For the author, see Pamela Britton (author).
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Pamela Britton (March 19, 1923 – June 17, 1974) was an actress best known for appearing as "Lorelei Brown" in the television series My Favorite Martian (1963-1966). She also appeared in the film noir classic D.O.A. (1950).
Born Armilda Jane Owen, her mother was Ethel Waite Owen (1893-1997), a prominent stage, radio, and early television actress. Britton's father, Raymond G. Owen, was a doctor who died when the actress was twenty years old. She had two sisters, Virginia, an actress under contract to RKO Radio Pictures and Mary, a social worker.
Pamela attended State Teacher's Normal School and Holy Angels Academy in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taking leads in her school class plays. By the age of nine she was doing summer stock and Hollywood came calling at ten though her mother rejected the advances, saying she wanted her to be an actress, not a child star. Pamela started making the rounds at fifteen using the name Gloria Jane Owen but found that as soon as people knew who her mother was they expected her to be as accomplished as the respected dramatic actress. She chose the name Pamela from a British book and Britton to emphasise the source.
After a stint touring with band-leader Don McGuire, her big break came when she was cast as both Celeste Holm's understudy and "Gertie" in the Broadway singer of Oklahoma!. When the show went on tour she took over Holm's role as "Ado Annie". After her New York agent pushed her credentials to MGM executive Marvin Schneck, he came to see her performance in Chicago. Disappointed on the first night he returned after cajoling from her agent on the second and signed her immediately.
Her first role in a major production was as Frank Sinatra's girlfriend in Anchors Aweigh. However afterwards, a forgettable part in a forgettable film, A Letter for Evie in 1946 disappointed and after three years she went on suspension to play "Meg Brockie" in Brigadoon on Broadway.
She returned to the big screen in Key to the City (which starred Clark Gable) in 1950 and then went on to make by far her most significant film appearance in the classic D.O.A., also in 1950. She made her third film of the year in the Red Skelton-starring Watch the Birdie (1951) although it was 19 years after that until she returned to the big screen. During that period, she portrayed the title role of the TV version of the Chic Young newspaper comic strip, Blondie, for the one season it ran, opposite Arthur Lake as her husband, "Dagwood Bumstead." (Lake had played the role earlier in numerous movie comedies, opposite Penny Singleton in the role of the title character.)
Britton was married on April 8, 1943 to Capt. Arthur Steel after they met on a blind date in Texas arranged by Pamela's sister. After the wedding he was posted to Italy on active service and Britton continued working. They had a daughter Katherine Lee, born on September 8, 1946. After the war Steel worked as an advertising executive and went on to manage the Gene Autry hotels. Britton worked mainly in West Coast theatre while their daughter grew up, reprising her role in Brigadoon in 1954, appearing in Annie Get Your Gun at the Santa Barbara Bowl and then going back to Broadway to replace an ailing Janis Paige in Guys and Dolls.
What is perhaps her signature role began in 1963 and lasted until 1966 as she appeared as nosy landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown in My Favorite Martian. The show also brought her back to MGM. After the series ended she appeared in the eminently forgettable If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) before her final big-screen appearance in another dud, Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came (1970).
In May 1974, while performing on tour with Don Knotts in The Mind with the Dirty Man, Britton began to have headaches. She went to a doctor and two weeks later died of a brain tumor, aged 51.
Pamela Britton is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Pamela Britton
Pamela Britton at the Internet Movie Database
Pamela Britton at Allmovie
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Britton"
Categories: 1923 births | 1974 deaths | American film actors | American musical theatre actors | American singers | American television actors | Deaths from brain cancer | People from Arlington Heights, Illinois | People from Milwaukee, WisconsinHidden category: Articles needing sections
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