Pert and pretty Brooklyn-born actress Pamela Duncan made brief movie
news in the 1950s as a "B" level performer and would be best remembered
for her damsel-in-distress participation in two of
Roger Corman's cult turkeys --
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
and The Undead (1957), both
co-starring Richard Garland. She played
a dual role in the latter. Known for her exceptional fresh-faced
beauty, she won several local pageants as a bobbysoxer on her way up.
Deciding to pursue a movie career, she made her debut in
Whistling Hills (1951) and
appeared in small bits for the most part. In addition to her two prime
sci-fi roles, she also enacted the role of Mike Hammer's secretary in
the low-budget film whodunit
Mein Revolver war schneller (1957).
Pamela was also a decorative presence on many major TV programs,
especially westerns, such as
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951),
The Roy Rogers Show (1951),
Rintintin (1954),
Colt .45 (1957),
Am Fuß der Blauen Berge (1959),
Im wilden Westen (1952)
and Maverick (1957). She also
provided pleasant distraction on crime-solving dramas including
Perry Mason (1957),
Peter Gunn (1958),
Mr. Lucky (1959) and
Kein Fall für FBI (1959).
Following her brief "15 minutes" of fame, her career quickly phased out
in the early 60s. Out of touch for decades, she appeared out of nowhere
in the Oscar-nominated documentary
Curtain Call (2000), a documentary
that focused on the lives and careers of the residents of the Lillian
Booth Actors' Fund of America Home in Englewood, New Jersey. She lived
there for the last ten years of her life. The 80-year-old Pamela
suffered a stroke and died at the home on November 11, 2005. She left
no survivors.
