Pinkins did not miss "many many" performances -- she missed 5 or 6 right after the Tonys on doctor's orders and that's it.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Merman who didn't miss a performance for a couple of decades. She missed a few early in the run of GYPSY after she burst a blood vessel in her throat, and missed one to be able to attend her daughter's graduation from college, but otherwise she was almost never out over the course of more than a dozen Broadway shows from 1930-1970.
Most of her colleagues of that era were similarly committed and very rarely if ever missed -- Mary Martin, Alfred Drake, Raitt, Channing, Streisand, etc... played hundreds, even thousands of performances of various shows without a single absence.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 7/9/06 at 10:25 AM