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 - Die Raubkatze (1973) and
Foxy Brown (1974), the comic strip
character Friday Foster - Im Netz der Schwarzen Spinne (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,
Der Schrei des Todes (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'
Das Böse kommt auf leisen Sohlen (1983), then returned to action as
Steven Seagal's partner in
Nico (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),
Undercover - In too Deep (1999) and a funny
performance in Der zuckersüße Tod (1999). She also appeared in
John Carpenter's
Ghosts of Mars (2001) and
co-starred with Snoop Dogg in
Bones - Bis auf die Knochen (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.
