| Pam Beesly Halpert | |
|---|---|
| The Office character | |
Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert |
|
| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Portrayed by | Jenna Fischer |
| Information | |
| Occupation | • Receptionist, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton PA • Sales Representative, Michael Scott Paper Company •Sales Representative, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton PA •Sales Representative, Sabre, Scranton PA •Office Administrator, Sabre, Scranton PA |
| Family | William Beesly (father, Rick Overton) Helene Beesly (mother, Shannon Cochran and Linda Purl) Penny Beesly (sister, Anna Camp) Sylvia Beesly (grandmother, Peggy Stewart) Jocelyn Webster (cousin) |
| Spouse(s) | Jim Halpert (husband) |
| Children | Cecelia Marie Halpert[1] Philip Halpert[1] |
| Based on | Dawn Tinsley |
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert (née Beesly; born March 25, 1979) is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley.
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Pam Halpert is one of the office employees at the Scranton branch of the fictitious paper-distributor Dunder Mifflin. Many episodes of the series revolve around her desire to be more assertive and have an artistic career, as well as her relationship with co-worker and eventual husband Jim Halpert. The office pranks she and Jim play on his deskmate Dwight Schrute are a cornerstone of the series, as are the often bizarre tasks, assignments, and advice questions given to her by the branch's boss Michael Scott. At the beginning of the series, she was engaged to warehouse worker Roy Anderson, leading to several story arcs of "will they or won't they" tension between her and Jim. Pam is portrayed as a friendly and generally amiable employee of Dunder Mifflin.
The character was originally created to be very similar to the British counterpart, Dawn Tinsley. Even minute details, such as how Pam wore her hair each day, were considered by executive producer, Greg Daniels.[2]
"When I went in for The Office, the casting director said to me, 'Please look normal'," recalls Jenna Fischer. "Don't make yourself all pretty, and dare to bore me with your audition. Those were her words. Dare to bore me."[3]
Heeding the advice, Fischer said little during the auditions, during which she was interviewed in character by show producers, in an improvisational format, to imitate the show's documentary premise. "My take on the character of Pam was that she didn't have any media training, so she didn't know how to be a good interview. And also, she didn't care about this interview," she told NPR. "So, I gave very short one-word answers and I tried very hard not to be funny or clever, because I thought that the comedy would come out of just, you know, the real human reactions to the situation...and they liked that take on it."[3]
"When I went in to the audition, the first question that they asked me in the character of Pam — they said, 'Do you like working as a receptionist?' I said, 'No.' And that was it. I didn't speak anymore than that. And they started laughing."[3]
Fischer found herself creating a very elaborate backstory for the character. For the first few seasons, she kept a list of the character history revealed on-screen by the creators, as well as her own imaginative thoughts on Pam's history.[4] She created a rule with the set's hair and make-up department that it couldn't look as though it took Pam more than 30 minutes to do her hair,[5] and she formulated ideas as to who gave Pam each piece of jewelry she wore [6] or where she went to college.[7] Fischer also carefully crafted Pam's quiet persona. "Well, my character of Pam is really stuck," she explained to NPR. "I mean, she's a subordinate in this office. And so, I think that for her, the only way she can express herself is in the silences, but you can say so much by not saying anything."[3]
Originally meek and passive, the character grew more assertive as the seasons passed, prompting Fischer to reassess her portrayal. "I have to approach Pam differently [now]," she explained in Season 4, a defining season in which her character finally begins a long awaited relationship with Jim and is accepted into the Pratt Institute. "She is in a loving relationship, she has found her voice, she has started taking art classes. All of these things must inform the character and we need to see changes in the way she moves, speaks, dresses, etc."[4]
At the beginning of the series, Pam and Roy have been dating for eight years and engaged for three. Their open-ended engagement has become one of Michael's running gags and a sore spot for Pam.
Pam does not want her current job to become permanent, remarking that "I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist." Pam is apathetic toward her work, evidenced by her frequent games of FreeCell on her office computer. However, in the pilot episode, she breaks down crying when Michael pulls an ill-advised prank by telling her that she will be fired.
Michael has criticized Pam for simply forwarding calls to voice mail without answering and (in a deleted scene) for not sounding enthusiastic enough when speaking on the telephone. Pam is usually happy to abandon her work if asked to do something else by Jim. She will do extra, unnecessary work (such as making a casket for a dead bird or paper doves for the Office Olympics) to make other people happy. However, she is no longer allowed to be served at the Chili’s Restaurant chain because she got too drunk at the 2005 Dundie Awards Show.
