Vivian Blaine

 "I put all my intelligence, such as it is, into playing dumb blondes."

Vivian Blaine is most noted for having portrayed Miss Adelaide, the long-suffering, perpetually engaged chorus girl, in the Broadway and film versions of "Guys and Dolls". She originated the role in 1950 on Broadway and stopped the show each night with her rendition of "Adelaide's Lament," in which she complains about having a bad cold because of her long engagement to gambler Nathan Detroit.

Before going to Broadway, Blaine was a starlet at 20th Century-Fox, appearing in many musical comedy films, including "Jitterbugs" (1943), "Greenwich Village" (1944), and "State Fair" (1945). At Fox, she was known as "The Cherry Blonde" because of her extraordinary hair color, as shown in Technicolor.

Marilyn Monroe wanted to play Adelaide in the 1955 film version of "Guys and Dolls", but director Joseph L. Mankiewicz did not want to work with her again (she appeared briefly in "All About Eve" (1950)) and supposedly pretended he never got her phone messages. Animal lover Betty Grable was in talks to play Adelaide, but when she canceled a meeting with producer Samuel Goldwyn to be with her sick dog, who had to be taken to the vet with a broken leg, a miffed Goldwyn would not reschedule and dropped her from consideration. Judy Holliday was also briefly considered for the role.

Happy Birthday, Vivian Blaine!