Butt-kicking Pam Grier never far from the action
WASHINGTON Even at 68, Pam Grier looks like she can still kick butt.
And the looks don’t deceive, Grier said.
While having never played a superhero, “I’m super in real life,” said Grier, smiling and flicking back some of her flowing hair.
Grier is still going strong in an almost 50-year film and television career. In a recent interview, she discussed some of the changes in Hollywood and the return of the female action movie star.
“I don’t know why people were surprised at the success of Wonder Woman,” said Grier, star of gritty 1970s action movies such as Foxy Brown, Coffy, Black Mama/White Mama, and others.
Women like Grier and Angie Dickinson paved the way for current female action stars like Gal Gadot and Charlize Theron, and a new wave of black female stars such as Taraji P. Henson in her upcoming Proud Mary and Meagan Good, who is remaking Grier’s classic Foxy Brown.
“I applaud them, I want them to succeed,” Grier said. “I started it. I don’t want them to fail.”
But being an action star has its cost: Grier said she hurt herself numerous times doing stunts, including filming Coffy.
“I almost broke my ankle,” she said. “They painted my cast to look like a boot, and I’m limping. And I was ‘Does this look good?’ It looks good.”
Luckily today’s actors have stunt doubles and better equipment, Grier said.
When asked about the difference between doing action today and back during her day, she laughed and said: “Sports bras.”
Grier was honoured in Washington, D.C. recently at the annual Salute Her: Beauty of Diversity Awards Luncheon.