'', 1997
'''Pamela Suzette Grier''' (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress. She came to fame in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately-successful women-in-prison and blaxploitation films, and has since then recurred in the public spotlight, appearing in a large number of films, including B-movies, and more notably in mainstream films such as the title character in director Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film, ''
Jackie Brown''.
Biography
Early life
Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to African-American parents Clarence Ransom Grier, who served in the United States Air Force, and Gwendolyn Samuels, a homemaker; she has two sisters. Because of her father's military career, Pam's family moved frequently during her childhood, such as living in England, and eventually settling in Denver, Colorado, where Pam attended East High School. While there she appeared in stage productions. Pam participated in beauty contests in order to make money for college tuition.
Career
Pam Grier moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1967, where she was initially hired as a receptionist at the American International Pictures company. She was discovered by director Roger Corman, who cast her in his women in prison films ''
The Big Doll House'' (1971) and ''
The Big Bird Cage'' (1972). She became a staple of the blaxploitation movies of the early 1970s, playing big, bold, buxom, roles, beginning with 1973's ''
Coffy'', in which Pam plays a nurse who seeks revenge on drug dealers; her film character was advertised in the trailer as the "baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town!". The film, which was filled with sexual and violent elements typical of the genre, was successful at the box office, and Grier was noted as the first African American female to headline a film, as previously the protagonists of blaxploitation films had exclusively been male. In his review of ''
Coffy'', film critic Roger Ebert noted that Pam Grier was an actress of "beautiful face and astonishing form" and that she possessed a kind of "physical life" missing from other actresses.
Grier subsequently played similar characters in the films ''
Foxy Brown'' (1974), ''
Friday Foster'', and ''
Sheba, Baby'' (both 1975).
With the demise of blaxploitation, Grier's career went into hiatus for several years. She worked her way into progressively larger character roles in the 1980s, including notably the stoned prostitute in ''
Fort Apache the Bronx'' (1981), a witch in ''
Something Wicked this Way Comes'' (1983), and Steven Seagal's detective partner in ''
Above the Law'' (1988). She became a regular on the hit television detective series ''Miami Vice''
