Pamela Salem
Encyclopedia
Pamela Salem is a British
film
and television
actress.
She was born in Bombay, India
, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany
and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London
, England
. She is best-remembered on television for her co-starring role in the early 1980s ITV
children's fantasy series Into the Labyrinth
as the evil witch Belor, and her late 1980s guest role in the BBC's popular soap opera EastEnders
as shady mafia affiliate Joanne Francis
. She has also been seen in two separate adventures of the BBC's long-running science-fiction series
Doctor Who
: as Toos in The Robots of Death
(1977) and as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks
(1988). She was also heard as one of the many voices of Xoanon in The Face of Evil
(1976). She had previously auditioned for the role of the Fourth Doctor
's companion
Leela
, but the role eventually went to Louise Jameson
instead. Salem also had a recurring role in the British sitcom French Fields
between 1989-91.
Other television guest appearances have included roles in popular British series such as Out of the Unknown
, Blake's 7
, The Onedin Line
, The Professionals
, Howards' Way
, Ever Decreasing Circles
and All Creatures Great and Small, and more recently in American
series including Magnum, P.I.
, Party of Five
, ER
, and The West Wing
where she played a British prime minister.
In film, she played the role of Miss Moneypenny
in the 'unofficial' 1983 James Bond
film Never Say Never Again
, starring Sean Connery
. She also appeared in Michael Crichton
's The Great Train Robbery (1979, another film which also starred Connery), as well as supporting roles in The Bitch
(1979) and Gods and Monsters
(1998).
She can also be heard as the Queen in the English dub of "Hellsing
Ultimate OVA IV" (2008).
She is married to the actor Michael O'Hagan, and they currently live in Los Angeles.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress.
She was born in Bombay, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. She is best-remembered on television for her co-starring role in the early 1980s ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
children's fantasy series Into the Labyrinth
Into the Labyrinth (TV series)
Into the Labyrinth is a British children's television series produced by HTV for the ITV network between 1980 and 1982. Three series, each consisting of seven 25-minute episodes, were produced and directed by Peter Graham Scott...
as the evil witch Belor, and her late 1980s guest role in the BBC's popular soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
as shady mafia affiliate Joanne Francis
Joanne Francis
Joanne Francis is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Pamela Salem. She appeared on screen between 16 June 1988 and 3 January 1989.-Storylines :Joanne was first seen in Albert Square in June 1988...
. She has also been seen in two separate adventures of the BBC's long-running science-fiction series
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: as Toos in The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death
The Robots of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 January to 19 February 1977.-Synopsis:...
(1977) and as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
(1988). She was also heard as one of the many voices of Xoanon in The Face of Evil
The Face of Evil
The Face of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This serial starred Tom Baker as the Doctor and was the fourth story in Series 14 of Doctor Who. First broadcast in four weekly parts from January 1 to January 22, 1977...
(1976). She had previously auditioned for the role of the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
's companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Leela
Leela (Doctor Who)
Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978...
, but the role eventually went to Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
instead. Salem also had a recurring role in the British sitcom French Fields
French Fields
French Fields is a British situation comedy. It ran for 19 episodes from 1989-1991. It was written by John T. Chapman and Ian Davidson and was produced by Thames Television for ITV....
between 1989-91.
Other television guest appearances have included roles in popular British series such as Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown
Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was an independent dramatisation of a separate science fiction short story...
, Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
, The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham.The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin...
, The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
, Howards' Way
Howards' Way
Howards' Way is a television drama series produced by BBC Birmingham and transmitted on BBC One between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the yachting and business communities in the fictional town of Tarrant on the South Coast of...
, Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles is a British situation comedy which ran on BBC1 for four series from 1984 to 1989.It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and reunited them with Richard Briers, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies,...
and All Creatures Great and Small, and more recently in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
series including Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
, Party of Five
Party of Five
Party of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation...
, ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, and The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
where she played a British prime minister.
In film, she played the role of Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny
Jane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service...
in the 'unofficial' 1983 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
, starring Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
. She also appeared in Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
's The Great Train Robbery (1979, another film which also starred Connery), as well as supporting roles in The Bitch
The Bitch (film)
The Bitch is a British film released in 1979. It is a sequel to The Stud , and both films were based on novels by British author Jackie Collins. Like its predecessor, the film starred her sister, Joan Collins, as Fontaine Khaled.-Plot:...
(1979) and Gods and Monsters
Gods and Monsters
Gods and Monsters is a 1998 drama film that recounts the last days of the life of troubled film director James Whale, whose homosexuality is a central theme. It stars Ian McKellen as Whale, along with Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, and David Dukes...
(1998).
She can also be heard as the Queen in the English dub of "Hellsing
Hellsing
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in...
Ultimate OVA IV" (2008).
She is married to the actor Michael O'Hagan, and they currently live in Los Angeles.
External links
- Official website for her Salem K theatre company (Inaugural productions 2008)
- Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire, September 2005