Victoria Principal Biography

Victoria Principal (born January 3, 1950) is an American actress, author and businesswoman best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the CBS nighttime soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1987.

Early life

Principal was born in Fukuoka, Japan, the eldest daughter of United States Air Force sergeant Victor Principal, after whom she was named and who was then stationed in Fukuoka. Her paternal grandparents were emigrants from Italy, originally surnamed Principale. Her mother, the former Bertha Ree Veal, was born in Georgia and was of English descent. Because her father was in the US military, they moved often; she grew up in London, Puerto Rico, Florida, Massachusetts, and Georgia, among other places. She attended 17 different schools, including studying at the Royal Ballet School while her family was stationed in England.

She began her career in TV commercials, appearing in her first at age five. After graduating from South Dade Senior High School in 1968, she enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College, intending to study medicine. However, months before completing her first year of studies, she was seriously injured in a car crash while driving home from the library. The other driver was convicted of drunk driving and served jail time. Principal spent months in recovery and was faced with the prospect of having to take her first year of studies over again. After a period of serious introspection, she drastically changed her life by moving to New York City to pursue her acting career, and shortly thereafter to Europe. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and then in 1971 moved to Los Angeles.

Career

Acting

In 1970, Principal moved to Hollywood. She had no money, no car, no agent, and no prior television or movie-making experiences beside the commercials she had made in her teenage years. She supported herself by teaching backgammon, which she had learned while living in London, that was becoming a popular game played by many in Hollywood. Nine months later Principal had a car, an agent, still little money but auditioned and won her first film role as Marie Elena, a Mexican mistress, in Paul Newman's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), for which she earned a Golden Globe Nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. Because of the response to Principal's footage in the film, the role was enlarged on a daily basis by the writer, John Milius. Producers, agents, and other interested parties began showing up at the remote location in Benson, Arizona. For the most part they were showing up to sign Principal to her next film. During this period of time Warren Cowan flew in, introduced himself to Principal, and offered to represent her free of charge for the next year. Principal has been a client of Rogers & Cowan ever since. She flew to Arizona a complete unknown; when she returned to Los Angeles three months later, the commercial flight she was on was greeted by throngs of paparazzi. Subsequently, she appeared in The Naked Ape (1973) with Johnny Crawford and appeared nude in Playboy magazine to promote the film. The film's failure disappointed her.

In 1974, she was cast in the disaster film Earthquake. Although the role had been narrowed down to three actresses, Principal won the role when she showed up for the third audition having cut off her waist-length brown hair, dyed it black, and put it into an afro. The producer was stunned and impressed by Principal's risky transformation in order to look more closely like the Italian character Rosa. Principal won the part in that moment. She continued to act in lesser-known films such as I Will, I Will... for Now and Vigilante Force with Kris Kristofferson. She was given a three-picture deal with Brute Productions. However, Principal decided to stop acting and became an agent, which was her profession from 1975 to late 1977.

In 1977, Aaron Spelling offered her a role in the pilot of his television series, Fantasy Island, which she accepted. Soon after, in 1978, she landed her most famous role, playing Pamela Barnes Ewing in the evening soap opera television series Dallas. In 1983, she earned a Golden Globe Nomination as Best Actress in a Television Series for her role in Dallas.

After nine years, Principal left Dallas in 1987. She went on to star in various made-for-television movies such as Mistress, Blind Witness, Naked Lie, Sparks: The Price of Passion, and Don't Touch My Daughter, a few of which she co-produced. In 1994, she appeared in an episode of the hit sitcom Home Improvement. Principal returned to primetime soap operas in 2000, when she appeared in another Aaron Spelling production, the short-lived NBC television series Titans.

Principal declined reviving her role on the 2012 revival of Dallas since the sudden passing of Larry Hagman - the ending of the second season reveals the mystery where she died of pancreatic cancer.

Entrepreneur

When Principal signed her Dallas contract, she omitted the clause that would have given the network the right to consent and profit from her outside endeavors. She explained, "As a result that's why, you can only notice in hindsight, I was the only person in the cast who did commercials, who was doing movies of the week, who wrote books and these all belong to me. I retained the control and ownership of my image. No one owns me."

When she left the show in 1987, she began her own production company, Victoria Principal Productions, producing mostly movies for television. In the mid-1980s, she became interested in natural beauty therapies and in 1989 she created a self-named line of skin care products, Principal Secret, which has amassed over $1 billion (USD) in sales to date.

In 1995, she was named "Entertainment Business Woman of the Year" by the National Association of Women Business Owners and received an honorary degree from Drexel University's Business School. In 1999, Principal became the youngest ever recipient of the Genii Lifetime Achievement Award for women in television. In 2003, Principal became a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. In January 2011, Principal launched a line of jewelry called Keys & Hearts available on the same site as her skin care line, Principal Secret. She became a best-selling author, writing three books about beauty, skin care, and health: The Body Principal (1983), The Beauty Principal (1984), and The Diet Principal (1987). She published a fourth book, Living Principal (2001). After twelve weeks on the The New York Times Best Seller list in the general non-fiction category, The Body Principal was the first "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" number one best seller when that list debuted January 1, 1984.

Personal life

Principal met Christopher Skinner in 1978 when he played a bit role on Dallas. Soon after, they married but divorced two years later in 1980. She dated teen idol Andy Gibb after meeting him on The John Davidson Show in 1981. The two hit it off immediately and she sang a duet with Gibb. A year later, she gave him an ultimatum: "Choose me or choose drugs". Principal split with Gibb in March 1982.

