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November 20, 2005

Pamela Duncan 1932 -2005

I Just found out that Pamela Duncan died on November 11th. She wasn't in too many films. Of the five films I saw featuring Ms. Duncan, the first, Attack of the Crab Monsters holds a special place in my heart. As silly as this sounds, this was the first Roger Corman movie I saw in a theater. This was in June of 1962, in Hackensack, New Jersey, in the days when theaters would have special "children's matinees" that consisted of a double feature plus a bunch of cartoons. I was ten years old at the time. I managed to see Attack of the Crab Monsters a couple of other times including another theatrical viewing at a Roger Corman retrospective held at the Kips Bay Theater in New York City while I was attending NYU.

Ms. Duncan also starred in The Undead for Corman, a film about reincarnation. Duncan played a prostitute who under hypnosis reveals that she was a woman accused on witchcraft in Medieval England. For a while, this film was frequently shown on television. Like other Roger Corman films from the 50s, it is meant to be enjoyed on its own terms. Duncan's nemesis in The Undead was Allison Hayes, star of Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman. Both actresses had somewhat similar careers, each closing with an appearance in an Elvis Presley film. Duncan appeared one last time on film as herself in Chuck Braverman's documentary, Curtain Call.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at November 20, 2005 12:27 AM