Annual Chicago International Film Festival.

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.

Got thrown out of Los Angeles' Troubadour nightclub with John Lennon in 1974 for fighting after Lennon disrupted a Smothers Brothers performance by standing up in the audience and singing.

Trained in martial arts since childhood and has studied Karate, Aikido, Kung Fu and Jiujitsu.

Inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame in 2012-13.

The first actress to play the DC Comics character Amanda Waller in a live-action adaptation.

Was a runner-up in the Miss Colorado Universe beauty pageant.

Graduated from East High School, Denver, CO.

Considered for Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago (2002).

Born on exactly the same day as co-star Philip Michael Thomas: 5/26/49.

Sister of Rodney Grier and Gina Grier-Townsie.

Cousin of Roosevelt Grier.

Quotes

[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.

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.

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.

(On the emotional back-story of how she landed Mars Attacks! (1996)) 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 (1988) 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 James 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.

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.

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."

[why she was nude early in her career] I did nudity in Coffy and Foxy Brown to help create the audience. I wanted everyone to get used to seeing women of color, women in power, with martial arts and guns. I call it the 'Brown Nipple Revolution.' We weren't the epitome of sexual attraction for the male audience, in movies, magazines, anything. I was trying to break that line of what was acceptable in society.

[on her relationship with Richard Prior, upon a doctor discovering cocaine in her cervix] He had been doing, indulging in drugs since he was 13 and so basically for 47 years his body was contaminated, and it will contaminate a woman, whether it's controversy or not, my medical facts says that, I'm sorry, if he's not putting it on his body, then it's in his prostate gland, it's collecting, it's accumulating, it was compromising my health.

[on working at American International answering phones] I had like five jobs because when I came up from Colorado, I was a pre-med dropout and I needed to go to film school and I was an out of state student so therefore the tuition was extremely high and I had to live there two years to become a resident. So I'd go to school part time, network, meet the industry, and work six jobs just to make $30 a week.

Salary

The Big Doll House (1972) - $500 /week

Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women-in-prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award.

Personal life Grier met basketball player Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor in 1969. Early in their relationship, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar proposed to Grier on the condition that she immediately convert to Islam. Grier refused, and he married a different woman that day.

Grier met the comedian Freddie Prinze while promoting her film Coffy in 1973. They began a relationship and considered marriage. Prinze wanted her to have his baby, but she was reluctant due to his history of depression and drug addiction. They remained in touch after their break-up. She was one of the last people Prinze spoke to before he died in 1977.

Grier met the comedian Richard Pryor through her relationship with Prinze; they began dating after they were both cast in 1977's Greased Lightning. She helped Pryor learn to read and tried to extricate him from drug abuse. After six months of sobriety, he relapsed. In her memoir, Grier described how her sexual relationship with Pryor caused cocaine to enter her system. Grier confronted Pryor about protecting her health, but he refused to use a condom. Pryor married Deborah McGuire while dating Grier in 1977.

Grier was formerly romantically linked to Jimmie "Big Wheel" Wheeler, a famous boxing promoter; Soul Train host Don Cornelius; and basketball player Wilt Chamberlain. In 1998, Grier was engaged to RCA Records executive Kevin Evans, but the engagement ended in 1999.

Grier was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in 1988 and was told she had 18 months to live. Through vigorous treatment, she recovered and has since been in remission.

Grier lives on a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

Although she is close with actor and Protestant minister Rosey Grier, she denies the rumor that they are related.