African American actress Pam Grier is best known for her starring roles in '70s "exploitation" films aimed at black audiences. An "army brat" who grew up on various European military bases and in Denver, Colorado Grier left home for Hollywood at a young age. She found work as a switchboard operator for American International Pictures where she gradually landed supporting roles in low-budget action and exploitation films. In the early '70s she began starring in films, most of which were rowdy, low-budget crowd-pleasers; soon she was a sex symbol and, briefly, the "Queen of 'B'-movies," usually cast as a sexy, foul-mouthed woman of action who carried a gun and resorted to a variety of violent acts to get herself out of dangerous situations. She often disrobed in her films, and furthered her sexy image by posing nude in the magazine Players. For some time she had a large following, and her picture appeared on the covers of such magazines as Ms. and New York. When Grier tried to make more serious films later in the '70s, however, her popularity quickly waned. Nevertheless, she managed to sustain her career through movie and TV work, including an appearance in Posse (1993).
After an all-star blaxploitation reunion in1996's Original Gangstas, Grier found herself in resurgence with roles in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown the following year, and later made appearances in such diverse efforts as Holy Smoke (1999), Snow Day (2000) and John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001). She is the niece of actor and former football star Rosie Grier.
