etsy
Blair (born Elizabeth
Winifred Boger; December 11, 1923 – March 13, 2009) was an
American actress of film and stage, long based in London. Blair pursued a
career in entertainment from the age of eight, and as a child worked as an
amateur dancer, performed on radio, and worked as a model, before joining the
chorus of Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in
1940. There she met Gene Kelly; they were married the
following year, when she was age 17 and divorced sixteen years later in 1957. After
work in the theatre, Blair began her film career playing supporting roles in
films such as A Double Life (1947)
and Another Part of the Forest (1948).
Her interest in Marxism led to an investigation by
the House
Un-American Activities Committee, and Blair was blacklisted for some
time, but resumed her career with a critically acclaimed performance in Marty (1955) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actress. She continued her career with regular
theatre, film and television work, mainly in Europe, until the mid-1990s. Blair
was born in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Her father, William Kidd Boger, was a
partner in a small insurance brokerage firm; her mother, Frederica Ammon, was a
schoolteacher. Both were Episcopalians. At the age of eight, she was enrolled
in the Swift Sisters School of Dance, and recalled performing before Eleanor Roosevelt in 1933, winning an amateur contest
shortly thereafter, joining a touring amateur show and performing on local
radio, as motivating influences in her desire to pursue a dance career. She joined the John Robert Powers modeling
agency and by the age of 12 was in regular demand. She enrolled in the Professional Children's School but,
as it was not accredited, her mother returned her to her local school so that
she might eventually attend college. She graduated at 15, securing a
scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College.
However, the board of admission considered her too immature for entry and
requested she wait one year.