MOVIES:
“And Soon the Darkness” 1970
“The Sixth Sense” series 1972
“Necromancy” 1972 (aka Rosemary’s Disciples)
“The Legend of Hell House” 1973
“Satan’s School for Girls” 1973
“The Food of the Gods” 1976
TV episodes:
Thriller series in England 1974/75 “Won’t Write Home Mom, I’m Dead” and “Screamer”
“Project UFO” 1978
“Ghost Story” series 1972
Mannix
Barnaby Jones
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Series
Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Petrocelli
Cannon
Six Million Dollar Man
The Streets of San Francisco
Bonanza
Green Acres
This 59-year-old actress is charmed to have both a beautiful innocent face, large blue eyes, and a petite figure, making her the ideal heroine in any horror movie for her vulnerable and child-like appearance. When placed against something very evil, this delicate actress appeared to make things seem more evil in comparison to her. I call it the “child selling a hamburger” syndrome." Remember when fast food restaurants used a child to hold up a burger, thus making the burger seem too large to be consumed in one sitting?
With her cultured British dialect and her Snow White coloring, this actress was able to spew out horror movie after horror movie both in Britain and in the US. She became such a pop icon, she ended up making countless appearances on our TV shows here in The States. For a time through the 70s, it was hard to find something to watch of a suspense nature that didn’t have Ms Franklin in it.
She is my favorite horror movie actress of all time. I own quite a few of her movies. Although I admit her part as the mental medium in “The Legend of Hell House” was brilliant, my favorite role for her was a very unknown one, “And Soon the Darkness.” In this movie, her and a friend ride around the French countryside on bicycles during their holiday. When her friend goes missing, Pamela’s character is left to her own devices to find out what happened to her and can trust no one. In the movie “Food of the Gods” she got to enjoy a fun part in a movie I consider to be the ideal symbol for 70s horror; giant rats on an island. In the movie “Necromancy” (“Rosemary’s Disciples”) I enjoyed a fantastic performance from her. She could both act innocent and perplexed by her situation, trusting and vulnerable, yet with an inner strength that comes through when she needs it. I suspect in real life, this woman is a pretty good mix of those qualities which made her acting all that more believable.
If you haven’t seen a Pamela Franklin movie and like horror, you should consider yourself an inexperienced horror fan. Be sure to catch one of her 70s horror movies and sit back and enjoy the spine-tingling ride.