Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan Beesly Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley. Pam begins the series as the receptionist at the paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin. She later becomes a saleswoman and, eventually, the office administrator, until she leaves in the series finale. Her character is at first shy and unsure but grows increasingly assertive as the series progresses. She is artistically inclined throughout the series and attends art school. Pam shares a friendship and then a romance with Jim Halpert, whom she begins dating in the fourth season, becomes engaged to in the fifth, marries in the sixth, and has children with in the sixth and eighth.
Casting and character development
Pam's character was originally created to be very similar to her British counterpart, Dawn Tinsley. Even minute details, such as how Pam wore her hair each day, were considered by executive producer, Greg Daniels. "When I went in for The Office, the casting director said to me, 'Please look normal'," recalls Jenna Fischer. "Don't make yourself all pretty, and dare to bore me with your audition. Those were her words. Dare to bore me."Taking heed of the advice, Fischer said little during the auditions, during which she was interviewed in character by show producers, in an improvisational format, to imitate the show's documentary premise. "My take on the character of Pam was that she didn't have any media training, so she didn't know how to be a good interview. And also, she didn't care about this interview," she told NPR. "So, I gave very short one-word answers and I tried very hard not to be funny or clever, because I thought that the comedy would come out of just, you know, the real human reactions to the situation... and they liked that take on it."
"When I went into the audition, the first question that they asked me in the character of Pam—they said, 'Do you like working as a receptionist?' I said, 'No.' And that was it. I didn't speak any more than that. And they started laughing."
Fischer found herself creating a very elaborate backstory for the character. For the first few seasons, she kept a list of the character history revealed on-screen by the creators, as well as her own imaginative thoughts on Pam's history. She created a rule with the set's hair and make-up department that it could not look as though it took Pam more than 30 minutes to do her hair, and she formulated ideas as to who gave Pam each piece of jewelry she wore or where she went to college. Fischer also carefully crafted Pam's quiet persona. "Well, my character of Pam is really stuck," she explained to NPR. "I mean, she's a subordinate in this office. And so, I think that for her, the only way she can express herself is in the silences, but you can say so much by not saying anything." Kathryn Hahn also auditioned for the role. Daniels originally envisioned Erica Vittina Phillips in the role.
Originally meek and passive, the character grew more assertive as the seasons passed, prompting Fischer to reassess her portrayal. "I have to approach Pam differently ," she explained in Season 4, a defining season in which her character finally begins a long-awaited relationship with Jim and is accepted into the Pratt Institute. "She is in a loving relationship, she has found her voice, she has started taking art classes. All of these things must inform the character and we need to see changes in the way she moves, speaks, dresses, etc."
Pam Halpert appeared in almost every episode with the exceptions of "Business Ethics", "St. Patrick's Day", and "New Leads" in which only her voice is heard, and several season 8 episodes from "Mrs. California" to "Pool Party", where she did not appear at all as Fischer was on maternity leave at the same time as the character.
Storylines
Seasons 1–3
At the beginning of the series, Pam and Roy have been dating for eight years and engaged for three years. Their open-ended engagement has become one of Michael's running gags and a sore spot for Pam.Pam does not want her current job to become permanent, remarking that "I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist." She will often do extra, unnecessary work to make her other co-workers happy. Pam is apathetic toward her work, evidenced by her frequent games of FreeCell on her office computer. However, in the pilot episode, she breaks down crying when Michael pulls an ill-judged prank by telling her that she will be fired.
Despite the abuse she takes from Michael in the early seasons, Pam becomes more honest and forward with Michael as the series progresses, often making sarcastic comments toward him.
While engaged to Roy, Pam denies, or is in denial about, having any romantic feelings for Jim. When Jim confesses his love for her at the Dunder Mifflin "Casino Night" she turns him down. She later talks to her mom on the phone and says Jim is her best friend, and says "Yeah, I think I am" to an unheard question. She is interrupted by Jim, who enters and kisses her; she responds by kissing him back.
Season 3 marks a turning point for Pam's character: she gains self-confidence and appears less passive and more self-assured as the season progresses. In "Gay Witch Hunt", the season's opener, it is revealed that Pam got cold feet before her wedding and did not marry Roy after all. Meanwhile, Jim has transferred to a different Dunder Mifflin branch, in Stamford, shortly after Pam rejected him a second time after their kiss. Pam moves into her own apartment, begins taking art classes, a pursuit that Roy had previously dismissed as a waste of time, and buys a new car. When the Scranton and Stamford branches merge, Jim returns to Scranton alongside a female co-worker, Karen Filippelli, whom he begins dating. Jim and Pam appeared to have ended all communication after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch; after Jim returns to Scranton, the encounters between the two are tense, despite both admitting to still harboring feelings for the other during the presence of the documentary cameras.
