Pam Long (actor)

Pamela K. Long (born 1953 or 1954) is an American actress and writer. From 1981 to 1982 she played the character of Ashley Linden Marshall on NBC's Texas. After the demise of the NBC serial, Pam Long was hired as a writer initially then Head Writer for the CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light, first from 1983 to 1986; then from 1987 to 1990.

Before she started in show business, she won the title of Miss Alabama in 1974 and competed for the title of Miss America 1975. At the time, she was attending the University of North Alabama, and was involved in the Phi Mu sorority.

After graduation, she went to New York City and played Ashley Linden on Texas from 1981 to 1982. She had almost no acting experience when she landed the part: one small paying role in a dinner theatre production of Play It Again, some television commercials and an appearance on local television in Alabama were her only previous jobs.

In 1982, Long also became Head Writer of Texas. The show began to improve in quality, but the ratings in the United States remained in the basement. The show was more popular North of the US border. In Canada, Texas topped the daytime ratings charts for many weeks. The last episode of Texas aired on December 31, 1982.

In 1983, Long became Head Writer of CBS Daytime's Guiding Light, while former Texas Executive Producer Gail Kobe joined her.

Both of her stints were well regarded and provided a renaissance for the aging show, at one point pushing the show's ratings to the #1 spot for three weeks in the summer of 1984, dethroning then-powerhouse General Hospital from the top ratings spot. Long created some of GL's most memorable characters, like vixen Reva Shayne, haughty ice queen Alexandra Spaulding, and rough-around-the-edges ingenue Harley Davidson Cooper.

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