Pamela Austin (née Pamela Joan Akert; December 20, 1941) is an American retired actress.

Early life

Austin was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She spent part of her childhood in Europe, as her father served a tour of duty with the Air Force there. Austin studied dancing at Sacramento State College, and found work with the Tony Martin nightclub act upon arriving in Hollywood.^[1]

Career

In addition to appearing in two Elvis Presley films, in 1964-1967 Austin gained fame for a long series of popular automobile television commercials (and print ads) for Dodge (the Charger, Coronet, Polara, and other models). As the perky "Dodge Rebellion Girl", she appeared in around twenty commercials as a damsel in distress — menaced by sharks, falling from a drawbridge, a roof, a cargo plane, etc. Her tag line at the end of each ad was "The Dodge Rebellion wants you!"

The ad series led to numerous film and television offers and a three-page profile in TV Guide (August 20–26, 1966). By 1968, Dodge executives felt Austin's popularity was overshadowing the cars and began a new "Dodge Fever" campaign with a different model, Joan Anita Parker.

In August 1967, she starred in the adventure-comedy film The Perils of Pauline based on the silent cliff-hanger serial. Posters for the film referenced her Dodge commercials: That "Rebellion Girl" is dodgin' unbelievable perils...^[2]

In 1968, she was a semi-regular on the hit comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In during its first season. Austin performed in various comedy sketches, song-and-dance numbers, and pre-filmed segments, including an early music video for "Buy For Me The Rain" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.^[3]

Filmography

Films

• Blue Hawaii (1961) - Selena (Sandy) Emerson
• The Chapman Report (1962)
• Rome Adventure (1962) - Agnes Hutton
• Critic's Choice (1963) - Daughter (uncredited)
• The Caretakers (1963) - Student Nurse (uncredited)
• Hootenanny Hoot (1963) - Billie-Jo Henley
• Kissin' Cousins (1964) - Selena Tatum
• The Perils of Pauline (1967) - Pauline
• Evil Roy Slade (1972, TV Movie) - Betsy Potter
• Agatha (1979) - Pierrot #2
• No Surrender (1985) - Organist
• The Dressmaker (1988) - Singer (final film role)

Television

• Screenplay: Nearly a Happy Ending (1980)
• Columbo: Blueprint for Murder (1972)
• Love American Style ("Love and the Phone Booth"; 1969)
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (six episodes; 1968)
• It Takes a Thief ("Hans Across the Border", part 1 & 2) (1968)
• The Virginian ("Girl on the Glass Mountain") (1966)
• The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Whirring Death"; 1966)
• My Three Sons ("Robbie and the Chorus Girl"; 1965)
• The Twilight Zone ("Number 12 Looks Just Like You"; 1964)
• The Fugitive ("Come Watch Me Die"; 1964)
• Wagon Train ("Molly Kincaid Story"; 1963)
• 77 Sunset Strip ("Reunion at Balboa"; 1963)
• 77 Sunset Strip ("The Steerer"; 1962)
• Surfside 6 ("Prescription for Panic"; 1961)
• Lawman ("Jailbreak";1962)

Personal life

Austin married Charles W. Britt in Santa Clara, California on October 27, 1963; they had one child, a son, Beau C. Britt (born June 17, 1964). Austin and Britt divorced later that year.

Her second marriage was to Guy Franklin McElwaine (a Hollywood press agent) in Los Angeles on July 17, 1965. They divorced in June 1967. She married Leopold S. Wyler in Los Angeles on January 9, 1974.^[1]