Pamela Salem

Last updated 23 February 2024

Pamela Salem (1944-2024)
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Pamela Salem

Born: Saturday 22nd January 1944
Died: Thursday 22nd February 2024 (age: 80)

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Pamela Salem is a British film and television actress.

She appeared in Doctor Who twice, playing Toos in the 1977 story, Robots of Death and Rachel in the 1988 story Remembrance of the Daleks.

She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. 

She is best-remembered on television for her co-starring role in the early 1980s ITV children's fantasy series Into the Labyrinth as the evil witch Belor, and her late 1980s guest role in the BBC's popular soap opera EastEnders as shady mafia affiliate Joanne Francis. 

She had previously auditioned for the role of the Fourth Doctor's companion Leela, but the role eventually went to Louise Jameson instead. Salem also had a recurring role in the British sitcom French Fields between 1989-91.

Other television guest appearances have included roles in popular British series such as Out of the Unknown, Blake's 7, The Onedin Line, The Professionals, Howards' Way, Ever Decreasing Circles and All Creatures Great and Small, and more recently in American series including Magnum, P.I., Party of Five, ER, and The West Wing where she played a British prime minister.

In film, she played the role of Miss Moneypenny in the 'unofficial' 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, starring Sean Connery. She also appeared in Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery (1979, another film which also starred Connery), as well as supporting roles in The Bitch (1979) and Gods and Monsters (1998).

She is married to the actor Michael O'Hagan, and they currently live in Los Angeles.