Janet Blair (born Martha Janet Lafferty; April 23, 1921 – February 19, 2007) was an American

big-band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

singer who later became a popular film and television actress.

Early life

Janet Blair was born Martha Janet Lafferty on April 23, 1921 in

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona ( ) is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, w ...

, the daughter of musically oriented parents. Her father led the choir and sang solos in his church, and her mother played both piano and organ. She had a brother, Fred Jr., and a sister, Louise.

Film

Janet Blair in Tonight and Every Night trailer

Blair's showbusiness career began as a featured singer in the

Hal Kemp James Hal Kemp (March 27, 1904 – December 21, 1940) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger. Biography Hal Kemp was born in Marion, Alabama. He formed his first band in high school, and by the ...

Orchestra. She began her film career in 1941 under contract to

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

. During World War II, she appeared as the

pin-up girl A pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures and photographs have wide appeal within the popular culture of a society. Pin-up models are usually glamour, actresses, or fashion models whose pictures are intended for informal and aesth ...

in the March 1944 issue of ''

Yank, the Army Weekly ''Yank, the Army Weekly'' was a weekly magazine published by the United States military during World War II. One of its most popular features, intended to boost the morale of military personnel serving overseas, was the weekly publication of a ...

'' magazine. She appeared in a series of successful films, although she may be best remembered for playing

Rosalind Russell Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, model, comedian, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary '' Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in ...

's sister in ''

My Sister Eileen ''My Sister Eileen'' is a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney, originally published in ''The New Yorker'', which eventually inspired many other works: her 1938 book ''My Sister Eileen'', a My Sister Eileen (play), play, ...

'' (1942) and

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

's friend in ''

Tonight and Every Night Tonight may refer to: Television * Tonight (1957 TV programme), ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * Tonight (1975 TV programme), ''Tonigh ...

'' (1945). In the 1947 film ''

The Fabulous Dorseys ''The Fabulous Dorseys'' is a 1947 American musical biopic film directed by Alfred E. Green. It tells the story of the brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, from their boyhood in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania through their rise, their breakup, and th ...

'', Blair returned to her musical roots, portraying a singer. In the late 1940s, she had star billing in the crime drama '' I Love Trouble'' and the comedy '' The Fuller Brush Man'' (both 1948). She was dropped by Columbia in 1947 and did not return to film for several years. "I gave up Hollywood and I gave up pictures" she explained. "All I got were princess parts. A girl gets tired of being a princess all of the time." In 1962, she appeared in a rare dramatic role in the British horror film '' Night of the Eagle'' and played the wife of

Tony Randall Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor of film, television and stage. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in the 1970–1975 television adaptation of ...

in the comedy '' Boys' Night Out'' with

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

and

Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a s ...

Stage

In 1950, Blair took the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the American touring production of the stage musical ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

'', with more than 1,200 performances in three years. During the tour, she married her second husband, producer-director Nick Mayo, and they later had two children. Blair also starred in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

comedy ''A Girl Can Tell'' in 1953.

Television

In 1955, Blair starred as Venus in a live production of ''

One Touch of Venus ''One Touch of Venus'' is a 1943 musical with music written by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and book by S. J. Perelman and Nash, based on the 1885 novella ''The Tinted Venus'' by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, and very loosely spoofing the Pygma ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Janet Blair Henry Fonda Smith Family 1970

Blair appeared on television in various variety-show guest appearances and served as

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...

's summer replacement on the '' Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' in 1958. She was a cast member during the 1956–1957 season on ''

Caesar's Hour ''Caesar's Hour'' is a live, hour-long American sketch-comedy television program that aired on NBC from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Janet Blair, and Milt Kamen ...

'', a comedy-variety series starring

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950–1954) ...

. She appeared as a guest panelist on the June 9, 1957 episode of ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

''. Blair costarred with

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

in '' The Smith Family'', an ABC comedy-drama series. Her last performance on television was in a 1991 episode of ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''.

Radio

On radio, Blair costarred with

George Raft George Raft (né Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembe ...

in "Broadway," a 1942 episode of ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Recording

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

Personal life

Blair married musical arranger and conductor Louis Ferdinand Busch on July 12, 1943 in

Lake Arrowhead, California Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, and surrounding the eponymous Lake Arrowhe ...

. They had met four years earlier when Blair sang for Hal Kemp's band and Busch was Kemp's pianist and arranger. They divorced in March 1950. 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. Blair was a Republican and campaigned for

Thomas Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and ...

in the 1944 presidential election. On February 19, 2007, Blair died at the age of 85 at St. John's Health Center in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

from complications of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. She was cremated.

Filmography

*'' Three Girls About Town'' (1941) – Charity Banner *'' Blondie Goes to College'' (1942) – Laura Wadsworth *'' Two Yanks in Trinidad'' (1942) – Patricia Dare *''

'' (1942) – Billie Moore *''

'' (1942) – Eileen Sherwood *'' Something to Shout About'' (1943) – Jeanie Maxwell *''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has started many narrative ...

