Pamela Tiffin

Tiffin was born in Oklahoma City to Stanley Wonso and Grace Irene (Tiffin) Wonso[1] of Russian and British ancestry,[2] but grew up in suburban Chicago, where she achieved success as a teen model. She attended Hunter College and appeared in a short film, Music of Williamsburg (1960).[3]

While vacationing in Hollywood at the age of 19, Tiffin visited the Paramount Pictures lot and was spotted by producer Hal B. Wallis, who arranged for her to take a screen test. As a result, she was cast in the film version of Summer and Smoke (1961).[4]

Tiffin next played the daughter of James Cagney's boss in the comedy One, Two, Three (1961). The film's director Billy Wilder called her "the biggest find since Audrey Hepburn".[5] She earned a Golden Globe nomination for each of her first two films,[6]

She won the leading role in the Twentieth Century-Fox musical remake State Fair (1962), in which she was played Bobby Darin's love interest.[7] She was one of the three leads in MGM's comedy Come Fly with Me (1963).

Tiffin studied at Columbia and continued to model. She appeared as a guest star on The Fugitive and filmed a television pilot for Fox titled Three in Manhattan that did not materialize into a series.[8][5]

She made two films with James Darren, both aimed at teen audiences: For Those Who Think Young (1964) and The Lively Set (1964).[9] Fox cast her The Pleasure Seekers (1964), a remake of Three Coins in the Fountain (1954).

Tiffin costarred with Burt Lancaster in the 1965 Western The Hallelujah Trail and appeared in a segment of Kiss the Other Sheik (1965) that was filmed in Italy. She next appeared in the mystery film Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and performed in Dinner at Eight on Broadway.[10]

Tiffin on the set of the 1971 Italian giallo film The Fifth Cord

In 1967, Tiffin relocated to Italy "to find out what I want."[3] She appeared in The Almost Perfect Crime (1966) with Philippe Leroy; The Protagonists (1968); Torture Me But Kill Me with Kisses (1968), a hugely popular comedy; and The Archangel (1969) with Vittorio Gassman.[11][3]

The February 1969 issue of Playboy included a photo feature titled "A Toast to Tiffin."

She appeared in her first American film in two years when she played a liberal college student and the love interest to Peter Ustinov in the comedy Viva Max! (1969). She performed in Uncle Vanya on stage and appeared in the final episode of the ABC series The Survivors, which aired in January 1970.[3]

Tiffin returned to Italy to appear in Cose di Cosa Nostra (1971), No One Will Notice You're Naked (1971), The Fifth Cord (a.k.a. Evil Fingers) (1971), E se per caso una mattina... (1972), Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears (1973), Kill Me, My Love! (1973) with Farley Granger, La signora è stata violentata! (1973) and Brigitte, Laura, Ursula, Monica, Raquel, Litz, Florinda, Barbara, Claudia, e Sofia le chiamo tutte... anima mia (1974). She returned to Hollywood briefly to appear in the TV movie The Last of the Powerseekers (1971).

She appeared in the 2003 documentary Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty with her daughter Echo Danon.

Tiffin wrote a memoir, Daring: My Passages with Gail Sheehy in 2014. A biography of Tiffin titled Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome was written by Tom Lisanti in 2015.

Tiffin married twice. Her first marriage was to Clay Felker, an American magazine editor, whom she married in 1962 and divorced in 1969.[12] Her second marriage was to Edmondo Danon, a philosopher, and the son of Italian film producer Marcello Danon. They married in 1974 and had two daughters, Echo and Aurora.[13]

Tiffin died on December 2, 2020 in a Manhattan hospital at the age of 78[14] from natural causes.[15]

Lisanti, Tom (2015). Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, 1961–1974. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786496617.

• Pamela Tiffin at IMDb
• Pamela Tiffin discography at Discogs