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Pam Grier: Still Foxy at 70

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The iconic actress, who was neither a racial role model nor simple stereotype, turned 70 years-old today. Her characters fused feminist sensibilities, Black Nationalist radicalism, and vigilante justice.

Grier’s legacy is greater than the number of references in popular culture. 

Grier and Snoop Dog in Bones.

Grier, said NPR, “belongs in the pantheon of radical 1970s film stars responsible for the shift away from women as passive sexual objects to women working as active subjects propelling the narrative. The crossover success of her public persona demonstrates that she’s one of the definitive icons of 70s zeitgeist.”

Grier in Quentin Taratino’s Jackie Brown.

And now a Pam Grier biopic is in the works.

Director Ava DuVernay is a fan of Grier.

Grier confirmed to Deadline that the film, tentatively titled Pam, will bring her life story to the big screen and follow the various relationships she discussed in her memoir, including her romance with comedian Richard Pryor. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Pharoah has already been picked to portray Pryor. 

Pam Grier and Richard Pryor in Greased Lightning.

Among the high-profile men she dated in her life—which included Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Freddie Prinze, Don Cornelius, and Walt Chamberlain—it was Pryor who was Grier’s greatest love.

Grier tweeted her love back at her fans.

Grier, who wrote about her relationship with the comedian in her book Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, told Deadline that she thought Pharoah was the perfect person to play Pryor. 

“I watched him and heard his voice and closed my eyes and said, ‘It’s Richard [Pryor],’” she said.

Pharoah, who read a script by Bennie Richburg, told Deadline that the story is “heartbreaking, raw, honest and beautiful, all rolled into one testimony.”

We can’t think of a better present.

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