'' (1944) – Jeannie Thompson *''

'' (1945) – Judy Kane * ''

Tars and Spars ''Tars and Spars'' is a 1946 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Alfred Drake, Janet Blair, and Marc Platt. Plot Howard Young is a coast guardsman who has been on shore duty for three years despite ...

'' (1946) – Christine Bradley *''

Gallant Journey ''Gallant Journey'' is a 1946 American historical film written, produced and directed by William A. Wellman and starring Glenn Ford, Janet Blair and Charles Ruggles. The film is a biopic of the early U.S. aviation pioneer John Joseph Montgomery ...

'' (1946) – Regina 'Ginny' Cleary *''

'' (1947) – Jane Howard *'' I Love Trouble'' (1948) – Norma Shannon aka Gretchen Breeger *'' The Black Arrow'' (1948) – Joanna Sedley *'' The Fuller Brush Man'' (1948) – Ann Elliot *'' Public Pigeon No. 1'' (1957) – Edith Enders *'' Night of the Eagle'' (US: ''Burn, Witch, Burn'', 1962) – Tansy Taylor *'' Boys' Night Out'' (1962) – Marge Drayton *''

The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (1968) – Katie Bower *''

Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood ''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' is a 1976 American comedy film directed by Michael Winner, and starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr and Art Carney. Spoofing the craze surrounding Rin Tin Tin, the film is notable for the larg ...

'' (1976) – President's Girl 3

Television

*''

The Ford Theatre Hour ''Ford Theatre'', spelled ''Ford Theater'' for the original radio version and known, in full, as ''The Ford Television Theatre'' for the TV version, is a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 195 ...

'' (1948) *'' The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre'' (1949) *''

The Philco Television Playhouse ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' is an American television anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the ...

'' (1949) *''

Armstrong Circle Theatre ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series which ran from June 6, 1950, to June 25, 1957, on NBC, and from October 2, 1957, to August 28, 1963, on CBS. It alternated weekly with '' The United States Steel Ho ...

'' (1954) – Marilyn Wilson *'' The Elgin Hour'' (1954) – Lacey Gaddis Clark *''

The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation (U.S. ...

'' (1954) – Peg St. Claire *''

Goodyear Television Playhouse ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the first Golden Age of Television. Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' ...

'' (1955) *'' A Connecticut Yankee'' (1955, TV) – Sandy *''

Lux Video Theatre ''Lux Video Theatre'' is an American television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1957. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays. Overview The ''Lux Vi ...

'' (1955) – Shelly Carnes *''

Climax! ''Climax!'' (later known as ''Climax Mystery Theater'') is an American television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS pro ...

'' (1955) – Joan Hale *'' Front Row Center'' (1955) – Kitty Foyle *''

'' (1955, TV) – Venus *'' Ford Television Theatre'' (1956) – Mary Higgins *''

Screen Directors Playhouse ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadca ...

'' (1956) – Della Morgan *''

'' (1956–1957) *''

Alcoa Theatre ''Alcoa Theatre'' is a half-hour American anthology series sponsored by the Alcoa Corporation and telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to May 23, 1960. For its first four months on the air, the title ''Turn o ...

'' (1958) – Lily Adair *''Around the World with Nellie Bly'' (1960, TV movie) – Elizabeth Jane Cochran (Nellie Bly) *'' The Chevy Mystery Show'' (1960) – Lisa Townsend *''

Shirley Temple's Storybook ''Shirley Temple's Storybook'' is a 1958–61 American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by actress Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales like Mother Goose and other family-oriented stories performed by we ...

'' (1960) – Aunt Polly *'' The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'' (1960–1961) – Herself *''

The Outer Limits ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (1963) – Lynn Arthur *''

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre ''Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre'' is an American anthology series, sponsored by Chrysler, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comed ...

'' (1964) – Polly Emerson *'' Destry'' (1964) – Bessie Hawkins *'' Burke's Law'' (1963–1964) – Violet/Rina Jacobs *''

Ben Casey ''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama television series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member ...

'' (1966) *'' Marcus Welby, M.D.'' (1970–1973) – Mrs. Carter/Ann Ferris *'' The Smith Family'' (1971–1972) – Betty Smith *''

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

'' (1977) – Isabel Jensen Craig Harris *''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. ...

'' (1980) – Jackie Flynn *''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

'' (1982) – Mrs. Joan Gerber *''

'' (1991) – Bertie

Radio

*''

'' (1946) *''This Is Hollywood'' (1946)

Discography

*''Flame Out'' (1959, Dico)

References

External links

* *
''Daily Telegraph'' obituary

Photos of Janet Blair in Columbia Pictures 1940's films
by Ned Scott {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Janet 1921 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers Actresses from Pennsylvania American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses California Republicans Deaths from pneumonia in California Pennsylvania Republicans People from Altoona, Pennsylvania 21st-century American women

Early life

Film

Stage

Television

Radio

Recording

Personal life

Filmography

Television

Radio

Discography

References

Further reading

External links