80s Star from ‘Kindergarten Cop’ Looks Unrecognizable

One of the most prolific actresses of the 80s and 90s surprised fans on Wednesday when she stepped out for a rare outing in LA.

The beloved star, 76, who had audiences in stitches opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990’s Kindergarten Cop, looked remarkably youthful as she ran errands in a chic off-duty look. 

Bundled up in a sharp gray jacket and black leggings, she looked worlds away from the eccentric wardrobe she rocked opposite Robin Williams in Cadillac Man. 

She appeared even further removed from the prehistoric garb she wore alongside Daryl Hannah in 1985’s The Clan of the Cave Bear.  

More recently, she won a new generation of fans with her scene-stealing turn as Amy Poehler’s mom on Parks and Recreation.

So… can you guess the iconic actress?

If you said Pamela Reed, you nailed it.

Back in 2020, Reed reminisced about playing detective Phoebe O’Hara, opposite Schwarzenegger’s John Kimble, who goes undercover in a kids school.

‘There is no project that I am approached (about) — on the street, in the store, in the restaurant or wherever I am — by people so often,’ she told Today at the time.

‘And the way they approach is just with utter joy. “Oh! Oh, I saw it last night. Oh! That was so fun! It’s maybe the 50th time we’ve seen it. We love that.” 

‘You know, just the kind of exuberance and camaraderie that people feel, and then they choose to share it.’

The line quoted back to her most often is ‘You’re not so tough without your car, are you?’

Reed said one of her favorite scenes is when Kimble finds O’Hara in bed eating pasta cooked by her visiting fiancé, Henry Shoop, whom he mistakes for an intruder and nearly shoots.

‘There’s something very disarming about the way that scene is written and, ‘Oh, this is my chef boyfriend,’ and my love for food and the whole thing like that,’ she said.

She added that channeling her character’s hearty appetite ‘wasn’t hard.’ ‘I didn’t have to act that part of the role.’

In one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, O’Hara poses as Kimble’s sister, even mimicking Schwarzenegger’s Austrian accent.

‘I had to practice the accent,’ she said, ‘And I didn’t work with someone outside, as you will do often with a dialect coach. 

‘I worked with Arnold, just listening to him. I didn’t want him to hear me do him ahead of time. And maybe I should have done that. Because, when we actually went to shoot it, he was laughing so much, we had to do a billion takes. 

‘But I listened to him closely and watched him.’

Reed added that Schwarzenegger was ‘wonderful’ to work with.

‘He was generous to a fault,’ she said. ‘He was willing to try anything. He was delightful. He was really, really great.’

After earning her B.F.A. at the University of Washington, Reed carved a career across TV and film.

She was featured in The Andros Targets to HBO’s Tanner ’88, for which she won a CableAce Award, and major movies like The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Long Riders, The Best of Times, Junior, Deadly Whispers, Bean, and Proof of Life.

Fans also loved her TV turns, including Janice Pasetti in Grand, a judge in The Home Court, voicing Ruth Powers in The Simpsons, and most recently, Leslie Knope’s mom on Parks and Recreation.

Off-screen, Reed found love with director Sandy Smolan. 

The couple married in 1988 and adopted two children, Reed and Lily.