Pamela Austin

Blue Hawaii, 1961

Kissin' Cousins, 1964

Born: December 20, 1941, Omaha, Nebraska
Husbands: Charles Britt (? - 1964)
Guy McElwaine (? - ?)

Although born Pamela Akirk, Pam was billed as Pamela Kirk when she made her film debut as Selena (Sandy) Emerson, one of the high school students in Blue Hawaii. On tour with their teacher, Miss Prentiss (Nancy Walters), they get the royal treatment, with Elvis as their guide. By the time of her next film the following year, The Chapman Report, she was being billed as Pamela Austin. In 1963, she appeared with Joby Baker, Peter Breck and a cast of country-and-western and folk music stars in the musical Hootenanny Hoot, which, by all accounts, is only worth seeing for the musical scenes, but I need to check it out myself, of course. It was produced by Sam Katzman, "king of the quickies", who knew how to crank out a movie fast and on a cheap budget. Colonel Parker, of course, saw this as the perfect match for an Elvis movie. Sam would produce Kissin' Cousins, and later Harum Scarum.

In Kissin' Cousins, Pam would again play a girl named Selena. This time, she's Selena Tatum, sister of Azalea(Yvonne Craig). Although Elvis can't make up his mind at first (decisions, decisions!), he settles eventually on Azalea, so he then has to pawn Selena off on Sgt. Bailey (Tommy Farrell). Poor guy!!

After Kissin' Cousins, she landed a job as the "Dodge Rebellion Girl" on TV commercials, which led to a starring role with Pat Boone in The Perils Of Pauline. Many fans from the '60's remember her in this role. She also appeared quite often as a guest on the hit TV show, "Laugh-in" in the late '60's. Another memorable role came in 1971 as the girlfriend of Evil Roy Slade, played by John Astin. Not exactly on par with Blazing Saddles, but if you're in the mood for a comedy-western, you could do a lot worse. (Remember the "Stubby Index Finger" song?) Unfortunately, Pam has made only a handful of film and TV appearances since. Here's hoping all is well with her, wherever she is!