Grier, Pam (1949–)

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Grier, Pam (1949–)

African-American actress. Born Pamela Suzette Grier, May 26, 1949, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; dau. of Clarence Grier (Air Force mechanic) and Gwendolyn Samuels (nurse); cousin of actor Roosevelt Grier; attended University of California at Los Angeles.

One of the 1st important female action heroes who often played a strong woman out for revenge, made film debut in Roger Corman's The Big Doll House, followed by The Big Bird Cage (both 1971); for AIP, starred in Coffy (1973), Scream Blacula Scream (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster (1975), and Sheba, Baby (1975); on tv, was a regular on "Miami Vice" (1984) and "The L Word" (2004); relaunched career starring in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997); other films include Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Above the Law (1988), Mars Attacks! (1996), In Too Deep (1999), Jawbreaker (1999), Ghosts of Mars (2001) and Bones (2001).

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