Pamela Sue Martin

Pamela Sue Martin is an American actress and model born on January 5, 1953, in Westport, Connecticut. She is best known for starring as Nancy Drew on the television series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries from 1977 to 1979 and as socialite Fallon Carrington Colby on the ABC soap opera Dynasty from 1981 to 1984.

Raised in Westport, Connecticut, Martin graduated from Staples High School in 1971. Prior to graduating, she was working at a hamburger stand for $1.45 an hour when a friend informed her about earning $60 an hour modeling in New York. Martin decided to pursue modeling, beginning at age 16 as a teen model for print advertisements and television commercials.

Despite having no prior dramatic arts training, experience, or ambitions, Martin auditioned for Columbia Pictures' film To Find a Man (1972). Following a three-month audition process, producers selected her for the lead female role. Producer Irwin Allen then cast the 19-year-old Martin in The Poseidon Adventure (1972) based on her debut performance. She subsequently appeared in films including Our Time (1974), co-starring Parker Stevenson, and Buster and Billie (1974).

At her manager's insistence, Martin shifted her career toward television work, achieving teen idol status playing Nancy Drew for ABC-TV. The program initially alternated weekly between The Nancy Drew Mysteries and The Hardy Boys Mysteries before merging in its second season into The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Frustrated by her character's reduced role following the show's merge, Martin departed the series, making her final appearance on January 1, 1978. She later appeared in a cover pictorial for the July 1978 issue of Playboy magazine.

In 1981, Martin originated the role of heiress Fallon Carrington Colby on the ABC nighttime soap opera Dynasty, appearing through the end of its fourth season in 1984. After she left the series of her own accord, her character was written as missing and presumed dead before being recast. For her work on Dynasty, Martin won a Bambi Award in 1984. She later hosted Saturday Night Live on February 16, 1985.

In the 2000s, Martin served as the artistic director of the Interplanetary Theater Group in Idaho. She has since worked sporadically in film and television, with her last appearance being the role of Harriet Grosset in the 2019 pilot episode of the Nancy Drew reboot. Beyond acting, Martin has been involved in environmental causes, including a 1984 public service announcement directed by Clyde Lucas to help save pink dolphins in the Amazon River.

During the early 1980s, Martin enjoyed scuba diving, tennis, and skiing, and she has spoken publicly about her struggle with interstitial cystitis. Martin has been married four times: to Charles Gates from 1975 to 1979, to Jorge Brusch from 1979 to 1981, to Manuel Rojas for five years, and to Bruce Allen from 1990 to 1998, with whom she has a son.