Pam Grier
Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Described by many as cinema's first female action star,[2] 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.
Pam Grier
Actress, singer
1970–present
Grier came to prominence with her titular roles in the films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974); her other major films during this period included The Big Doll House (1971), Women in Cages (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972), Black Mama White Mama (1973), Scream Blacula Scream (1973), The Arena (1974), Sheba, Baby (1975), Bucktown (1975) and Friday Foster (1975). She portrayed the title character in Tarantino's crime film Jackie Brown (1997), nearly three decades after her first starring role. Grier also appeared in Escape from L.A. (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), Jawbreaker (1999), Holy Smoke!, (1999), Bones (2001), Just Wright (2010), Larry Crowne (2011) and Poms (2019).
On television, Grier portrayed Eleanor Winthrop in the Showtime comedy-drama series Linc's (1998–2000), Kate "Kit" Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word (2004–2009), and Constance Terry in the ABC sitcom Bless This Mess (2019–2020). She received praise for her work in the animated series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1999).
IndieWire named Grier one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.[3][4]
Early life[edit]
Grier was born on May 26, 1949, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the daughter of Gwendolyn Sylvia (née Samuels), a homemaker and nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr., who worked as a mechanic and technical sergeant in the United States Air Force. She has one sister and one brother.[5] Grier said she is of Black, Hispanic, Chinese, Italian, Filipino, and Cheyenne heritage.[6] She was raised Catholic and later baptized as a Methodist.[7]
Because of her father's military career, the family moved frequently during Grier's childhood. In 1956, they moved to Swindon in South West England, United Kingdom, where her father worked on an air force base.[8] By Grier's account, hers was one of the only Black families in town, though she recalled that they faced no racism or segregation compared to that in the United States: "They didn't care that I was Black since they hadn't been raised to hate Blacks. Instead, they'd been raised to hate Germans... In the U.S., especially in the South, we were never able to get buses to stop for us, we couldn't eat in certain restaurants, couldn't use certain bathrooms. Up until 1969, there were department stores in which my father and I weren't even allowed to try on clothing."[8][9]
The family returned to the United States in 1958, when Grier's father was transferred to California's Travis Air Force Base, eventually settling in Denver, Colorado, near Lowry Air Force Base.[10] Grier spent part of her upbringing on her maternal grandparents' sugar beet farm in rural Wyoming, where their ancestors had homesteaded after fleeing west via the Underground Railroad to escape slavery.[11] Grier attended East High School in Denver, and appeared in a number of stage productions, as well as participating in beauty contests to raise money for college tuition at Metropolitan State College.
Personal life[edit]
Grier met basketball player Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor in 1969.[24] 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.[25] Grier refused, and he married a different woman that day.[26][27]
Grier met the comedian Freddie Prinze while promoting her film Coffy in 1973. They began a relationship and considered marriage.[26][27][28] Prinze wanted her to have his baby, but she was reluctant due to his history of depression and drug addiction.[17][29] They remained in touch after their break-up. She was one of the last people Prinze spoke to before he died in 1977.[22]
Grier met the comedian Richard Pryor through her relationship with Prinze; they began dating after they were both cast in 1977's Greased Lightning.[26] She helped Pryor learn to read and tried to extricate him from drug abuse.[22][17] After six months of sobriety, he relapsed.[26] 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.[29] Pryor married Deborah McGuire while dating Grier in 1977.[30]
Grier was formerly romantically linked to Jimmie "Big Wheel" Wheeler, a famous boxing promoter; Soul Train host Don Cornelius;[31] and basketball player Wilt Chamberlain.[32] In 1998, Grier was engaged to RCA Records executive Kevin Evans, but the engagement ended in 1999.[33]
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.[34]
Grier lives on a ranch in Colorado.[35]
Albeit she is close with actor and Protestant minister Rosey Grier, she denies the rumor that they are related.[36]
Honors and awards[edit]
For her the culture-shaping effect of cultural contributions made throughout her career,[37] Pam Grier was recognized with a lifetime achievement award at the 2024 Toronto Black Film Festival.[38]
For Valentine's Day 2024, Quentin Tarentino paid homage to Pam Grier with the opening of a Los Feliz coffee shop carrying the namesake of the 1973 American-culture-shaping character famously portrayed by Grier for Coffy.[39]