Biography
Pam Grier came into the world on May 26, 1949, in Winston-Salem, NC, and soon earned recognition as the leading figure of 1970s blaxploitation cinema. An Air Force mechanic’s daughter, she spent her childhood on military installations throughout England and Germany. Once the family relocated to Denver, CO, during her teenage years, Grier competed in the Miss Colorado Universe pageant at eighteen and finished as first runner-up, drawing the notice of agent David Baumgarten, who offered her a contract. After moving to Los Angeles she faced repeated setbacks while trying to launch an acting career and took a job operating the switchboard at Roger Corman’s American International Pictures. Corman eventually helped her reach the screen in Russ Meyer’s 1970 cult favorite Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, after which she appeared in Jack Hill’s low-budget 1971 feature The Big Doll House.
She remained largely unseen in a string of exploitation pictures that included the 1971 release Women in Cages and the 1973 production Arena, also known as Naked Warriors, until Hill cast her in the lead of his 1973 action film Coffy. In that story she portrayed a nurse exacting revenge on the drug traffickers who had driven her sister into heroin addiction, instantly elevating her to prominence within the blaxploitation cycle of action-adventure movies created expressly for African-American viewers. Her performance as the 1974 superheroine Foxy Brown turned her into a lasting cult icon whose character’s self-reliance, direct manner, and assertive presence resonated with both Black audiences and feminist admirers. At the height of her fame she graced the covers of Ms. and New York magazines, while the provocative nature of her roles also established her as a sex symbol, leading her to pose nude for the men’s publication Players.
Further starring vehicles as detective Sheba Shayne in the 1975 picture Sheba, Baby and as the investigative journalist in Friday Foster increased her public profile, yet concern over being pigeonholed prompted her to take a supporting part opposite Richard Pryor in the 1977 biographical racing drama Greased Lightning. Four years passed before she returned to the screen, earning praise in 1981 for her portrayal of a homicidal prostitute in Fort Apache, The Bronx. Few substantial offers followed, so she filled much of the decade with television appearances and direct-to-cable movies. A prominent role in Steven Seagal’s 1988 hit Above the Law signaled the start of renewed momentum, and after appearing in 1993’s Posse she joined fellow genre veterans Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson in the 1996 throwback Original Gangstas. Her resurgence reached full circle in 1997 when she received the title role in Jackie Brown, a part written specifically for her by longtime admirer and director Quentin Tarantino.
She remained largely unseen in a string of exploitation pictures that included the 1971 release Women in Cages and the 1973 production Arena, also known as Naked Warriors, until Hill cast her in the lead of his 1973 action film Coffy. In that story she portrayed a nurse exacting revenge on the drug traffickers who had driven her sister into heroin addiction, instantly elevating her to prominence within the blaxploitation cycle of action-adventure movies created expressly for African-American viewers. Her performance as the 1974 superheroine Foxy Brown turned her into a lasting cult icon whose character’s self-reliance, direct manner, and assertive presence resonated with both Black audiences and feminist admirers. At the height of her fame she graced the covers of Ms. and New York magazines, while the provocative nature of her roles also established her as a sex symbol, leading her to pose nude for the men’s publication Players.
Further starring vehicles as detective Sheba Shayne in the 1975 picture Sheba, Baby and as the investigative journalist in Friday Foster increased her public profile, yet concern over being pigeonholed prompted her to take a supporting part opposite Richard Pryor in the 1977 biographical racing drama Greased Lightning. Four years passed before she returned to the screen, earning praise in 1981 for her portrayal of a homicidal prostitute in Fort Apache, The Bronx. Few substantial offers followed, so she filled much of the decade with television appearances and direct-to-cable movies. A prominent role in Steven Seagal’s 1988 hit Above the Law signaled the start of renewed momentum, and after appearing in 1993’s Posse she joined fellow genre veterans Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson in the 1996 throwback Original Gangstas. Her resurgence reached full circle in 1997 when she received the title role in Jackie Brown, a part written specifically for her by longtime admirer and director Quentin Tarantino.