Original ‘Nancy Drew’ passes torch to TV’s newest version

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Pamela Sue Martin, TV’s original Nancy Drew, has passed the torch to the actress playing the latest incarnation of the teenage sleuth.

Martin will appear on The CW’s remake that blends mystery, suspense, a supernatural element and a bit of horror. She got her big break on “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries” with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson in the late 1970s.

Martin wrote a letter to Kennedy McMann, who at 22 is getting her big break on the remake a year after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University.

McMann says she kept the letter in which Martin wrote about standing up for yourself in Hollywood and making your own decisions. McMann says she cried when she read it.

“Nancy Drew” debuts Oct. 9.