To young TV viewers, Pamela Anderson's appearance on Dancing With The Stars may have been their first Pammie-experience. For older fans, the busty blonde bombshell will forever be Baywatch's CJ Parker, bouncing up and down along beaches and bobbing along the sea in her tight red swimsuit. Smuttier types may also recall her work on the post-apocalyptic cleavage-overload of Barb Wire, cheeky animation Stripperella and a certain ropey home video made with Tommy Lee. But how much do you really know about Pamela? Keep reading for ten fast facts about the Playboy legend.
1. Pamela Denise Anderson was born on July 1, 1967 in British Columbia to waitress Carol and furnace repairman Barry.
2. According to Gillian Anderson, Pammie was one of the first actresses considered for the role of alien-buster Dana Scully in The X Files. "They were looking for someone, bustier, taller, leggier than me," said Gillian.
3. When she's not busy acting, dancing and looking beautiful with not many clothes on, Anderson spends a large amount of her time campaigning with animal rights group PETA. During her protests against seal hunting, the use of fur and KFC's treatment of chickens, she has often made use of her sex appeal. She stripped off for adverts and in Stella McCartney's boutique shop window to complain about fur clothing, and even offered her own bust if the Governor of Kentucky took down a statue of KFC founder Colonel Sanders.
4. Anderson has never been shy of sharing her flesh and figure with the world, but it was only in 2005 when we found out what the Baywatch star calls her popular assets. Pancho and Lefty are apparently the correct terms to use.
5. Orange County rockers Lit made full use of Pamela Anderson in their video for pop-punk hit 'Miserable' in 1999. The band could be seen performing the track next to and on top of a scantily-clad giant Pamela. The bands "you make me come" line took on a whole new meaning for teenage boys around the world.
6. When Pammie met notorious Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in 1995, it really was love at first sight. The pair married only 96 hours after their first meeting. They got divorced three years later, but they have reunited on various occasions since and have two sons together, Brandon and Dylan.
7. Anderson's first TV role came in the Scott Baio led sitcom Charles In Charge. It is rumoured that Happy Days star Baio proposed to Anderson in the shower, during a brief romance at the time.
8. It may shock you to find out that it wasn't until 2004 that Anderson actually appeared on a cover of a magazine fully naked. Not surprisingly, it was one of Pammie's regular employers Playboy who secured the deal.
9. Anderson has done many strange things in her career, but appearing as the Genie of the Lamp in Wimbledon's Aladdin pantomime last Christmas probably topped the lot. Starring alongside booming-voiced UK panto stalwart Brian Blessed, the former Baywatch babe strutted her stuff on the New Wimbledon Theatre boards.
10. The internet boom in the late '90s famously coincided with the leak/release of Pamela and Tommy Lee's well-documented sex tape. Available online for the world to see, the pair's rude antics were one of the first online sensations. But is Pammie concerned about her kids growing up with the videos freely available for anyone with broadband? "They're that age and, you know, people are going start saying things," she said. "I just said, 'Look, Mummy and Daddy were massively in love, we videotaped everything, everything was videotaped, and you're probably going hear about something at school'." We'd imagine her son's school friends will be more than happy to pop around for tea and homework sessions!