Pam Grier

The legend on her Hollywood legacy and why she carries a chain saw

- ROB SHEFFIELD

You live on a ranch in Colorado. What do you love about country life?

I’m an independent woman, always ready for an emergency: clothes, keys, boots by the door, and a 20inch chain saw, oiled and ready to go. I saw a tree fallen over the only access road around. All these truckers were standing around, then I get out and I see their faces. “Uh-oooh — here comes Foxy Brown with her chain saw!” I pick up my dates at Home Depot and Lowe’s. I can name 10 tractor companies. I can drive a forklift. I ain’t no fool.

What was it like to be a pioneer for Black women in Hollywood?

I did nudity in Coffy and Foxy Brown to help create the audience. I wanted everyone to get used to seeing women of color, women in power, with martial arts and guns. I call it the “Brown Nipple Revolution.” We weren’t the epitome of sexual attraction for the male audience, in movies, magazines, anything. I said, “How come we don’t see women of color in Hollywood and see them beautifully, like Fellini and Bertolucci see women?” We were told our brown nipples weren’t attractive. I was trying to break that line of what was acceptable in society.