Pamela Tiffin Wonso was born on October 13, 1942 in
Okalhoma City, Oklahoma and grew up in Chicago, Illinois where she achieved
success as a teen model. She attended Hunter College and moved to New York. She
was discovered by Hollywood producer Hal Wallis having lunch at the Paramount
Pictures studio commissary while on a visit to Los Angeles with her mother and
cast in a film version of the play “Summer and Smoke” by playwright Tennessee
Williams.
Tiffin then starred opposite screen legend James Cagney
in the comedy “One, Two, Three” (1961) directed by Billy Wilder. She won a
Golden Globe nomination for this film as well as for “Summer and Smoke” (1961).
She also did television work, appearing opposite David Janssen in The Fugitive
episode "The Girl from Little Egypt" in 1963.
There were leading roles in the musical “State Fair” and
the comedy “Come Fly with Me”. She co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the
western “The Hallelujah Trail” (1965) and with Paul Newman in the
private-detective film “Harper” in 1966. In 1968, she co-starred with Nino
Manfredi and Ugo Tognazzi in one of the most famous Italian comedies
“Straziami, ma di baci saziami” by Dino Risi.
The February 1969 issue of Playboy did a photo feature
entitled "A Toast to Tiffin". Also in 1969, she co-starred as a
liberal college student and the love interest to Peter Ustinov in the comedy
“Viva Max!”. From 1965 to 1974 she appeared mainly in European exploitation
films including her only Euro-western “Deaf Smith and Johnny Ears” with Franco
Nero and Anthony Quinn, before retiring to be with her family. She appeared as
herself in a 2003 documentary, Abel Ferrara: “Not Guilty”, opposite her
daughter Echo Danon.
Today we celebrate Pamela Tiffin’s 70th
birthday.
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