Principal married Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Harry Glassman in June 1985. The couple divorced in December 2006 with Principal stating, "We have had a loving relationship for over 20 years". She later moved to Malibu, California. She also owns homes in Big Sur, California, and Switzerland.

In 2006, Principal formed a charitable organization to help subsidize the environmental movement, which she had been a part of since 1978.

In 2007, it was reported that she was training for her booked flight on Richard Branson's commercial space flight venture. Principal stated, "Going into space fulfills many desires I have of seeing the planet, going fast, going someplace very few people have been "? and hopefully coming back down!" Principal and Branson held a joint worldwide press conference in New Mexico where the space center is to be built.

Philanthropy

Principal provided assistance to aid those in need after the 2008 California wildfires. On June 2, 2010, she donated $200,000 to the cleanup effort in the Gulf Coast region. Her donations brought together two huge environmental non-profits, Oceana and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), to work together on the cleanup.

In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Principal appeared with other celebrities on June 21, 2010, in a CNN Larry King-sponsored Telethon to support the Gulf Coast Region following the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Principal was on a panel with King, answered phones, and spoke to donors for the entire two hours. The telethon raised over $1.8 million.

Principal was honored at the opening of Legacy Park in Malibu on October 2, 2010. She was a founding member of the park in 2004, and was honored at the opening for helping get the 15-acre park off of the Pacific Coast Highway off the ground. Over a 12-year period, she served the Arthritis Foundation as Honorary Chairperson and Ambassador to Government.

She is the co-chair of Victory Over Violence, the LA County Domestic Violence Council Community Advisory Board. The Community Advisory Board is a coalition of representatives from the entertainment industry, business, government, and community who have come together with the dual purposes of increasing public awareness of issues surrounding domestic violence and increasing shelter and victim resources.

On December 13, 2011, it was announced that Principal donated a substantial sum to OCEANA and NRDC to stop the expansion of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Ocean, fearing such activity could lead to another disastrous oil spill.

On December 20, 2011, The Giving Back Fund named Principal as one of the Top 30 Celebrity Charity Donations for 2011.

In 2012 Principal funded and participated in an online campaign with the NRDC in an effort to stop sonic blasting along the California coastline, and prevent the deaths of hundreds of marine mammals and marine life.

In 2012 Principal funded, through Tree People, the creation of a mobile, emergency Fire Warning System for the Los Angeles area. In 2013 this system was completed and implemented, the first of its kind in California.

In 2013 Principal funded and ad bringing awareness to the plight of Sea Lion pups washing up along the California Coastline and provided funds to Wildlife Org. for their rescue and rehabilitation.

In 2013 after the deadly Moore, Oklahoma EF5 Tornado, Principal funded the American Humane Association's famous Red Star Rescue Team to help search, rescue, and shelter injured and missing animals with the ultimate goal of reuniting them with their families.

In August 2013 Principal funded in collaboration with Tree People a new mobile system that allows citizens to participate in critical wildfire prevention by texting.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Film	Role	Director
1972	The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean	Maria Elena	John Huston
1973	The Naked Ape	Cathy	Donald Driver
1974	Earthquake	Rosa	Mark Robson
1976	I Will, I Will...for Now	Jackie Martin	Norman Panama
	Vigilante Force	Linda Christopher	George Armitage
1998	Michael Kael vs. the World News Company	Leila Parker	Christopher Smith

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Love, American Style
	Love Story	Karen
1974	Banacek	Brooke Collins
1975	Last Hours Before Morning	Yolanda Marquez	TV movie
1977	Fantasy Island	Michelle	Pilot episode
	The Night They Took Miss Beautiful	Reba Bar Lev	TV Movie
1978	Dallas	Pamela Barnes Ewing	250 appearances during 1978"1987, same character
1979	Greatest Heroes of the Bible	Queen Esther
	Hawaii Five-O	Dolores Kent Sandover
1980	Pleasure Palace	Patti Flynn	TV movie
1982	Not Just Another Affair	Dr. Diana Dawson	TV movie
	Fridays	Herself	Live TV comedy variety show. ABC. 2/19/82.
1987	Mistress	Rae Colton	TV movie
1989	Naked Lie	Joanne Dawson	TV movie
	Blind Witness	Maggie Kemlich	TV movie
1990	Sparks: The Price of Passion	Patricia Sparks	TV movie
1991	Don't Touch My Daughter	Linda	TV movie
1992	The Burden of Proof	Margy Allison	TV movie
	Seduction: Three Tales from the 'Inner Sanctum'	Patty/Sylvia	TV movie
1993	River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene	Maggie Keene	TV movie
1994	Beyond Obsession	Eleanor DiCarlo	TV movie
	Home Improvement	Les Thompson
1995	Dancing in the Dark	Anna Forbes	TV movie
	The Larry Sanders Show	Herself
1996	The Abduction	Kate Finley	TV movie
1997	Love in Another Town	Maggie Sorrell	TV movie
1999	Just Shoot Me!	Roberta
	Jack & Jill	Mrs. Cecilia Barrett	Made two additional appearances, in 1999 and 2001. Same character
	Family Guy	Pamela Barnes Ewing	Made a second appearance in 2000, as 'Dr. Amanda Rebecca'
2000	Providence	Donna Tupperman	Three appearances in 2000, same character
	The Practice	Courtney Hansen
	Titans	Gwen Williams	Made fourteen appearances from 2000"2001, same character

Books

• The Body Principal. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. ISBN 0-671-46684-4.
• The Beauty Principal. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. ISBN 0-671-49643-3.
• The Diet Principal. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987. ISBN 0-671-53082-8.
• Living Principal: Looking and Feeling your Best at Every Age. New York: Villard, 2001. ISBN 0-375-50488-5.