Saturday, December 05, 2020

The Tiffin Touch

I was sorry to read, in The Hollywood Reporter, that Oklahoma-born actress Pamela Tiffin, “the 1960s starlet who was discovered in the Paramount commissary on the way to memorable turns in such films as State Fair, The Pleasure Seekers, Come Fly With Me and Harper, has died. She was 78.” The magazine goes on to explain:
Tiffin received Golden Globe nominations for her first two features, both released in 1961: as most promising newcomer—female for Summer and Smoke and as best supporting actress for her comedic performance in Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (1961). In 1964, Tiffin played coeds opposite James Darren in The Lively Set and For Those Who Think Young and starred alongside Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley in the Madrid-set romantic comedy The Pleasure Seekers. A year later, she appeared with Burt Lancaster and Lee Remick in John Sturges’ The Hallelujah Trail.

In only her third film, Tiffin starred alongside Pat Boone, Bobby Darin and Ann-Margret in the big-budget musical
State Fair (1962), portraying Margy Frake in the remake of films released in 1933 and 1945 that had Janet Gaynor and Jeanne Crain, respectively, in that role.

She also played a novice flight attendant in
Come Fly With Me (1963) and the seductive stepdaughter of Lauren Bacall’s character in Harper (1966), starring Paul Newman.
It’s that last role in which I remember Tiffin best. She was in her early 20s then, playing a captivating damsel whose sexual playfulness somewhat exceeded her willingness to follow through. Click here to watch Tiffin’s well-remembered poolside scene in Harper, and here to see her in a trailer for that same picture.

According to the Reporter, Tiffin was married twice—first to Clay Felker (1962-1969), the co-founder of New York magazine, and then in 1974, to Edmondo Danon, “son of La Cage aux Folles producer Marcello Danon.” She apparently quit acting after saying “I do” for the second time and spent much of her life in Italy. Tiffin passed away on December 2 at a New York hospital.

READ MORE:Godspeed Pamela Tiffin,” by Terence Towles Canote
(A Shroud of Thoughts).

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