Despite the abuse she takes from Michael, she never goes any farther than calling him a jerk in the pilot. In later seasons, however, she becomes more honest and forward with Michael and will often make sarcastic comments toward him.
Pam denied, or was in denial about, having any romantic feelings for her friend Jim. After Jim confesses his love for her at the Dunder Mifflin "Casino Night" she turns him down. She later talks to her mom on the phone and says Jim is her best friend (though she doesn't say his name), and says "Yeah, I think I am" to an unheard question.
Season three marks a turning point for Pam's character; she gains self-confidence and appears less passive and more self-assured as the season progresses. In "Gay Witch Hunt," the season's opener, it is revealed that Pam got cold feet before her wedding and did not marry Roy after all (to the dismay of Roy), and that Jim transferred to a different Dunder Mifflin branch, in Stamford, shortly after Pam rejected him. Pam moves into her own apartment, begins taking art classes, a pursuit that Roy had previously dismissed as a waste of time, and buys a new car, a blue Toyota Yaris. Jim returns to Scranton later on as a result of "The Merger", and brings along a female co-worker, Karen Filippelli, whom he begins dating. Jim and Pam appeared to have ended all communication after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch (aside from an episode in which Jim accidentally calls Pam at the end of the work day), and their episodes together following the branch merge are tense, despite both admitting to still harboring feelings for the other during the presence of the documentary cameras.
Meanwhile, Roy—who was arrested for a D.U.I. shortly after his and Pam's break-up—vows to clean up his act and win Pam back. Roy's efforts to improve his relationship with Pam are quite successful, but once Pam and Roy are back together, he falls back into old habits almost immediately. When Roy and Pam attend an after work get-together at a local bar with their co-workers, Pam, feeling that she should be more honest with Roy, tells him about Jim kissing her at "Casino Night." Roy yells, smashes a mirror, and trashes the bar. Pam, frightened and embarrassed by his reaction, breaks up with Roy immediately. Roy vows to kill Jim, and in "The Negotiation", Roy unsuccessfully tries to attack Jim at work (Jim is saved by Dwight's intervention), and is subsequently fired. Pam later reluctantly agrees to meet Roy for coffee at his request, and after the polite but brief meeting, it appears that their relationship has ended amicably with Roy encouraging Pam to pursue Jim.
Pam participates in an art show, but few people attend. Her co-worker, Oscar, brings his partner along who, not knowing that Pam is standing behind him, criticizes her work by proclaiming that "real art requires courage." Oscar then goes on to say that courage isn't one of Pam's strong points. Affected by this statement, Pam tells the documentary crew that she is going to be more honest, culminating in a dramatic coal walk during the next-to-last episode of the season, "Beach Games", and a sincere speech to Jim about their relationship. Michael also comes to the art show and reveals his erratically kind heart and loyalty by buying, framing and hanging Pam's drawing of the Dunder Mifflin building in the office. In the season finale, "The Job," she leaves an affectionate note in Jim's briefcase, which he sees during an interview for a job in New York City. He then withdraws from consideration, driving back to the office and interrupting a talking head Pam is doing for the documentary crew about their relationship, and asks her out for dinner. She happily accepts, visibly moved, forgetting what she was previously saying.
In Season 4, Pam retains the assertiveness she developed in the third season. She wears her hair down and has updated her old dowdy wardrobe.
In the season 4 premiere, "Fun Run", Jim and Pam confess that they have started dating after the camera crew catches them kissing. The office ultimately learns of their relationship in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". In "Chair Model", after teasing Pam about his impending proposal, Jim tells the documentary crew he is not kidding around about an engagement and shows them a ring he bought a week after he and Pam started dating. In the next few episodes, Jim fake-proposes to Pam multiple times. In "Goodbye, Toby", Pam discovers she's been accepted at Pratt Institute, an art and design school in New York City. In an interview later in the episode, Jim announces that he will propose to Pam that evening. Just as Jim is preparing to propose, however, Andy Bernard stands up and makes his own impromptu proposal to Angela. Having had his thunder stolen by Andy, Jim reluctantly puts the ring back in his jacket pocket, leaving Pam visibly disappointed as she was expecting Jim to propose that night.
In the Season 5 premiere, "Weight Loss", Pam begins her three-month course at the Pratt Institute. In this episode, Jim proposes at a rest stop saying that he "can't wait". In "Business Trip", Pam learns that she is failing one of her classes and will have to remain in New York another three months to retake it. Although Jim is supportive and tells her he will wait for her to come back "the right way", she ultimately makes the decision to return home, saying that she realized she hated graphic design and missed Scranton. A deleted scene for the episode shows Jim looking through Pam's graphic design projects, which he thinks are "cool", as well as a notebook filled with pencil sketches, which he finds a lot more impressive than her graphic design projects, implying her talents lie in hand-drawn works. In "Two Weeks", Pam agrees to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Co., as a supportive Jim looks on. When David Wallace makes an offer to buy the company Michael negotiates in order to get their jobs at Dunder Mifflin back instead, including adding Pam to the sales team. In "Company Picnic", Pam injures her ankle during a volleyball game and is taken to the hospital against her wishes. At the hospital, the camera crew is stationed outside an exam room while a doctor updates Jim and Pam on her condition. There is no audio as the camera shows Jim and Pam embrace, looking shocked and ecstatic. It is implied that she is pregnant and is confirmed in the Season 6 premiere, "Gossip".
Jim and Pam marry early in the season, at Niagara Falls, during the highly anticipated, hour long episode, "Niagara". The ending of the episode, in which their co-workers dance down the aisle, is an imitation of an Internet viral YouTube video [8]. Following the wedding, a multi-episode story arc begins in which it is revealed that Michael hooked up with Pam's mother the night of the wedding. The two break up during "Double Date", an episode that ends with Pam slapping Michael in response to his actions.
In "The Delivery" of Season 6, Pam and Jim have their first child, a daughter named Cecelia Marie Halpert. Jenna Fischer was granted naming rights by show producers, and chose to name her after her own niece.[9]
In "Nepotism", Pam accidentally ruins Jim's planned-out prank on Dwight. Pam feels guilty, so she tries to make it up to Jim by devising a prank of her own. She enlists Kevin to rewire the elevator so the buttons all do different things. To her dismay, Kevin's alterations to the elevator's 'circus board' result in Pam and Dwight getting trapped in the elevator together. In the end the backfired prank does impress Jim.
In "Counseling", Pam feels inadequate about her poor performance in Sales and successfully tricks Gabe into promoting her to a phony new salaried position called Office Administrator. Later, in "China", Pam tries to use her authority as Office Administrator to force Building Manager Dwight to stop his annoying cost-cutting measures. Pam threatens to move the office to a new building, which Dwight discovers doesn't exist. Pam saves face, however, when Dwight secretly has his assistant provide her with a book on building regulations that proves Dwight's measures were not allowed. The episode is another example of Dwight's curiously covert protectiveness and fondness for Pam (as previously demonstrated in "The Injury", "Back from Vacation", "The Job" and "Diwali"); Mindy Kaling said during an online Q&A session that Dwight has a soft spot for her that he does not extend to anyone else at the office, especially Jim. She also uses her position to buy Erin Hannon an expensive desk top computer to replace the terrible one she had to use for years; after Andy Bernard has a fit about it, Pam drops hints that he can get a similarly modern computer if he ruins his current one, and Andy proceeds to do just that. Pam then lies to everyone that she found a spare system in the warehouse, and buys a knowing Darryl's silence with three extra vacation days, leading Pam to cheerfully tell the cameras that "I'm full-on corrupt!"
In "Goodbye, Michael". Pam almost misses saying good-bye to Michael, as she spends most of the day out of the office trying to hunt down supplies for his farewell party the next day as well as attending a showing of The King's Speech. Jim figures out Michael's plan to leave early and tells her. Pam reaches the airport in time and is the last person to see Michael before he leaves for Colorado.
At the beginning of filming Season 8, Pam is revealed to be pregnant with her and Jim's second child. The child, which was conceived during the couple's secret sex session in "PDA", coincided with Jenna Fischer's actual pregnancy. She began her maternity leave after Pam's Replacement and she and Jim welcomed Philip Halpert to the world in December 2011 (the show has not mentioned this on the air, and the birth announcement was posted at NBC.com).
The "will they or won't they" tension between Jim and Pam is a strong storyline in the early episodes of The Office, encompassing much of Seasons 1 to 3. In the opener of Season 4, the two characters are revealed to be dating, and as such, other character romances, such as the romance between fellow co-workers Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin, begin to move more toward the forefront of episodes. In season 5, the two move in together. In Season 6, Jim and Pam are married in the season's 4th and 5th episodes (hour long), a feat considered noteworthy by many television critics, as bringing together the two lead love interests in a television series is often thought to be a risky venture.[10] Their child is born in the second half of the season, during another hour long, "The Delivery".
When the series begins, Pam is engaged to her high school sweetheart Roy Anderson; this engagement is revealed to be three years old and running. A second engagement (also lasting three years) ended in Pam and Roy breaking up before they got back together. Roy is deeply flawed - he is overbearing, neglectful, dismissive of her desire to be an artist, and offers her sex as a gift on Valentine's Day. Jim comments in Season 2 that Pam does not like to "bother" Roy with her "thoughts or feelings". He tells the camera crew that the only two problems in Pam's life seemed to be Roy and her job at Dunder Mifflin.
In the early seasons, there is a great deal of tension between Jim and Roy, with Roy often acting threateningly towards Jim. In "Basketball", when Jim starts to impress Pam with his basketball skills, Roy elbows Jim in the nose. In season 2, when Jim encourages Pam to pursue a graphic arts internship offered by Dunder Mifflin, Roy objects to the opportunity and eventually convinces her that the idea is foolish. Pam ultimately calls off her wedding to Roy, but they remain friendly and he is determined to win her back by being less of a jerk. She reconciles with Roy at Phyllis's wedding as a response to watching Jim date Karen. In an attempt at a fresh start with Roy, Pam comes clean about Jim kissing her during "Casino Night". Roy flies into a violent rage and Pam ends the relationship on the spot. The next day, Roy attempts to attack Jim in the office but is stopped by Dwight's pepper spray and is summarily fired. After losing his job, Roy meets Pam for coffee and says that even though Jim is dating Karen, she should at least make an effort to date him (inasmuch as she called off the wedding because of him).
In season 5, Jim and Roy run into each other at a bar and Roy learns that Jim and Pam are engaged. The mood is somewhat awkward, but Roy is congratulatory and seems to genuinely approve of the engagement.
In the series pilot, Michael is overtly rude to Pam and at one point fakes her firing, leaving her in tears. He often makes suggestive if harmless remarks about her beauty and general appearance, and at one point lies to the camera that they used to date (inspiring a horrified "WHAT???" from Pam when an interviewer relays the message to her). However, his impulsive attempt to kiss her during Diwali is shot down and marked the end of any romantic dreams for Michael with Pam. Over time, the combination of Michael being supportive of her goals, her transition from a bad relationship with Roy to a great one with Jim, and Michael finding his own soulmate in Holly Flax made Pam soften her stance towards Michael, and the experience at the Michael Scott Paper Company further bonded them (as did Michael's decision to choose Pam instead of Ryan Howard as the only MSPC salesman to keep that job when Michael returned as Branch Manager). Pam was furious at Michael for dating her mom Helene, and excoriated him at length during The Lover before eventually slapping him in Double Date, but they once again were able to be civil to each other afterward. Pam does set up boundaries around her personal life that Michael can't cross, like telling him that he wasn't Cece's godfather. By Season 7, Pam mostly steers Michael away from (numerous) bad ideas and supports his (fewer but real) good ones, such as his successful efforts to propose to Holly. In Michael's finale "Goodbye, Michael", Pam spends the whole day looking for a shredder, believing that the next day Michael was leaving. As Michael takes off his microphone and heads down the airport concourse, Pam runs to him with no shoes and hugs him as he kisses her cheek. The two have a nice moment and he walks off, leaving her holding her shoes. She then tells the camera that he was happy, wanting to be an advanced rewards member, and was glad to be going home to see Holly. She then is there to watch Michael's plane take off. In a deleted scene from "The Inner Circle", we learn that Michael named his new puppy "Pamela Beagsley", further proving that Pam and Michael have a close relationship.
Toby, the Human Resources Representative for Dunder Mifflin in the Scranton branch, has a secret crush on Pam. In "Night Out", Toby affectionately rubs her knee while they share a laugh (and while Jim sits just on her other side), and the rest of the office watches in horror. In his mortification, Toby immediately announces that he is moving to Costa Rica before jumping over the locked gate and fleeing. In "Goodbye, Toby", he purchases a DSLR camera just to get a picture with Pam. On the eve of his departure, she confesses to the cameras that she always thought he was "kind of cute". The crush receives less attention after Toby's return. However, in "Niagara", Pam and Jim are late for their wedding and he is visibly excited at the prospect that the wedding might not happen.
Pam has appeared in every episode with the exceptions of "Business Ethics" (except for the deleted scenes), "St. Patrick's Day", and "New Leads" in which only her voice is heard, and "Mrs. California" and "Christmas Wishes", where she did not appear at all because of her maternity leave.
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