Pamela Blair

Pamela Blair (December 5, 1949 – July 23, 2023) was an American actress best known for originating the role of Val in the musical A Chorus Line and several appearances on American soap operas.
Early life and career
Born in Bennington, Vermont, to Edgar Joseph and Geraldine Marie (Cummings) Blair; she was raised in a small town with her pony, Tonka. She studied dance, played sports, and dreamed of becoming a Radio City Rockette in order to meet her idols, The Beatles. At age 16, she moved to New York City to attend a private school, The National Academy of Ballet, in her senior year of high school. She studied acting at HB Studio. She later met a friend at a dance class who told her Michael Bennett was looking for dancers for Promises, Promises. Pam auditioned and was hired. Blair comments, "Whenever I don't seem to be getting anywhere in this business, I try to remember that I was once a chambermaid in a small motel in Vermont." She continued to build credits with Seesaw, another Michael Bennett production, and then landed the coveted role of "Curly's Wife", the only female role in the James Earl Jones Broadway revival of Of Mice and Men which later opened at the Kennedy Center to critical acclaim. She also appeared in Sugar, the stage musical version of the film Some Like It Hot, in which she played "Sugar Kane", a role made famous by Marilyn Monroe.
A Chorus Line and Broadway fame
In 1974, Blair was invited by Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which A Chorus Line was developed. The character of "Valerie Clark" was in large part, based on her own life, although the surgical enhancement came from another dancer. "Val was based on Mitzi Hamilton, who actually underwent surgery to enhance her figure, and Pam Blair, whose mixture of angelic appearance and ribald tongue entertained Bennett enormously". The angelic looking yet sexy Val has a foul mouth, and introduces the popular Broadway song "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three" which tells the story of an unattractive yet talented girl who uses plastic surgery to help her get cast in roles. Along with the cast, Blair won the 1976 Theatre World Award for Ensemble Performance for the show.
Blair next originated the role of "Amber" (later "Angel") in 1978's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Her turn as an eager to work prostitute earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination. She can be heard on the cast recording as the lead in "Hard Candy Christmas", although the song "Bus from Amarillo" was taken from her before the show opened. Further roles on Broadway include King of Hearts (in the Geneviève Bujold role), "Clelia" in The Nerd, and "Joanne" in A Few Good Men, directed by her then estranged husband, Don Scardino.
Television, film, and later career
Blair made several appearances on American soap operas such as Loving, Another World, Ryan's Hope, and All My Children, for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination. She guest starred on such shows as Law & Order, The Cosby Show, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Blair guest-starred in a movie-of-the-week titled Maneater for Lifetime. She appeared opposite Jodie Foster in the TV film Svengali and in feature films Mighty Aphrodite directed by Woody Allen, 21 Grams with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, Before and After with Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson and Annie as the maid Annette.
Blair lived in Hollywood, California, for a time, where she landed the role of Sabrina's mother on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, although high-profile on-camera success eluded her. However, she continued to amass many regional and national credits, and still appeared in roles such as Heddi La Rue in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In 2006, she appeared in the lead role of Miss Mona with the Phoenix Theater's production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, directed by Michael Barnard; she had been in the musical's original cast when it debuted.
Personal life
Blair married actor and film director Don Scardino in 1984, and they divorced in 1991. She lived in New Jersey for a time, and last resided in Arizona where she owned her own Therapeutic and Myofascial Massage Studio for athletes. Blair died in Phoenix on July 23, 2023, at the age of 73, from undisclosed causes.
Credits
Theater
Film
Television
Awards
References
Flinn, Denny Martin, What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line, Bantam Books, 1989.
Kelly, Kevin, One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story, Zebra Biography, 1990.
Mandelbaum, Ken, A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett, St. Martin's Press, 1989.
Viagas, Robert, Baayork Lee, and Thommie Walsh, On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line, Morrow, 1990
External links
1949 births
2023 deaths
Actresses from Vermont
American female dancers
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
Dancers from Vermont
People from Bennington, Vermont
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American dancers