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Word Character: Kit Porter
Born: 26th May 1949, Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, USA
Extras: Gallery
Biography:
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 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 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
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 was 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), she 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
More recently, she appeared in John Carpenter's Ghosts of
Mars (2001) and co-starred with Snoop Dogg in Bones (2001).
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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