Pamela Courson
| Pamela Courson Morrison | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Pamela Susan Courson December 22, 1946 Weed, California, U.S. |
| Died | April 25, 1974 (aged 27) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Partner(s) |
Jim Morrison (c. 1965–1971; his death) |
Pamela Susan Courson Morrison (December 22, 1946 – April 25, 1974) was a long-term companion of Jim Morrison, singer of The Doors.
Courson was born in Weed, California. Her father, Columbus "Corky" Courson, had been a navy bombardier (becoming a commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve) and became a high school principal in Orange, California. Her mother, Pearl "Penny" Courson, was a homemaker who did interior design and was described as a "connoisseur of the arts". Pamela had one sibling, a sister.
It has been rumored that Neil Young wrote the song "Cinnamon Girl" about her, as well as "The Needle and the Damage Done", but both have been denied.
One biography states that Courson and Morrison met at a lesser-known nightclub called The London Fog on the Sunset Strip in 1965, while she was an art student at Los Angeles City College. In his 1998 memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, keyboardist Ray Manzarek states that Courson and a friend saw the band during their stint at The London Fog.
Courson's relationship with Morrison was tumultuous with loud arguments and repeated infidelities by both partners. For a time Courson operated Themis, a fashion boutique that Morrison bought for her.
Courson stated that on July 3, 1971, she awoke to find Morrison dead in the bathtub of their apartment in Paris. The official coroner's report listed his cause of death as heart failure, although no autopsy was performed. Under Morrison's will, which stated that he was "an unmarried person", Courson was named his heir, and therefore in line to inherit his entire fortune. Lawsuits against the estate would tie up her quest for inheritance for the next two years.
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