Pam Grier

'Pam Grier' (qv) 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' (qv) of New World Pictures launched her with _The Big Doll House (1971)_ (qv), about a women's penitentiary, and _The Big Bird Cage (1972)_ (qv). Her strong role put her into a five-year contract with 'Samuel Z. Arkoff' (qv) of American-International Pictures, and she became a leading lady in action films such as 'Jack Hill' (qv)'s _Coffy (1973)_ (qv) and 'Foxy Brown' (qv) (1974), the comic strip character _Friday Foster (1975)_ (qv) and 'William Girdler' (qv)'s _'Sheba, Baby' (1975)_ (qv). She continued working with American-International, where she portrayed 'William Marshall' (qv)'s vampire victim in the _Blacula (1972)_ (qv) sequel, _Scream Blacula Scream (1973)_ (qv).During the 1980s she became a regular on _Miami Vice (1984)_ (qv) and played a supporting role as an evil witch in 'Ray Bradbury' (qv)'s and Walt Disney Pictures' _Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)_ (qv), then returned to action as 'Steven Seagal' (qv)'s partner in _Above the Law (1988)_ (qv). Her most famous role of the 1990s was probably _Jackie Brown (1997)_ (qv), directed by 'Quentin Tarantino' (qv), which was an homage to her earlier 1970s action roles, She occasionally did supporting roles, as in 'Tim Burton' (qv)'s _Mars Attacks! (1996)_ (qv), _In Too Deep (1999)_ (qv) and a funny performance in _Jawbreaker (1999)_ (qv). She also appeared in 'John Carpenter' (qv)'s _Ghosts of Mars (2001)_ (qv) and co-starred with 'Snoop Dogg' (qv) in _Bones (2001)_ (qv). 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' (qv) and 'Kareem Abdul-Jabbar' (qv) in the past.::John Sacksteder <[email protected]> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)