Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Stephenson | |
|---|---|
 Pamela Stephenson at wedding ceremony of Sting and Trudie Styler, 1992. | |
| Born | Pamela Helen Stephenson 4 December 1949 |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, clinical psychologist |
| Years active | 1972–87 |
| Spouse(s) | Nicholas Ball (divorced) |
Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand born Australian clinical psychologist and writer best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s. She has written several books, which include a biography of her husband Billy Connolly, and presents a psychology-based interview show called Shrink Rap on British television.
Comedy and acting
Stephenson was born in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. After attending the University of New South Wales and then Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 1971, Stephenson pursued a successful acting career in Australia for several years before moving to London in 1976, where she continued to perform.
Probably her most widely recognized role was in the classic 1980s UK comedy television sketch show Not The Nine O'Clock News, alongside Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. Her parodies included Kate Bush (in a song called "Oh England My Leotard"), Janet Street-Porter, Esther Rantzen and Clare Grogan.
Her personal contribution as a comedian added to the success of Not the Nine O'Clock News and led to a collaboration with comedy and satire writers Mark Lepine and Mike Leigh. This spawned a book, How To Be A Complete Bitch, and a board game.
She also featured in the American comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (1984-1985), becoming the first female SNL cast member to be born outside North America. Her characters on the show included Angela Bradleigh (Weekend Update commentator) and celebrity impersonations of Madonna (in a fake commercial parodying the singer's "Lucky Star" music video), Billy Idol, Debby Douillard, Peggy Ashcroft, Joan Collins and Cyndi Lauper.
Stephenson acted in a number of films including Superman III, Bloodbath at the House of Death, Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part 1, and Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers.
Psychology
In 1996 she gained a doctorate in clinical psychology from the California Graduate Institute, now a part of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology which was not accredited until 2008. Her psychology background proved useful when she wrote a biography of her husband, Billy, in which she related elements of his behaviour to his sexual molestation as a child; the book won the 2002 British Book of the Year award. She now works in private practice and in her capacity as a psychologist often uses the names "Pamela Connolly" or "P.H. Connolly".
In 2007 Connolly presented a series of programmes for the British television channel More 4 called Shrink Rap in which she interviewed various celebrities using psychotherapeutic techniques. Those questioned were reality show star Sharon Osbourne, writer and performer Stephen Fry, Sarah, Duchess of York, former British Cabinet Minister David Blunkett and actor-comedian Robin Williams. A second series of Shrink Rap began in April 2008, with guests comedienne Joan Rivers, actors Gene Simmons, Kathleen Turner, Tony Curtis and author Salman Rushdie. A one-off episode in August 2009 featured her husband Billy Connolly. Shrink Rap focused on relating various childhood experiences and traumas to the adult difficulties of the celebrities. While quasi-therapeutic in approach, the interviewees were briefed that the conversations were interviews and not strictly therapy.
Connolly writes a weekly column for the Guardian newspaper in Britain titled "Sexual Healing", under the name Pamela Stephenson Connolly.[1]
Personal life
Stephenson met her husband, actor and comedian Billy Connolly, in 1979 on the set of the BBC television show Not the Nine O'Clock News. They were married in Fiji on 20 December 1989 and have three children together: Daisy (b. 1983), Amy (b. 1986) and Scarlett (b. 1988). She was previously married to actor Nicholas Ball.
Stephenson started practising Buddhism in 1979.[2] Her sister Leslie is an opera singer in Switzerland.
Politics
In the United Kingdom general election, 1987, Pamela stood in the Windsor and Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency) representing the Stuff Pink Blancmange down Terry Wogan's Trousers Party - she came 6th with 328 votes.
Travels
In late 2004, she sold her house in California and spent a year on a sailing cruise around the South Pacific Ocean, following the path of Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Stevenson. She said she was inspired by Fanny (also married to a Scotsman) who had convinced her husband to travel to the tropics for the sake of his fragile health. Her travels were documented in her book, "Treasure Islands". The boat she bought was re-christened "Takapuna" after her birthplace.
A year later, she went on another voyage to discover the fate of an ancestor, a sailing captain who had disappeared in the South Seas. The voyage was the subject of a documentary for Australian television, "Murder or Mutiny."
Books
- Stephenson, Pamela (2002). Billy. Overlook Hardcover. ISBN 978-1-58567-308-7.
- Stephenson, Pamela (2003). Bravemouth: Living with Billy Connolly. Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7553-1284-9.
- Stephenson, Pamela (2005). Treasure Islands: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson. Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7553-1285-6.
- Stephenson, Pamela (2005). Murder or Mutiny. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-1-84188-270-3.
References
- ^ The Guardian. London. 24 April 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pamelastephensonconnolly. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Waldren, Murray
- casproduction.com. Dr. Pamela Connolly / Pamela Stephenson Retrieved 14 July 2008
- Waldren, Murray. The Last Laugh: the tears and trauma of comedian Billy Connolly. (First published in The Weekend Australian, 29/9/2001.) Retrieved 14 July 2008.