All My Children star Pamela Blair, who originated the role of Val in Broadway’s A Chorus Line, has died. She was 73.
According to Deadline, Blair died on July 23 at her home in Phoenix, Arizona, following a lengthy illness.
Tributes have been pouring in for Blair from her family, friends and fans, with Blair’s A Chorus Line co-star Baayork Lee, 76, writing on Facebook: “I am very sad to say my Sagittarian sister Pam Blair has gone to play with her [A Chorus Line colleagues] among the clouds.”
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“Walt Disney Pammie and I shared the same birthday. We always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day,” Lee continued.
“What a colourful character she was as depicted in the Val monologue in the show. She brought the house down every night as well as a woman standing at the edge of the orchestra shouting, ‘Wash your mouth out.’ You are free now Pammie so dance, dance, dance [among] the stars.”
Born on December 5, 1949, in Vermont, Blair studied drama at New York City’s HB Studio with Cleopatra star Herbert Berghof, according to her IMDb biography.
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It was in 1968 when she made her Broadway debut with Promises, Promises, and following a series of ensemble roles, she notably played the only female part – Curley’s wife – in 1974’s Of Mice and Men.
She then starred as Valerie ‘Val’ Clarke in Broadway’s A Chorus Line, which, according to the official Twitter account of late composer Marvin Hamlisch, was a role based partly on her own life that she helped develop in workshops.
Blair also starred on screens, notably playing Mrs. Goodman in All My Children and Maida Andrews, as well as Elizabeth Shank Ryan in Ryan’s Hope. She also appeared as Sabrina’s mother in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Karen on The Cosby Show.
For her work on All My Children, Blair was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Her final projects include 2003’s 21 Grams, and the 2009 miniseries Maneater.
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