Pam Dawber
Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam (1986–1988).
Dawber was born in Detroit, the older of two daughters of Thelma M. (née Fisher) and Eugene E. Dawber, a commercial artist.[1][2] She went to Reid Elementary School in Goodrich and attended North Farmington High School and Oakland Community College (OCC), with the intention of transferring to a four-year college.[3] She deferred her studies at OCC to do some modeling work and eventually dropped out after deciding to go into modeling full-time.
Dawber moved to New York City and was initially a fashion model with Wilhelmina Models before switching to acting. She appeared in several television commercials during the 1970s (Fotomat, Noxzema, Neet, Underalls, etc.).[4][5]
Dawber screen-tested for the title role in Tabitha, a 1977-1978 situation comedy spun off from Bewitched, but the role instead went to Lisa Hartman. However, ABC-TV was impressed enough with her to enroll her in its “talent development” program, which paid its participants until they could find appropriate roles.[citation needed] Garry K. Marshall recruited her from this program.
Dawber’s professional breakthrough came when Marshall chose her, despite her having relatively little acting experience and not having auditioned for the part, as one of the two title characters of the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. She portrayed Mindy McConnell, the comedic foil and eventual love interest for the extraterrestrial Mork from the planet Ork, played by a then-unknown Robin Williams.
The show was extremely popular in its debut season, when it averaged at number three in the Nielsen ratings for the year.[6] The only major difficulty for her on set was that she often found it impossible to maintain the proper composure in character in the face of her co-star’s comedic talent. Also, pressure came from the TV network to sexualize her character as the series progressed, which Dawber successfully resisted, with Williams’ support.
