Pamela Sue Voorhees is a fictional character in the
Friday the 13th films, and the
antagonist of the
original Friday the 13th film. She is a former camp cook and the mother of
Jason Voorhees, the main character of the series.
In the original
Friday the 13th film, the character is simply named Mrs. Voorhees, her first name not being revealed until
The Final Chapter.
The character was portrayed by
Betsy Palmer in the first two films. During the character's brief appearance in
Freddy vs. Jason, she was played by
Paula Shaw. According to the actress herself at conventions, Betsy Palmer was asked to reprise her role as Pamela Voorhees for the
Freddy vs. Jason film but turned the part down after she read the script, as she stated in the "Friday The 13th Reunion" available as a "special feature" on the 2009 Paramount release of the "Uncut: Special Edition".
Nana Visitor played Pamela Voorhees in the
2009 reimagining of Friday the 13th.
Appearances
Films
Pamela Voorhees was born in 1930 (revealed in
The Final Chapter). At age 15, Pamela became pregnant by Elias Voorhees, and on June 13, 1946, at age 16, she gave birth to a
hydrocephalic boy she named Jason, as shown in
The Final Friday. Because of his deformity, Pamela never sent Jason to school, and was extremely overprotective of him.
Pamela got a job as a cook at Camp Crystal Lake. On a fateful day in 1957, Jason, infuriated with the constant teasing from other children, snuck out of his...
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