Pamela Franklin is a British former actress. She is best known for her role in the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, for which she won a NBR Award and received a BAFTA Award nomination. Franklin made her acting debut at the age of 11 in the film The Innocents. She later established herself as a scream queen in the 70s by appearing in the films Necromancy and The Legend of Hell House.
Early life
Franklin, who had three brothers, was born in Yokohama, Japan, and grew up in the Far East, where her father was an importer/exporter. The family lived in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and Ceylon before returning to England. At the age of eight she was sent to the Elmhurst School of Ballet in the UK.
Early career
Franklin made her film debut at age 11 in The Innocents, and her television debut in the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color's The Horse Without a Head. Franklin played opposite William Holden and Trevor Howard in the British filmThe Lion and co-starred with Luke Halpin in Flipper's New Adventure as a wealthy industrialist's daughter abandoned on a tropical island but saved by Halpin and his pet dolphin Flipper. In 1963, Franklin was voted 10th place for the Laurel Awards Top New Female Personality. She was 14 when she made The Third Secret, in which she played a troubled young daughter. When she was interviewed about the film in 1979, she said that "she and Stephen Boyd had become friends and the warmth on screen was genuine." In 1966 she had a lead role in the BBC TV series Quick Before They Catch Us.
Later career in film and television
Franklin received favourable notices for her portrayal of an unusually worldly teenager in the suspense film The Nanny starring Bette Davis. She also received an Emmy nomination for her supporting role in the TV movie Eagle in a Cage in which she again acted opposite Trevor Howard. She acted with Dirk Bogarde, who played her father in Our Mother's House, a film that was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Not long afterwards, Franklin played opposite Marlon Brando and Rita Moreno in The Night of the Following Day as the kidnap victim in the crime thriller. This was her first "adult" role, with one scene showing her topless. She appeared with Michele Dotrice in the horror thriller And Soon the Darkness, a film that was remade in 2010. For her role as Sandy in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Franklin won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress. In the same year, she starred in the John Huston movie Sinful Davey with a young John Hurt, which was not successful and failed to boost her career. As an adult, Franklin became somewhat typecast in horror films after her performances in the popular occult thrillers Necromancy and The Legend of Hell House opposite Roddy McDowall. This was followed with the television horror movie Satan's School for Girls. Her last film role was in The Food of the Gods, although she made television appearances until 1981, including an episode of Police Story, in which she became physically ill playing a rape victim. Franklin made other television appearances including The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-O, Barnaby Jones, Vega$, and Trapper John, M.D. She gave a memorable performance as the title character in "Jenny Wilde is Drowning," an episode of The Name of the Game, starring Tony Franciosa. Her character was an aspiring actress trying to succeed in Hollywood.
Personal life
Franklin met British actor Harvey Jason, 10 years her senior, on the set of Necromancy. Although the film was not released until 1972, the couple married in 1970 and settled near Hollywood and had two sons. Her husband, along with one of their sons, Louis, co-owns the bookstore in West Hollywood. On the commentary track for the 2014 Region A Blu-ray release of The Legend of Hell House released by Scream Factory, Franklin admits she was pregnant with her second child whilst filming Food of the Gods and she was ready for a change of career although she enjoyed making the film and living on the island location. She also claimed working in television in the United States was a mistake at the time as it limited her career as producers only saw her as a TV actor from then on.
