Pam Grier

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 Jack Hill’s Coffy (1973), with Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott, Allan Arbus, and Sid Haig; and Foxy Brown (1974), with Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, and Harry Holcombe.

Her other notable films during this period include The Big Doll House (1971), with Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Brooke Mills, Pat Woodell, and Haig; The Big Bird Cage (1972), with Haig, Anitra Ford, and Carol Speed; Black Mama, White Mama (1973), with Margaret Markov, Haig, Lynn Borden, Zaldy Zshornack, and Laurie Burton; Scream Blacula Scream (1973), with William H. Marshall, Don Mitchell, Michael Conrad, Bernie Hamilton, and Richard Lawson; The Arena (1974), with Markov; Sheba, Baby (1975), with Austin Stoker; Bucktown (1975), Fred Williamson, Thalmus Rasulala, and Tom King; and Friday Foster (1975), with Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Scatman Crothers, Ted Lange, and Carl Weathers.

Films in the 1980s include Fort Apache: The Bronx (1981), with Paul Newman, Ed Asner, Danny Aiello, and Kathleen Beller; Richard Fleischer’s Tough Enough (1983), with Dennis Quaid, Stan Shaw, Carlene Watkins, and Warren Oates; Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), with Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, Diane Ladd, and Royal Dano; Stand Alone (1985), with Charles Durning and James Keach; The Vindicator (1986), with David McIlwraith, Teri Austin, Richard Cox, and Maury Chaykin; On the Edge (1986), with Bruce Dern, Bill Bailey, Jim Haynie, John Marley, and Marty Liquori; The Allnighter (1987), with Susanna Hoffs, Dedee Pfeiffer, Joan Cusack, James Anthony Shanta, John Terlesky, and Michael Ontkean; Above the Law (1988), with Steven Seagal, Sharon Stone, Ron Dean, and Henry Silva; and The Package (1989), with Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, Tommy Lee Jones, John Heard, Dennis Franz, and Reni Santoni.

Films in the 1990s include 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; Posse (1993), with Stephen Baldwin, Richard Gant, Richard Jordan, Big Daddy Kane, Charles Lane, Tiny Lister, Tone Lōc, Salli Richardson, Blair Underwood, Mario Van Peebles (who also directed), Robert Hooks, Reginald VelJohnson, and Billy Zane; Larry Cohen’s Original Gangstas (1996), with Williamson, Jim Brown, Paul Winfield, Isabel Sanford, Ron O’Neal, Richard Roundtree, Robert Forster, Charles Napier, and Wings Hauser; John Carpenter‘s Escape from L.A. (1996), with Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Keach, Peter Fonda, and Bruce Campbell; and 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.

She had a resurgence in popularity after starring in Quentin Tarantino’s 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. Other films from the late 1990s include Fakin’ Da Funk (1997), with Ernie Hudson, Dante Basco, Tone Loc, Margaret Cho, John Witherspoon, Kelly Hu, Nell Carter, Rudy Ray Moore, and Tatyana Ali; Jawbreaker (1999), with Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, Judy Greer, Chad Christ, Ethan Erickson, and Carol Kane; No Tomorrow (1999), with Gary Busey; In Too Deep (1999), with Omar Epps, LL Cool J, Nia Long, Stanley Tucci, and Hill Harper; and Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke! (1999), with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel.

Films in the 2000s include Snow Day (2000), with Chris Elliott, Mark Webber, Jean Smart, Chevy Chase, Schuyler Fisk, Zena Grey, Josh Peck, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and David Paetkau; Wilder (2000), with Rutger Hauer; Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000), with Christopher Lambert, Nick Brimble, Will Garson, and Yuji Okumoto; 3 A.M. (2001), with Danny Glover, Sergej Trifunović, and Michelle Rodriguez; Love the Hard Way (2001), with Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna; Ghosts of Mars (2001), with Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Clea DuVall, Robert Carradine, and Joanna Cassidy; Bones (2001), with Snoop Dogg, Khalil Kain, Clifton Powell, Bianca Lawson, and Michael T. Weiss; The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2003), with Eddie Murphy, Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzmán, James Rebhorn, Peter Boyle, and John Cleese; and Back in the Day (2005), with Ja Rule, Ving Rhames, Giancarlo Esposito, Joe Morton, Frank Langella, and Tia Carrera.

Films in the 2010s include Just Wright (2010), with Queen Latifah, Common, and Paula Patton; Larry Crowne (2011), with Tom Hanks (who also directed), Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Wilmer Valderrama; Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day (2012), with Blair Underwood, Sharon Leal, Nicole Beharie and Clyde R Jones; The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), with RZA (who also directed), Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Dave Bautista, and Jamie Chung; Bad Grandmas (2017), with Judge Reinhold, Florence Henderson, and Randall Batinkoff; Being Rose (2017), with Cybill Shepherd and James Brolin; and Poms (2019), with Diane Keaton, Jacki Weaver, Celia Weston, Alisha Boe, Phyllis Somerville, Charlie Tahan, Bruce McGill, and Rhea Perlman.

Films in the 2020s include As We Know It (2023), with Mike Castle, Oliver Cooper, Taylor Blackwell, and Chris Parnell; Cinnamon (2023), with Hailey Kilgore, David Iacono, Jeramie Harris, and Damon Wayans; Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023), with Jackson White, Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Henry Thomas, Natalie Alyn Lind, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Samantha Mathis, and David Duchovny.

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.

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
As We Know It (2023) – directed by Josh Monkarsh
Cinnamon (2023) – directed by Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) – directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer

Share this: