Pamela Britton

For the author, see Pamela Britton (author).
Pamela Britton

Britton in the film D.O.A. (1950)
Born Armilda Jane Owen
March 19, 1923
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died June 17, 1974 (aged 51)
Arlington Heights, Illinois, U.S.
Cause of death
 brain tumor
Other names Gloria Owen
Years active 1945–1973
Spouse(s) Arthur Steel (1945–1974; her death); 1 daughter
Children Katherine Lee (b. 1946)
Parent(s) Ethel Waite Owen

Pamela Britton (March 19, 1923 – June 17, 1974) was an American actress best known for appearing as Lorelei Brown in the television series My Favorite Martian (1963–1966). She also starred in the film noir classic D.O.A. (1950).

Early career

She was born Armilda Jane Owen in Milwaukee. Her mother was Ethel Waite Owen (1893–1997), a prominent stage, radio, and early television actress. Her father, Raymond G. Owen, was a doctor who died when the actress was 20 years old. She had two sisters: Virginia, an actress under contract to RKO Radio Pictures, and Mary, a social worker.

Pamela attended State Teacher's Normal School and Holy Angels Academy in her home town of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taking leads in her school plays. By the age of nine she was doing summer stock, and Hollywood came calling at age ten, though her mother rejected the advances, saying she wanted her to be an actress, not a child star. Pamela started making the rounds at 15, using the name Gloria Jane Owen, but found that as soon as people knew who her mother was they expected her to be as accomplished as the respected dramatic actress. She chose the name Pamela from a British book and Britton to emphasise the source.

Theatre work

After a stint touring with bandleader Don McGuire, her big break came when she was cast as both Celeste Holm's understudy and Gertie in the Broadway production of Oklahoma!. When the show went on tour, she took over Holm's role as "Ado Annie". After her New York agent pushed her credentials to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive Marvin Schneck, he came to see her performance in Chicago. Disappointed on the first night, he returned after cajoling from her agent on the second night and signed her immediately.

She played the comic role of Meg Brockie in the original 1947 Broadway production of Brigadoon.

Hollywood

Her first role in a major production was as Frank Sinatra's girlfriend in Anchors Aweigh. Afterwards, however, a forgettable part in a forgettable film, A Letter for Evie, in 1946 was disappointing, and she went on suspension to play "Meg Brockie" in Brigadoon on Broadway.

She returned to the big screen opposite Clark Gable in Key to the City (1950), and then went on to make her most significant film appearance in the classic D.O.A., also in 1950. She made her third film of the year in the Red Skelton-starring Watch the Birdie (1951), but it was 19 years before she again returned to the big screen. During that period, she portrayed the title role of the TV version of the Chic Young newspaper comic strip Blondie for the one season it ran, opposite Arthur Lake as her husband, "Dagwood Bumstead." (Lake had played the role earlier in numerous movie comedies opposite Penny Singleton as Blondie.)

Britton was married on April 8, 1943, to Capt. Arthur Steel after they met on a blind date in Texas arranged by Pamela's sister. After the wedding, he was posted to Italy on active service and Britton continued working. They had a daughter, Katherine Lee, born on September 8, 1946. After the war, Steel worked as an advertising executive and went on to manage the Gene Autry hotels (Steel and Autry were 1st cousins). While their daughter grew up, Britton worked mainly in West Coast theater. She reprised her role in Brigadoon in 1954, appeared in Annie Get Your Gun at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and then returned to Broadway to replace an ailing Janis Paige in Guys and Dolls.

My Favorite Martian

What is perhaps her signature role began in 1963 and lasted until 1966 when she appeared as nosy and ditzy landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown in My Favorite Martian. After the series ended, Britton appeared in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came.

Death

In May 1974, while performing on tour with Don Knotts in The Mind with the Dirty Man, Britton began to have headaches. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and succumbed within two weeks. She was only 51. She was survived by her husband, daughter, mother (Ethel Waite Owen) and sister.

Britton is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pamela Britton.