Pam Grier

Actresses

Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress. She achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s women in prison and blaxploitation films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures, most notably Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). Her other films during this period include The Big Doll House (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).

Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema’s first female action star, she starred as the titular character in Tarantino’s crime film Jackie Brown (1997), alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro; for which she received a Satellite Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

For six seasons, Grier portrayed Kate “Kit” Porter on the Showtime television series The L Word, which ran from 2004 until 2009. She received an Emmy nomination for her work in the animated program Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. She has also been nominated for a SAG Award.

Other notable films include Fort Apache: The Bronx (1981), with Paul Newman, Ed Asner, Danny Aiello, and Kathleen Beller; The Class of 1999 (1990), with Stacey Keach and Malcolm McDowell; Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), with Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, and George Carlin; John Carpenter‘s Escape from L.A. (1996), with Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Keach, Peter Fonda, and Bruce Campbell; Tim Burton‘s Mars Attacks! (1996), with Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie Smith, and Sylvia Sidney; Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke! (1999), with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel; and Poms (2019), with Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Celia Weston, Alisha Boe, Phyllis Somerville, Charlie Tahan, Bruce McGill, and Rhea Perlman.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) – directed by Russ Meyer
  • The Big Doll House (1971) – directed by Jack Hill
  • Women in Cages (1971) – directed by Gerardo de León
  • The Twilight People (1972) – directed by Eddie Romero
  • Cool Breeze (1972) – directed by Barry Pollack
  • The Big Bird Cage (1972) – directed by Jack Hill
  • Hit Man (1972) – directed by George Armitage
  • Black Mama White Mama (1973) – directed by Eddie Romero
  • Coffy (1973) – directed by Jack Hill
  • Scream Blacula Scream (1973) – directed by Bob Kelljan
  • The Arena (1974) – directed by Steve Carver
  • Foxy Brown (1974) – directed by Jack Hill
  • Sheba, Baby (1975) – directed by William Girdler
  • Bucktown (1975) – directed by Arthur Marks
  • Friday Foster (1975) – directed by Arthur Marks
  • Drum (1976) – directed by Steve Carver
  • Greased Lightning (1977) – directed by Michael Schultz
  • Twilight of Love (1977) – directed by Luigi Scattini
  • Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) – directed by Daniel Petrie
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) – directed by Jack Clayton
  • Tough Enough (1983) – directed by Richard Fleischer
  • Stand Alone (1985) – directed by Alan Beattie
  • The Vindicator (1986) – directed by Jean-Claude Lord
  • On the Edge (1986) – directed by Rob Nilsson
  • The Allnighter (1987) – directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs
  • Above the Law (1988) – directed by Andrew Davis
  • The Package (1989) – directed by Andrew Davis
  • Class of 1999 (1990) – directed by Mark L. Lester
  • Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – directed by Peter Hewitt
  • Posse (1993) – directed by Mario Van Peebles
  • Original Gangstas (1996) – directed by Larry Cohen
  • Escape from L.A. (1996) – directed by John Carpenter
  • Mars Attacks! (1996)* – directed by Tim Burton
  • Fakin’ da Funk (1997) – directed by Timothy Chey
  • Jackie Brown (1997)** – directed by Quentin Tarantino
  • No Tomorrow (1999) – directed by Master P
  • Jawbreaker (1999) – directed by Darren Stein
  • In Too Deep (1999) – directed by Michael Rymer
  • Holy Smoke! (1999) – directed by Jane Campion
  • Snow Day (2000)* – directed by Chris Koch
  • Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000) – directed by Geoff Murphy
  • Wilder (2000) – directed by Rodney Gibbons – aka Slow Burn
  • Ghosts of Mars (2001) – directed by John Carpenter
  • Bones (2001) – directed by Ernest Dickerson
  • Love the Hard Way (2001) – directed by Peter Sehr
  • The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) – directed by Ron Underwood
  • Back in the Day (2005) – directed by James Hunter
  • The Invited (2010) – directed by Ryan McKinney
  • Just Wright (2010) – directed by Sanaa Hamri
  • Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) – directed by Mark Hartley – documentary
  • Larry Crowne (2011) – directed by Tom Hanks
  • Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) – directed by Alex Stapelton – documentary
  • Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day (2012) – directed by Neema Barnette
  • Mafia (2012) – directed by Ryan Combs
  • The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)* – directed by RZA
  • Bad Grandmas (2017) – directed by Srikant Chellappa
  • Being Rose (2017) – directed by Rod McCall
  • Poms (2019) – directed by Zara Hayes
  • A Christmas Wish (2019) – directed by Emily Moss Wilson – TV movie