Pamela Blair, who originated the position of the surgically enhanced Valerie Clark within the Broadway smash A Refrain Line, died Sunday at her house in Phoenix after following a prolonged sickness. She was 73.

Her dying was reported by pals on social media, together with her A Refrain Line co-star Baayork Lee. “I am very sad to say my Sagittarian sister Pam Blair has gone to play with her [A Chorus Line] colleagues among the clouds,” wrote Lee in a Fb put up. Sharing a Dec. 5 birthday, the 2 actors “always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day,” Lee stated, recalling how Blair ” introduced the home down each evening” with the showstopping efficiency of “Dance: Ten, Looks: Three.”

“You are free now Pammie so dance, dance, dance among the stars,” Lee wrote.

Blair’s signature track, a paean to the show-biz advantages of cosmetic surgery, is maybe extra generally generally known as “T&A,” as a result of its repeated reference to the physique components – explicitly said – so enhanced.

The precise title of the comedian track referred to the scores given to the Val character by a Broadway casting director after an audition. “I was ugly, homely, skinny, unattractive and flat as a pancake,” Blair-as-Val stated within the track’s introduction. “Get the picture?” The character was loosely primarily based on Blair’s personal story, minus the cosmetic surgery.

She “was a part of the musical from the very first workshop,” tweeted the official account of the late Refrain Line composer Marvin Hamlisch. “Our thoughts are with her loved ones and fans.”

Blair had already appeared on Broadway in Guarantees, Guarantees, Wild and Fantastic, Sugar and Seesaw when she was solid as “Curly’s Wife” in an Of Mice and Males revival starring James Earl Jones. Michael Bennett, who had choreographed Guarantees, Guarantees, then invited Blair to take part within the creation of A Refrain Line.

Following that present’s success, Blair went on to originate the stage position of “Amber/Angel” in 1978’s The Finest Little Whorehouse in Texas. She later appeared on Broadway in King of Hearts, The Nerd and A Few Good Males, directed by her then-husband Don Scardino.

On tv, Blair appeared in, amongst different exhibits, Ryan’s Hope, Loving, One other World, Sabrina The Teenage Witch and, in a visitor position that earned her a 1987 Daytime Emmy nomination, All My Youngsters. Movie credit embody Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite, Annie, and 21 Grams.