Pamela Blair

Born and raised in the picturesque New England college town of Bennington, Vermont, Pamela Blair moved to New York City to study acting at the prestigious HB Studio in Greenwich Village, where Uta Hagen was one of the main instructors. She made her Broadway debut in "A Chorus Line," where she originated the role of tough-talking Val, whose showcase number ''Dance: Ten, Looks: Three'' was one of the musical's highlights. After further success on Broadway in shows like "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas," Blair made her television debut in 1980 with a brief run on the popular soap opera "Ryan's Hope." A supporting role in John Huston's film adaptation of the hit musical "Annie" was her first big-screen role. However, the stage remained Blair's primary love, and for the rest of the 1980s, her onscreen work consisted of occasional guest appearances on television series, mostly Manhattan-based soap operas and occasional prime-time shows including the critically-acclaimed comedy drama "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" and the phenomenally successful "The Cosby Show." In the 1990s and early 2000s, her occasional film roles included small parts in Woody Allen's showbiz comedy "Mighty Aphrodite" and Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-leveled drama "21 Grams." On the small screen, she appeared on an episode of "Law & Order" in 1994, and played Sabrina's long-absent mother in an episode of the popular teen comedy "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." Pamela Blair died on July 23, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ at the age of 73.