Roy vows to win Pam back, and after his initial efforts to improve his relationship with Pam are successful, the two get back together. After attending an after-work get-together at a local bar with their co-workers, Pam, feeling that she should be more honest with Roy, tells him about Jim kissing her at the casino night. An angered Roy yells, smashes a mirror, and trashes the bar. Pam, frightened and embarrassed by his reaction, breaks up with Roy immediately. Roy vows to kill Jim and in "The Negotiation", Roy unsuccessfully tries to attack Jim at work when he is pepper sprayed by Dwight; Roy is subsequently fired. Pam later reluctantly agrees to meet Roy for coffee at his request, and after the polite but brief meeting, it appears that their relationship has ended amicably, with Roy encouraging Pam to pursue Jim.
Pam participates in an art show, but few people attend. When Oscar and his partner visit the art show, they criticize Pam's work, not knowing that Pam is standing behind them. Affected by their statements, Pam tells the documentary crew that she is going to be more honest, culminating in a dramatic coal walk during the next-to-last episode of the season, "Beach Games", and a seemingly sincere speech to Jim in front of the entire office about their relationship. Michael also comes to the art show and reveals his loyalty and erratically kind heart by offering genuine and enthusiastic praise of Pam's art, and by buying, framing and hanging Pam's drawing of the Dunder Mifflin building in the office. In the season finale, "The Job", she leaves a friendly note in Jim's briefcase and an old memento depicting the 'gold medal' yogurt lid from the Office Olympics, which he sees during an interview for a job at Corporate in New York City. While he is asked how he "would function here in New York", Jim is shown to have his mind back in Scranton, still distracted by the thought of Pam. Jim withdraws his name from consideration and drives back to the office, where he interrupts a talking head Pam is doing for the documentary crew by asking her out for dinner. She happily accepts, visibly moved, abandoning a train of thought about how she would be fine if Jim got the job and never came back to Scranton. Karen quits soon after, becoming the regional manager at Dunder Mifflin's Utica branch.
Seasons 4–6
In Season 4, Pam retains the assertiveness she developed in the third season. Jim and Pam confess that they have started dating after the camera crew catches them kissing. The office ultimately learns of their relationship after Toby catches Pam kissing Jim on the cheek. In "Chair Model", after teasing Pam about his impending proposal, Jim tells the documentary crew he is not kidding around about an engagement and shows them a ring he bought a week after he and Pam started dating. In the next few episodes, Jim fake-proposes to Pam multiple times. In "Goodbye, Toby", Pam discovers she's been accepted at Pratt Institute, an art and design school in Brooklyn, and in an interview, Jim announces that he will propose to Pam that evening. Just as Jim is preparing to propose, however, Andy Bernard stands up and makes his own impromptu proposal to Angela. Having had his thunder stolen by Andy, Jim reluctantly puts the ring back in his jacket pocket, leaving Pam visibly disappointed as she was expecting Jim to propose that night.In the Season 5 premiere, "Weight Loss", Pam begins her three-month course at the Pratt Institute. In this episode, Jim proposes in the pouring rain at a rest stop. In "Business Trip", Pam learns that she is failing one of her classes and will have to remain in New York another three months to retake it. Although Jim is supportive and tells her he will wait for her, Pam ultimately makes the decision to return home, realizing she hates graphic design and misses Scranton. In "Two Weeks", Pam agrees to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Company. When CFO David Wallace makes an offer to buy the company, Michael negotiates in order to get their jobs at Dunder Mifflin back instead, including adding Pam to the sales team. In "Company Picnic", Pam, after dominating the company volleyball tournament, injures her ankle during a game and is taken to the hospital. At the hospital, the camera crew is stationed outside an exam room while a doctor updates Jim and Pam on her condition. There is no audio as the camera displays Jim and Pam embrace, looking shocked and ecstatic, implying that Pam is pregnant.
Pam's pregnancy is confirmed in the Season 6 premiere, in which Jim announces the pregnancy to the office staff. Jim and Pam have their wedding early in the season; the day of the wedding ceremony, Jim and Pam secretly get married at Niagara Falls before having the official ceremony at a church with their co-workers, friends and family. Following the wedding, a multi-episode story arc revolves around Michael hooking up with Pam's mother the night of the wedding. In response, Pam slaps Michael, and Michael and Pam's mother ultimately break up.
In "The Delivery", Pam and Jim have their first child, naming their daughter Cecelia Marie Halpert.