Pamela Blair which later opened at the Kennedy Center to critical acclaim. She also appeared in "Sugar", the stage musical version of the film "Some Like It Hot", in which she played "Sugar Kane", a role made famous by Marilyn Monroe. In 1974, Blair was invited by Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which "A Chorus Line" was developed. The character of "Valerie Clark" was in large part, based on her own life, although the surgical enhancement came from another dancer. "Val was based on Mitzi Hamilton, who actually underwent surgery to enhance her figure, and Pam Blair, whose mixture
Marilyn Monroe performances and awards "American National Biography", considers the typecast "an unfair stereotype that bothered her throughout her career". Her major breakthrough came in 1953, when she starred in three pictures: the film noir "Niagara", and the comedies "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How to Marry a Millionaire". Sarah Churchwell, Monroe's biographer, notes that "unconscious, rather than conscious, sexuality would become the Marilyn hallmark after 1953", and the actress became one of the most popular and recognizable people in America. In 1955 Monroe appeared in the Billy Wilder–directed comedy "The Seven Year Itch", in which she becomes the object of her married neighbor's sexual fantasies.