Stage Name: Vivian Blaine
Birth Name: Vivian Stapleton
Occupation: Singer / Dancer / Stage, Movie, TV Actress / Vintage Pinup Model
Years Active: 1942–1985
Notable Works: Vivian Blaine was noted many years running for being one of the world’s best dressed women and should also be commended for her early work and continued support for AIDs awareness. She did a lot of good theater work and a made a lot of memorable TV appearances and performed in numerous good musical comedies but 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 (1955) and especially for her rendition of the productions song "Adelaide's Lament."
Date/Place Birth: November 21, 1921(1921-11-21), Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Date/Death/Cause: Vivian Blaine died of congestive heart failure December 9, 1995, age 74 in New York City, New York, U.S.A.. She is buried at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, U.S.A. in actor’s fund plot #462 with Marion H. Ferguson (1881-1962).
Spouse(s) & Children:her talent agent, who was 20 years her senior, Manny Franks (m. 1945–1956 divorced); head of Universal Pictures and Decca Records, Milton Rackmil (m. 1959–1961 divorced); 13 years younger than her a businessman, Stuart Clark (m. 1973–1995 her death)
Short Biography: Born Vivian Stapleton in New Jersey, November 21, 1921 and died of heart failure on December 9, 1995, Vivian Blaine was an a great actress, singer and fashion queen. Blaine was trouping in vaudeville and nightclubs while still in grade school; she was first on the theater stage in 1934 and from 1935 through 1941 Blaine worked as a band singer. In 1942, she signed a contract with Fox and she went to work in Hollywood making good musical comedies starting out with Hardy in Jitterbugs (1943), Greenwich Village (1944), Nob Hill (1945) and State Fair (1945); then she returned to the stage, debuting in Guys and Dolls in 1950, including the 1955 film version alongside Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando; she later went on to television. The beautiful and classy Vivian Blaine was married three times but had no children; she continued to appear in guest roles on TV and in independent films and theater until her retirement in 1984. Classic Images Website offers a good detailed article "Vivian Blaine the Cherry Blonde" a biography of Vivian Blaine's life and entertainment career.