TLDR: Pamela Sue Martin had a habit most actors don’t: walking away from hit shows the moment she stopped believing in them. She did it once on Nancy Drew, then did it again on Dynasty, at the height of its popularity, for almost identical reasons.
Pamela Sue Martin was 19 when she appeared in the ensemble disaster film The Poseidon Adventure in 1972, and by 1977 she’d become a household name playing the title role in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries.
She pushed producers to let Nancy Drew’s storylines stand independently rather than folding her character into the Hardy Boys half of the show, arguing Nancy was strong enough to carry episodes on her own.
She Left the Show Rather Than Watch Her Character Shrink
When the format changed and Nancy’s role was reduced within the combined series, Martin left in 1978 rather than continue under a version of the character she didn’t believe in.
TV Guide reported at the time that losing Nancy’s independent segments simply didn’t sit well with her. The character was eventually written out of the show entirely, and it was cancelled not long after.
The same year she left, Martin posed for a Playboy cover story titled “TV’s Nancy Drew Undraped,” becoming just the second celebrity ever to appear in the magazine after Barbra Streisand.
She’s said she wasn’t especially calculated about the decision. “I was told it wouldn’t be complete nudity, so I didn’t give it that much thought,” she recalled, adding that the accompanying interview let her talk publicly about her environmental work.
Dynasty Gave Her an Entirely Different Kind of Fame
Martin originated the role of Fallon Carrington in Dynasty’s very first episode in 1981, and the show’s rise turned out to be genuinely disorienting for her. “I remember that I became extremely famous during that time, and it was a little discomfiting for me,” she said in a 2015 interview.
She won a Bambi Award for the role in 1984, the same year she chose to leave.
Joan Collins’s Arrival Changed the Show in a Way She Couldn’t Get Behind
Martin has been direct about why she walked away from one of the most-watched shows in America at the height of its popularity. “It started out with a sort of satirical quality, a cut above intellectually,” she told Closer. “Then writers were replaced by more traditional soap writers.”
She specifically pointed to Joan Collins’s arrival as a turning point in the show’s tone. “And then Joan came in with her caricature and it became less and less real. It became a trashy soap opera,” she said. “If you were strong, you were a bitch; if you were weak, you were a victim.”
“I had enough,” she said plainly. “I was not happy with the direction that my character took.”
She Left Hollywood the Same Way She’d Left Every Set
Martin moved to Idaho, raising her son with her fourth husband, Bruce Allen, and stepped back from acting almost entirely. “I really moved into a phase where I didn’t want to be in front of the camera, I like being behind it,” she’s said, describing writing and directing as the natural next chapter. “I’ve never really looked back,” she told Closer. “I wanted to be with animals, ride horses, travel a bit and have a family. I was able to do all that by leaving.”
Now in her early 70s, she splits her time between Idaho and Mexico, painting, gardening, playing ukulele, and directing local theater.
Her only real return to the spotlight came briefly in 2019, appearing as a minor character in the pilot episode of the rebooted Nancy Drew series.
You can read more about the rest of the Dynasty cast in our full guide to the show.
Pamela Sue Martin, Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Pamela Sue Martin leave Dynasty?
She’s said she grew unhappy with the show’s shift toward more traditional, melodramatic soap writing, specifically pointing to Joan Collins’s arrival as the moment the tone changed. She left in 1984 at the height of the show’s popularity.
Why did Pamela Sue Martin leave Nancy Drew?
She left in 1978 after the show’s format reduced her character’s independent storylines, folding Nancy Drew’s role into the Hardy Boys half of the combined series.
What does Pamela Sue Martin do now?
She lives between Idaho and Mexico, largely retired from acting, spending her time painting, gardening, and directing local theater productions.
