News

Aug 16, 2023

'A Chorus Line’ and ‘All My Children’ actress Pamela Blair dead at 73

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission. Pamela Blair, who originated the role of Val in the musical “A Chorus Line,” has died. She was 73. Blair died Sunday at home in Phoenix,

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Pamela Blair, who originated the role of Val in the musical “A Chorus Line,” has died. She was 73.

Blair died Sunday at home in Phoenix, Arizona, following a lengthy illness, Deadline reported.

Friends and family took to social media to mourn the “All My Children” actress, with Blair’s “Chorus Line” co-star Baayork Lee writing: “I am very sad to say my Sagittarian sister Pam Blair has gone to play with her [‘A Chorus Line’] colleagues among the clouds.”

In a Facebook post, Lee — who shared a birthday with Blair — continued that the pair “always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day.”

Lee recalled Blair bringing the “house down every night” with her performance of “Dance: Ten, Looks: Three” from “Chorus Line.”

“You are free now Pammie so dance, dance, dance among the stars,” Lee concluded her post.

Born in Vermont on Dec. 5, 1949, Blair started her career as a stage actress and dancer. She made her Broadway debut in 1968’s “Promises, Promises.”

She continued playing ensemble parts on Broadway shows including “Sugar” and “Seesaw,” before landing the only female role in “Of Mice and Men,” as Curley’s wife, in 1974.

Blair was best known for playing the original Val in “A Chorus Line,” a role she helped develop in 1974 after being asked to participate in workshops.

Her character, Valerie Clarke, was loosely based on her own life, though Val’s love of plastic surgery came from another dancer.

She famously sings “Dance: Ten, Looks: Three” about the value of surgical enhancement.

Blair married actor and TV director Don Scardino in 1984.

The couple divorced in 1991.

“We are saddened to hear that Pamela Blair, the original ‘Val’ in A Chorus Line, has passed away,” the official account of the late “Chorus Line” composer Marvin Hamlisch tweeted, adding that she was “a part of the musical from the very first workshop.”

“Our thoughts are with her loved ones and fans,” the tweet read.

Blair featured in TV shows such as “Ryan’s Hope,” “Loving, Another World,” and “Sabrina The Teenage Witch.”

She received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1987 for her guest appearance on “All My Children.”

Her film credits include “Mighty Aphrodite,” directed and written by Woody Allen, “Annie,” and “21 Grams.”