P. J. Soles

P. J. Soles
Born	Pamela Jayne Hardon (1950-07-17) July 17, 1950 Frankfurt, Germany
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1973–present
Spouse(s)	J. Steven Soles (1973–1975) divorced Dennis Quaid (1978–1983) divorced Skip Holm (1983–1998) divorced, 2 children
Website	http://www.PJSoles.com/

P.J. Soles (born Pamela Jayne Hardon; July 17, 1950) is an American film and television actress, known for her roles as Lynda van der Klok in Halloween, Riff Randell in Rock 'n' Roll High School, Norma Watson in Carrie and Bill Murray's military girlfriend Stella in Stripes.

Early life

Soles was born Pamela Jayne Hardon in Frankfurt, Germany, to an American mother from New Jersey and a Dutch father. At the time, her father was working for an international insurance company and the family moved all over the world. Soles lived in Casablanca, Morocco, and Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she learned to speak fluent Spanish, and then Brussels, Belgium, where she went to high school at the International School of Brussels. When she was at Briarcliff College, she wanted to become the first woman ambassador to the Soviet Union. This career goal changed when she visited the Actors Studio in New York City.

Career

Soles moved to Manhattan and began acting in commercials and modeling for fashion magazines. She was among the hundreds of actors auditioning for Brian De Palma and George Lucas in their joint casting session for Carrie (1976) and Star Wars (1977). She was injured during the filming of Carrie, when a blast from a fire hose during the prom scene ruptured her eardrum. After Carrie, she went to Georgia to film Our Winning Season (1978) and met actor Dennis Quaid. They were married in 1978 in Texas on a dude ranch.

Later that year she played one of the supporting roles in Halloween (1978), as the final victim of the Michael Myers character in the classic horror film. John Carpenter wanted her for his film Halloween after seeing Carrie.^[1] He wrote the part of Lynda especially for her because of the way she said the word "totally".

Soles starred in Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) with The Ramones and was injured during filming. She has a singing credit for a second version of the title song on the movie's soundtrack. She reprised the role of Riff Randell in the artwork for the Local H album Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?.

Soles had roles in two military comedies, 1980's Private Benjamin and as Bill Murray's romantic interest in 1981's Stripes.

In 2005 Soles played the victim, Susan, of a family on a murderous rampage in the Rob Zombie movie The Devil's Rejects.

Soles was also in the science fiction movie Alienator with Jan Michael Vincent, a Terminator take-off that was produced by Jeffrey C. Hogue and directed by Fred Olen Ray.

Personal life

She was married to J. Steven Soles during her years in New York, but then made the move to Los Angeles to work in TV and movies. She and Soles got divorced, but she decided to retain her name as P.J. Soles. She was later married to actor Dennis Quaid from 1978 to early 1983. Her third marriage was to Skip Holm, who was the stunt pilot on The Right Stuff (1983). They have a son named Sky (born in 1983) and a daughter named Ashley (born in 1988). She and Holm were divorced in 1998.

Soles is the subject of the song Sweet Pamela Jayne by English rock band The Breakdowns, from their 2014 album Rock 'n' Roller Skates. The song references the film Rock 'n' Roll High School in its lyrics.^[2][3]

Filmography

Film

Television

Television film

Popular culture references

• American alternative rock band Local H released an album in 2004 entitled Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?. The album also includes a song entitled "P.J. Soles".
• Soles appeared in The Donnas' music video for "Too Bad About Your Girl" in 2003 as her character Riff from Rock 'n' Roll High School.

References

External links

• P.J. Soles' Official Page(Dead Link)
• P. J. Soles on Facebook
• P. J. Soles on Twitter
• P.J. Soles' Official MySpace Page
• P. J. Soles at the Internet Movie Database
• Hollywood.com- P.J. Soles