PAMELA TIFFIN |
With the decline of the studio system in
the late 1950s, several movies featured
unknown actresses in token female
roles. Yet while these actresses were
nominally in star parts, more often than
not their careers did not last long. In
some cases, the actress disappeared
after only one movie. Other actresses
made several films, sometimes receiving
considerable publicity, and seemed to be
building solid careers, then suddenly
vanished.
No-one exemplifies this more than Pamela Tiffin, one of the most promising young actresses in the early 1960s, who abandoned her career after ten years. Always an attractive screen presence, Pamela Tiffin was an extremely pretty young woman, verging on beauty, with a slim figure and shapely legs whose photographs appeared constantly in magazines and newspapers until 1967.
She was born as Pamela Wonso, the daughter of an architect, in October 1942 in Oklahoma City. Pamela grew up in Chicago and became a model while still in her teens. To further her career she moved to New York where she achieved considerable success.
When visiting California, Pamela met producer Hal Wallis who gave her a role in "Summer And Smoke", based on the play by Tennessee Williams. Despite having no acting experience, Pamela received good notices. She was immediately rewarded with a key role opposite James Cagney in "One, Two, Three", a Billy Wilder movie. Again her performance was admired, and Billy Wilder spoke highly of Pamela to journalists.
20th Century Fox signed Pamela to a contact and cast her in the re-make of "State Fair", which for years has been difficult to see even though the soporific 1945 version has long been available on DVD. (Fox has now annnounced they will be issuing both versions on a special "60th Anniversary" DVD.)
After
playing a virtuous innocent in "Come Fly
With Me", Pamela was given similar parts in
her next three movies. In "The Lively Set" Pamela played the loyal,
supportive girlfriend of motor designer
James Darren. James Darren again pursued
her in "For Those Who Think Young", an
attempt to cash in on the 'beach' movies
craze. Pamela played her part well, in love
with her boyfriend but concerned to protect
her virtue, and avoided making the character
irritating.
Fox then cast her in "The Pleasure Seekers", a re-make of "Three Coins In The Fountain", transplanted to Madrid. Director Jean Negulesco, a legendary ladies man, ensured that Pamela was shown to advantage. Not only was she photographed more attractively than either of her two co-stars, but was also given two scenes without a skirt, allowing the audience to scrutinise Pamela's elegant legs. Again she played a virginal innocent, fooled by the sales pitch of a rich Spanish playboy, superbly acted by Anthony Franciosa. Of the three female leads - the others are Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley - only Pamela's performance was preferable to its counterpart in the earlier movie. She was by far the most likeable of the three, by far the most promising candidate for success.
During this period, photographs of Pamela appeared in publications all over the world. Pamela has since said that she had no-one to guide her career, but clearly someone at this stage was supplying the world's press with her pictures.
In 1965 John Sturges, a brilliant action director, had the eccentric notion that he could direct a comedy despite never having shown lightness of touch in previous movies. Sturges cast Pamela in "The Hallelujah Trail", a long and unfunny film which was her first real failure.
The following year, Pamela won a small but
important part in "Harper" (a.k.a "The Moving
Target"). Playing a rich man's daughter adored by a man "old
enough to be her grandfather" (Arthur Hill) while in turn nursing
an unrequited love for her chauffeur (Robert
Wagner), Pamela gained more personal publicity
than the other members of the stellar cast. Her dancing in a bikini on a diving board remains one of
the most memorable moments in a slick but empty movie.
At this point Pamela seemed poised to make the big breakthrough. Instead she went to Italy, originally
to make a film, but later to get away from an unhappy marriage. While the move may have helped
her private life, Pamela's Hollywood career came to a dead stop. None of the films Pamela
made in
Italy has been given a general release in English speaking countries.
More damagingly, while in Italy Pamela was tricked into allowing some indiscreet test photographs to be taken of her which were then sold to "Playboy" magazine without Pamela's knowledge or consent. Being test photographs of low quality, both technically and artistically, they are the most unflattering pictures of a movie star ever to appear in "Playboy", and probably reduced rather than increased interest in Pamela Tiffin.
Pamela continued to make films in Italy until 1974, when she married again and retired to bring up her two daughters.