’80s actress Pamela Reed was unrecognizable during a rare outing in Los Angeles, with the 76-year-old donning a gray parka and black trousers to run errands alongside her husband, director Sandy Smolan, and their pet dog. Pamela wore her brunette locks in her signature bob and carried a stylish black handbag as she walked in the city.
The mother of two, who rose to fame in the ’80s with The Right Stuff, The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Best of Times, is best known for her role in the 1990 comedy Kindergarten Cop alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, a role which fans still stop her to talk about, as she told Today.
Pamela starred in the film as Detective Phoebe O’Hara, the partner of Arnold’s character Detective John Kimble, who goes undercover at a school in Oregon to catch a criminal.
“There is no project that I am approached [about] – on the street, in the store, in the restaurant or wherever I am – by people so often,” she revealed. “And the way they approach is just with utter joy. ‘Oh! Oh, I saw it last night. Oh! That was so fun! It’s maybe the 50th time we’ve seen it. We love that.'”
© GoffPhotos.com“You know, just the kind of exuberance and camaraderie that people feel, and then they choose to share it.” Her famous line in the film, “You’re not so tough without your car, are you?” is often quoted back to her by fans.
Pamela shared insight into one of the film’s most hilarious scenes, when her character pretends to be John’s sister, Austrian accent and all. “I had to practice the accent,” she told Today.
© GoffPhotos.com“And I didn’t work with someone outside, as you will do often with a dialect coach. I worked with Arnold, just listening to him. I didn’t want him to hear me do him ahead of time.”
“And maybe I should have done that. Because when we actually went to shoot it, he was laughing so much, we had to do a billion takes. But I listened to him closely and watched him.”
© ABCShe added that working with Arnold was “wonderful”, and that he was “generous to a fault…willing to try anything. He was delightful. He was really, really great.”
The former Governor of California surprised the cast of Kindergarten Cop in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of the film’s release when he appeared on a Zoom call with the former child actors.
© Universal/YouTube“For 30 years now, people have been talking about this movie,” he said. “It’s like the kids love to watch it, grownups love to watch it, you can watch it with your grandfather at home, your parents, so everyone enjoys it.”
“Hanging out with you guys in the breaks and talking to you guys, this movie really helped me become a better parent myself with my kids,” he added. “It really helped me raise my kids.” His eldest child, Katherine, was born a year before the film was released, followed by Christina in 1991, Patrick in 1993, Christopher in September 1997 and Joseph in October 1997.
© Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA FoundPamela herself is a mom of two, having adopted kids Reed and Lily with her husband, Sandy, whom she married in 1988. He is an acclaimed director, having worked on countless TV series including Brothers & Sisters, One Tree Hill, Dawson’s Creek and Diagnosis Murder.
Aside from Pamela’s starring role in Kindergarten Cop, she also appeared in The Long Riders, Junior, Bean, Proof of Life, Cadillac Man, Jericho and Parks and Recreation. Her most recent on-screen role was in 2023’s The Burial alongside Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones.
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