Pamela Tiffin

Pamela Tiffin Wonso (October 13, 1942 – December 2, 2020), better known as Pamela Tiffin, was an American film and television actress.

Pamela Tiffin
Tiffin in 1965
Born
Pamela Tiffin Wonso

(1942-10-13)October 13, 1942
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 2020(2020-12-02) (aged 78)
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1960–1989
Spouse(s)
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1962; div. 1969)​
  • Edmondo Danon
    ​
    (m. 1974)​
Children2

Early life

Tiffin was born in Oklahoma City to Stanley Wonso and Grace Irene (Tiffin) Wonso[1] of Russian and British ancestry,[2] but grew up in suburban Chicago, where she achieved success as a teen model. She attended Hunter College and appeared in a short film, Music of Williamsburg (1960).[3]

Hollywood career

Tiffin was vacationing in Hollywood when she visited the Paramount Pictures lot at the age 19 years old. She was spotted by producer Hal B. Wallis, who had her screen tested. This led to her being cast in the film version of Summer and Smoke (1961).[4]

She then played the daughter of James Cagney's boss in the comedy One, Two, Three (1961), directed by Billy Wilder who called her "the biggest find since Audrey Hepburn".[5] She earned a Golden Globe nomination for this film as well as one for Summer and Smoke.[6]

20th Century Fox gave her the leading role in the musical State Fair (1962), a remake of an earlier film, where she was romanced by Bobby Darin and directed by José Ferrer.[7] She was one of the three leads in MGM's comedy Come Fly with Me (1963).

Tiffin studied at Columbia and continued to model. She guest starred on The Fugitive and filmed a pilot for Fox, Three in Manhattan, that was not picked up.[8][5]

She made two films with James Darren, both aimed at teen audiences: For Those Who Think Young (1964) and The Lively Set (1964).[9] Fox put her in another remake, The Pleasure Seekers (1964), a new version of Three Coins in the Fountain.

She co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the 1965 western The Hallelujah Trail and went to Italy where she appeared in a segment of Kiss the Other Sheik (1965) with Marcello Mastroianni. She returned to make the private-detective film Harper (1966) with Paul Newman. She then performed in Dinner at Eight on Broadway.[10]

Italy
Tiffin in 1971 on the set of Italian giallo movie The Fifth Cord

In 1967, Tiffin decided to move to Italy "to find out what I want".[3] She appeared in The Almost Perfect Crime (1966) with Philippe Leroy; The Protagonists (1968); Torture Me But Kill Me with Kisses (1968), a hugely popular comedy; and The Archangel (1969) with Vittorio Gassman.[11][3]

The February 1969 issue of Playboy did a photo feature titled "A Toast to Tiffin".

She made her first American film in two years when she played a liberal college student and the love interest to Peter Ustinov in the comedy Viva Max! (1969). She performed Uncle Vanya on stage and was in an episode of The Survivors.[3]

Tiffin returned to Italy to appear in Cose di Cosa Nostra (1971), No One Will Notice You're Naked (1971), The Fifth Cord (aka Evil Fingers) (1971), E se per caso una mattina... (1972), Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears (1973), Kill Me, My Love! (1973) with Farley Granger, La signora è stata violentata (1973), and Brigitte, Laura, Ursula, Monica, Raquel, Litz, Florinda, Barbara, Claudia, e Sofia le chiamo tutte... anima mia (1974). She returned to Hollywood briefly to appear in the TV movie The Last of the Powerseekers (1971).

She appeared as herself in a 2003 documentary, Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty, opposite her daughter Echo Danon.

She released a memoir, Daring: My Passages with Gail Sheehy in 2014 and a biography of her life, Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, was written by Tom Lisanti in 2015.

Personal life

Pamela Tiffin married twice. Her first marriage was to Clay Felker, an American magazine editor, whom she married in 1962 and divorced in 1969.[12] Her second marriage was to Edmondo Danon, a philosopher, who is a son of the Italian movie producer Marcello Danon. They married in 1974 and had two daughters, Echo and Aurora.

Tiffin died on December 2, 2020, in a Manhattan hospital, at the age of 78.[13] The cause of death was not disclosed.[14]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Title of work Result
1962 Golden Globe Most Promising Female Newcomer Summer and Smoke Nominated
1962 Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress One, Two, Three Nominated
1962 Laurel Award Top Female New Personality Nominated
1967 Theatre World Award Dinner at Eight Won

References
  1. Gates, Anita (2020-12-06). "Pamela Tiffin, Movie Star Who Shone Brightly but Briefly, Dies at 78". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  2. Pamela Tiffin Wonso
  3. ABA, MARIKA (July 6, 1969). "Pamela Tiffin---American Sex Queen in Exile". Los Angeles Times. p. l15.
  4. Hopper, Hedda (July 18, 1961). "Entertainment: Pamela Tiffin New Film Cinderella 18-Year-Old Model in Third Picture, Sought for More". Los Angeles Times. p. C6.
  5. Hopper, Hedda (Feb 9, 1964). "UNDER HEDDA'S HAT: Pamela Tiffin, a onetime teen model from Chicago, after scoring a success thru films in Hollywood, is working on a television series about Manhattan. When you're pushing 22, what's left?". Chicago Tribune. p. h12.
  6. "Tiffin Is Movies' New Cup of Tea". Los Angeles Times. Jan 14, 1962. p. B4.
  7. MURRAY SCHUMACH (July 18, 1961). "JOSE FERRER ENDS LONG FILM FAMINE: Actor-Director in deal With Fox, Explains 4-Year Lapse". New York Times. p. 33.
  8. Pauley, Gay (Dec 19, 1963). "Ex-Tribunite, Too: Pamela Tiffin a Busy Actress, Model, Student and Housewife". Chicago Tribune. p. f1.
  9. Scheuer, P. K. (Mar 7, 1963). "Kubrick's sellers takes four parts". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 168347895.
  10. "THE ALVIN TO GET 'DINNER AT EIGHT'". New York Times. July 21, 1966. p. 20.
  11. Masolino D'Amico (2008). La commedia all'italiana. l Saggiatore, 2008. ISBN 978-88-565-0026-4.
  12. "Pamela Tiffin, Actress, Is Wed to Clay Felker". New York Times. Oct 7, 1962. p. 90.
  13. "È morta Pamela Tiffin, accanto a Tognazzi e Mastroianni nelle commedie anni Sessanta". La Repubblica. December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  14. Schudel, Matt (5 December 2020). "Pamela Tiffin, model, actress and 1960s movie ingénue, dies at 78". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

Further reading

Lisanti, Tom (2015). Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, 1961–1974. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786496617.

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