Janet Blair, 85, Star of Films and TV
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Janet Blair, the vivacious actress who appeared in 1940s musicals and comedies, then turned to television and stars like Sid Caesar and Henry Fonda, died Monday at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 85.
Blair was singing with Hal Kemp’s band at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles in 1941 when she was spotted by a talent scout from Columbia Pictures.
She languished in B pictures until Rosalind Russell got her the title role in the comedy “My Sister Eileen” (1942). That led to starring roles in “Broadway” with George Raft, and “Once Upon a Time,” in which she co-starred with Cary Grant and a dancing caterpillar.
She quit the movies after 1948, and took on the Mary Martin role in the touring version of “South Pacific,” clocking more than 1,200 performances in three years.
Blair appeared mainly on television during the 1950s, but returned to movies in 1957, in “Public Pigeon No. 1.”
