Godspeed Pamela Tiffin

Pamela Tiffin, who appeared in such movies as One, Two, Three (1961) and The Pleasure Seekers (1964), died on December 2 2020 at the age of 78.

Pamela Tiffin was born on October 13 1942 in Oklahoma City. She grew up in the Chicago suburb Oak Lawn, Illinois. By the time she was 13, Miss Tiffin had already begun a modelling career, primarily in print ads and at runway shows. After she and her mother moved to New York City, she attended Hunter College and continued her modelling career.

As to how Pamela Tiffin began her acting career, there are two stories. One is that while vacationing in Hollywood, producer Hal B. Wallis spotted her while she was having lunch with a friend in the Paramount commissary. The other is that director Billy Wilder had seen her in an ad in The New York Times Magazine and was searching for her to cast her in his upcoming film One, Two, Three. He was surprised to learn she had been in Hollywood only a short time earlier.

Pamela Tiffin made her film debut in Summer and Smoke (1961), produced by Hal B. Wallis. That same year she played Scarlett Hazeltine, the spoiled, hot tempered daughter of a Coca-Cola executive. Miss Tiffin would have a thriving career for the next several years, appearing in the movies State Fair (1962), Come Fly with Me (1963), For Those Who Think Young (1964), The Lively Set (1964), The Pleasure Seekers (1964), and The Hallelujah Trail (1965). On television she guest starred on The Fugitive. She appeared in the unsold TV pilot Three on an Island, which aired on Vacation Playhouse in 1965. She then starred in the episodic Italian film Oggi, domani, dopodomani (1965) with Marcello Mastroianni. Afterwards she retuned to the U.S. to appear in the movie Harper (1966) and then on Broadway in Dinner at Eight.

For the remainder of the Sixties, Pamela Tiffin appeared in movies made in Europe, with the exception of the comedy Viva Max! (1969), the TV movie The Last of the Powerseekers, and a guest appearance on the TV show . The films she made in Europe were Delitto quasi perfetto (1966), Straziami ma di baci saziami (1968), and L'arcangelo (1969). 

Miss Tiffin continued to make movies in Italy in the Seventies, appearing in such films as Cose di Cosa Nostra (1971), Il vichingo venuto dal sud (1971), Giornata nera per l'ariete (1971), Los amigos (1972), Amore mio, uccidimi! (1973), La signora è stata violentata (1973), and Brigitte, Laura, Ursula, Monica, Raquel, Litz, Florinda, Barbara, Claudia, e Sofia le chiamo tutte... anima mia (1974). She retired from acting in 1974, making one last appearance in the TV mini-series Quattro storie di donne in 1989.

I sometimes think people know Pamela Tiffin more for her remarkable talent than her considerable talent. I find that sad, as she was incredibly talented. I remember when I first saw her in One, Two, Three when I was a child. Of course, I was struck by how beautiful she was, but I was also impressed by her talent. For a long time I was convinced that she actually was from Georgia. I wouldn't learn she was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Illinois until I was an adult. And at the time I didn't realize that her performance in One, Two, Three was only her second acting job. When it came to acting, Pamela Tiffin was a natural. Indeed, she played a variety of roles in her career. She was an eager teenager in State Fair, the flirty daughter of a millionaire in Harper, the lover of a reporter investigating a string of murders in the giallo Giornata nera per l'ariete, and the prostitute who falls in love with a gunfighter in Los amigos. While Pamela Tiffin's career was brief compared to many stars, she also shined brighter than most of them too.