Celebrity Nooz: Victoria Principal

Victoria Principal (Actress) - Dallas

Updated: 2/21/22

Name: Victoria Principal

Birth Name: Vicki Ree Principal

Born: January 3, 1950 in Fukuoka, Japan

Claim To Fame: Victoria Principal is an American actress, producer, entrepreneur, and author, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the American primetime television soap opera series Dallas.

Family Life: Her first marriage was to writer-producer Christopher Skinner in 1978; and later divorced in 1980. Principal married Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Harry Glassman in 1985. In 2006, Principal filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Info: The elder daughter of United States Air Force sergeant Victor Rocco Principal, who was then stationed in Fukuoka. She spent her first three months of life on Japanese soil. Her mother, Ree Principal, was a native of Gordon, Georgia.

Her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Italy, originally surnamed Principale.

Victoria has a younger sister, Kim, who is married to composer Russell Fetherolf.

With her father being in the U.S. military, the family moved quite often - 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.

Was crowned Miss Miami of 1969.

After graduating from South Dade Senior High School in 1968, she enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College, intending to study medicine.

Months before completing her first year of studies, she was seriously injured in a car accident. She drastically changed her life by moving to New York City to pursue her acting career, and shortly thereafter to Europe.

Studied privately with Jean Scott (professor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London, and then in 1971 moved to Los Angeles.

Principal had a high-profile relationship with English singer-songwriter Andy Gibb.

In the mid-1980s, Principal became interested in natural-beauty therapies, and in 1989, she created a self-named line of skincare products, Principal Secret.

Was honored by then President Ronald Reagan for her work on behalf of arthritis victims. Both of her parents suffered from the disease.

In 1993, Principal received an honorary law degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.

In 1995, Principal was named Entertainment Business Woman of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners.

In 2000, Principal became a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC).

In 2004, she received an honorary degree from Drexel University's Business School and gave the commencement address.

In 2006, Principal formed a charitable organization, the Victoria Principal Foundation For Thoughtful Existence, to help subsidize the environmental movement, of which she had been an active participant since 1978.

In 2010, Principal was honored at the opening of Legacy Park in Malibu near the Pacific Coast Highway as a founding member of the park back in 2004.

In January 2011, she launched a line of jewelry called Keys & Hearts available on the same site as her skincare line.

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 2014, Principal made a substantial contribution to NRDC's campaign for Save the Bees.

In 2015, Principal fully funded the Red Star Rescue Team of the American Humane Association for the rescue and rehabilitation of 150 dogs that had been injured and displaced by tornadoes and floods in Oklahoma and Texas.

In 2019, Principal announced that she was stepping away from Principal Secret with Guthy Renker acquiring the business. Principal announced that she would be focusing on her foundation The Victoria Principal Foundation for Thoughtful Existence.

Principal is a former co-chairman of Victory Over Violence, the LA County Domestic Violence Council Community Advisory Board. The 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.

Trivia: Principal began her career in TV commercials, appearing in her first at age 5.

In 1970, Principal won her first film role as Marie Elena, a Mexican mistress, in John Huston's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972). It earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1973, she posed nude for Playboy to promote her second film, The Naked Ape (1973). However, the film's failure disappointed her, and she would later refer to it as the worst film of her career.

Between 1975 to late 1977, Principal left acting and became a Hollywood talent agent and booking agent.

In 1977, she made a return to acting in a guest appearance on the pilot of the television series Fantasy Island.

Principal returned to acting full-time when she landed the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing on the long-running prime time TV soap opera series Dallas that aired on the CBS network from 1978 to 1991.

She acted as her own manager in contract negotiations with CBS and Lorimar Productions, which produced Dallas. When Principal signed her Dallas contract, she removed the clause that would have given the network the right to consent and profit from her outside endeavors.

In 1981 and 1982, Principal was the recipient of the "Bravo Otto" Award, a German accolade honoring excellence of performers in film, television, and music.

While on an airplane, the pilot came on over the loudspeaker and threatened not to land the plane unless Victoria told him "Who Shot J.R.?", during the summer before the third season of Dallas.

Credits Larry Hagman and Barbara Bel Geddes as her favorite acting mentors.

Principal recorded a pop single duet song with English singer-songwriter Andy Gibb, titled "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (1981). It was released on RSO Records in August 1981. The single peaked at number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on September 12, 1981.

Was author Philip K. Dick's ideal choice for the character Rachael in Blade Runner (1982), a role that went to Sean Young instead.

In 1983, Principal earned her second Golden Globe nomination, this time as Best Actress in a Television Series for Dallas.

Reflecting on her time at Dallas, Principal stated to Entertainment Weekly in 2018, "The first five years on Dallas were so unbelievably wonderful - then some key writers departed, and by year seven there was a decline in the writing, which was an enormous part of my decision to leave. I informed the producers during re-negotiations in the seventh year that I would only stay for two more. They wanted a longer contract, and I said no. I was completely transparent. I learned a lot from playing Pam. She was someone with such innate goodness and who was courageous in fighting for what she believed in. It was really a privilege to play her."

Through her production company Victoria Principal Productions, Principal produced and starred in a half dozen major television productions, including Naked Lie (1989), Blind Witness (1989), and Sparks: The Price of Passion (1990).

In the 1980s, Principal became a best-selling author, writing three books about beauty, skincare, fitness, well-being and, health: The Body Principal (1983); The Beauty Principal (1984); and The Diet Principal (1987). In the 2000s, she wrote a fourth book Living Principal (2001). After 12 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list in the general non-fiction category, The Body Principal was the first "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" No. 1 bestseller when that List debuted January 1, 1984.

In 1999, Principal became the youngest recipient of the Genii Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Television.

In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to Principal's career.

Where Are They Now: Principal has been out of the acting game since 2001. Since then she has been working with several charitable organizations and taking philanthropy to the next level. Her generous nature has been wholehearted for years and it has helped so many people and so many serious causes. Thank you, Victoria Principal!

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