Janet Blair

Janet Blair (born Martha Janet Lafferty; April 23, 1921 – February 19, 2007) was a big-band singer who became a popular American film and television actress.

This article is about the big band singer and actress. For the singer-songwriter, see Janet Blair (singer-songwriter).
Janet Blair
Born
Martha Janet Lafferty

(1921-04-23)April 23, 1921
Altoona, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedFebruary 19, 2007(2007-02-19) (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActress, singer
Years active1941–1991
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1943; div. 1950)​

Nick Mayo
​
​
(m. 1953; div. 1971)​
Children2

Early years

Janet Blair was born Martha Janet Lafferty on April 23, 1921, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the daughter of musically oriented parents,[1] Mr. and Mrs. Fred B. Lafferty.[2] Her father led the choir and sang solos in his church, and her mother played both piano and organ.[1] She had a brother, Fred Jr., and a sister, Louise.[3]

Film

Blair began her acting career on film in 1941, being placed under contract to Columbia Pictures. Before that, she was a featured singer in the Hal Kemp Orchestra.[4] During World War II, she appeared as the pin-up girl in the March 1944 issue of Yank magazine. She made a string of successful pictures, although she is today best remembered for playing Rosalind Russell's sister in My Sister Eileen (1942)[5] and Rita Hayworth's best friend in Tonight and Every Night (1945). In the 1947 film The Fabulous Dorseys, Blair returned to her musical roots, portraying a singer.[6] In the late 1940s, Blair had star billing in the crime drama I Love Trouble and the comedy The Fuller Brush Man (both 1948), but was dropped by Columbia and did not return to pictures for several years.

She made a rare dramatic appearance in the British horror film Night of the Eagle (1962). She played the wife of Tony Randall in the comedy Boys' Night Out, a motion picture released in the same year, which starred James Garner and Kim Novak.

Stage

In 1950, Blair took the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the U.S touring production of the stage musical South Pacific, making more than 1,200 performances in three years.[7] "[I] never missed a performance", she noted proudly. During the tour, she also married her second husband, producer-director Nick Mayo, and they became parents of Amanda and Andrew.

Blair also starred in the Broadway comedy You Never Can Tell in 1953.[7]

Clubs

Blair was a star musical performer in premier nightclubs and supper clubs such as the Empire Room at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

Television

In 1955, Blair starred as Venus in a live production of One Touch of Venus on NBC-TV.[8]

Blair appeared on television in various variety-show guest appearances—saying, "I think I appeared on the Milton Berle Show more than any other guest"[9]—and hosted, with John Raitt and Edie Adams, the 1958 summer replacement for the Dinah Shore Chevy Show for the vacationing star Dinah Shore.[10] She was a cast member during the 1956–1957 TV season on Caesar's Hour, a comedy-variety series starring Sid Caesar.[11]

She appeared as a guest panelist on the June 9, 1957, episode of What's My Line?.[12]

On television in 1971, Blair co-starred with Henry Fonda in The Smith Family,[13] a comedy-drama series on ABC featuring Ron Howard as their son. Her last performance on television was in a 1991 episode of Murder, She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury.

Radio

On radio, Blair co-starred with George Raft in "Broadway," a 1942 episode of Lux Radio Theatre on CBS.[14]

Recording

Blair recorded an album of standards entitled Flame Out! for the Dico label,[15] which included ballads such as "Don't Explain" and "Then You've Never Been Blue."

Personal life and death

Blair was married twice. Her first marriage was to musical arranger and conductor[2] Louis Ferdinand Busch on July 12, 1943, at Lake Arrowhead, California. The two had met four years earlier when Blair sang for Hal Kemp's band and Busch was Kemp's pianist and arranger.[16] They divorced in March 1950.[17] Two years later, Blair wed television producer Nick Mayo, with whom she later had two children, Andrew and Amanda. The couple remained together for 19 years, until their divorce in 1971.[18][19] Blair was a Republican and campaigned for Thomas Dewey in the 1944 presidential election.[20] On February 19, 2007, Blair died at the age of 85 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, succumbing to complications from pneumonia.[21][7] She was cremated.[22]

Filmography
Blair in Tonight and Every Night (1945)

Television

Radio

Discography
  • Flame Out (1959, Dico)

References
  1. "Road Wasn't Difficult For Janet Blair". Waco Tribune. December 7, 1952. p. 54. Retrieved April 19, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Janet Blair Is Given Surprise Welcome Home". Altoona Tribune. January 7, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved April 19, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Coleman, William A. (October 14, 1956). "Caesar's third "wife"". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. p. 139. Retrieved September 8, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Ewald, William (September 25, 1956). "Janet Blair Irked at Fabray Comparison". The Times. p. 11. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Roz Russell, Janet Blair Stars of 'My Sister Eileen' at State". Kingsport Times. January 10, 1943. p. 8. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Zylstra, Freida (May 18, 1947). "Janet Blair". Chicago Tribune. p. 11. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  7. Simonson, Robert (February 21, 2007). "Janet Blair, Stage, Film and Television Actress, Is Dead at 85". Playbill. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  8. Hischak, Thomas (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford University Press. p. 556. ISBN 9780195335330. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  9. Hopper, Hedda (September 3, 1950). "Adrift in South Pacific". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. 26. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Bundy, June (June 30, 1958). "Chevy Show Potential Record Album Seller" (PDF). Billboard. p. 5. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  11. Kleiner, Dick (July 4, 1957). "Janet Blair Won't Look Back On Her Year Of Disappointment". Pampa Daily News. p. 13. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. What's My Line? (13 January 2014). "What's My Line? - Johnnie Ray; Ozzie Nelson [panel]; Janet Blair [panel] (Jun 9, 1957)" – via YouTube.
  13. "Actress Janet Blair, native of Altoona, dies at age 85". The Daily News. February 21, 2007. p. 2. Retrieved September 8, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Drama Heads WHP Bill". Harrisburg Telegraph. November 19, 1942. p. 20. Retrieved April 19, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Names on Profit Sharing Basis New Label's Aim" (PDF). Billboard. May 25, 1959. p. 18. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  16. "'My Sister Eileen' Wedded to Early Sweetheart". The Salt Lake Tribune. July 13, 1943. p. 14. Retrieved September 8, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Movie Divorce Crop Is Large". The Spokesman-Review. January 2, 1951. p. 2. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  18. "Children Watch As Parents Are Wed". Kentucky New Era. October 19, 1963. p. 12. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  19. Pearson, Howard. "Laudable Ambition". The Deseret News. p. B8. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  20. Critchlow, Donald T. (21 October 2013). When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521199186 – via Google Books.
  21. "Stage, Screen and TV Star Janet Blair Dies at 86 Read more about Stage, Screen and TV Star Janet Blair Dies at 86". broadwayworld.com. February 21, 2007. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  22. Wilson, Scott (16 September 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997 – via Google Books.
  23. "Rehearsal". Harrisburg Telegraph. November 11, 1946. p. 19. Retrieved September 15, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. "'Hollywood' Star". Harrisburg Telegraph. December 21, 1946. p. 17. Retrieved September 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading
  • Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 1-59393-320-7.
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