Janet Blair

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

Film

Blair's showbusiness career began as a featured singer in the Hal Kemp Orchestra. She began her film career in 1941 under contract to Columbia Pictures. During World War II, she appeared as the pin-up girl in the March 1944 issue of Yank, the Army Weekly magazine. She appeared in a series of successful films, although she may be best remembered for playing Rosalind Russell's sister in My Sister Eileen (1942) and Rita Hayworth's friend in Tonight and Every Night (1945). In the 1947 film The Fabulous Dorseys, 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 in the comedy Boys' Night Out with James Garner and Kim Novak. In 1968, Blair played Katie Bower, spouse to Buddy Ebsen's Calvin Bower in Walt Disney Pictures' The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band.

Stage In 1950, Blair took the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the American touring production of the stage musical South Pacific, with more than 1,200 performances in three years.

Blair appeared on television in various variety-show guest appearances and served as Dinah Shore'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, a comedy-variety series starring Sid Caesar.

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

Blair costarred with Henry Fonda in The Smith Family, an ABC comedy-drama series. Her last performance on television was in a 1991 episode of Murder, She Wrote.

Radio On radio, Blair costarred with George Raft in "Broadway," a 1942 episode of Lux Radio Theatre on CBS.

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. 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 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 from complications of pneumonia. She was cremated.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1941 Three Girls About Town Charity Banner 1942 Blondie Goes to College Laura Wadsworth Two Yanks in Trinidad Patricia Dare Broadway Billie Moore My Sister Eileen Eileen Sherwood 1943 Something to Shout About Jeanie Maxwell 1944 Once Upon a Time Jeannie Thompson 1945 Tonight and Every Night Judy Kane 1946 Tars and Spars Christine Bradley Gallant Journey Regina 'Ginny' Cleary 1947 The Fabulous Dorseys Jane Howard 1948 I Love Trouble Norma Shannon aka Gretchen Breeger The Black Arrow Joanna Sedley The Fuller Brush Man Ann Elliot 1957 Public Pigeon No. 1 Edith Enders 1962 Night of the Eagle Tansy Taylor US: Burn, Witch, BurnBoys' Night Out Marge Drayton 1968 The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band Katie Bower 1976 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood President's Girl 3 Final film role

Television

The Ford Theatre Hour (1948) The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949) The Philco Television Playhouse (1949) Armstrong Circle Theatre (1954) – Marilyn Wilson The Elgin Hour (1954) – Lacey Gaddis Clark The United States Steel Hour (1954) – Peg St. Claire Goodyear Television Playhouse (1955) A Connecticut Yankee (1955, TV) – Sandy Lux Video Theatre (1955) – Shelly Carnes Climax! (1955) – Joan Hale Front Row Center (1955) – Kitty Foyle One Touch of Venus (1955, TV) – Venus Ford Television Theatre (1956) – Mary Higgins Screen Directors Playhouse (1956) – Della Morgan Caesar's Hour (1956–1957) Alcoa Theatre (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 (1960) – Aunt Polly The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1960–1961) – Herself The Outer Limits (1963) – Lynn Arthur Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1964) – Polly Emerson Destry (1964) – Bessie Hawkins Burke's Law (1963–1964) – Violet/Rina Jacobs Ben Casey (1966) Marcus Welby, M.D. (1970–1973) – Mrs. Carter/Ann Ferris The Smith Family (1971–1972) – Betty Smith Switch (1977) – Isabel Jensen Craig Harris Fantasy Island (1980) – Jackie Flynn The Love Boat (1982) – Mrs. Joan Gerber Murder, She Wrote (1991) – Bertie

Radio Lux Radio Theatre (1946) This Is Hollywood (1946)

Discography Flame Out! (Dico Records, 1959) A Connecticut Yankee - 1955 Television Cast (JJA Records, 1972) Love is the Thing (compilation album, Collectors' Choice Music, 2003) Flame Out!/Goodbye to Love (compilation album, Janet Blair & Claudia Thompson, "The Best Voices Time Forgot" series, Fresh Sound Records, 2019)