
Gail Fisher
Actor · 1935 – 2000 · Orange, New Jersey, USA
Gail Fisher (August 18, 1935 – December 2, 2000) was an American actress who was one of the first African American women to play substantive roles in American television. She was best known for playing the role of secretary "Peggy Fair" on the television detective series Mannix from 1968 through 1975, a role for which she won two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. The youngest of five children, Fisher was born in Orange, New Jersey. Her father died when she was two years old and she was raised by her mother, Ona Fisher, living in poverty in the Potter's Crossing neighborhood of Edison, New Jersey. She graduated from Metuchen High School in Metuchen, New Jersey. During her teenage years she was a cheerleader and entered several beauty contests, winning the titles of Miss Transit, Miss Black New Jersey, and Miss Press Photographer. In a contest sponsored by Coca-Cola, Fisher won the opportunity to spend two years studying acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. As a student of acting in New York City, she worked with Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Repertory Theater at Lincoln Center, where she worked with Elia Kazan and Herbert Blau. As a young woman, she also worked as a model. Fisher made her first television appearance in 1960 at age 25, appearing in the syndicated program Play of the Week. Also during the early 1960s, she appeared in a television commercial for All laundry detergent, which she said made her "the first black female -- no, make that black, period -- to make a national TV commercial, on camera, with lines." In 1965 Herbert Blau cast her in a theatrical production of Danton's Death. She first appeared in Mannix during the second season, when Mannix left the detective firm Intertect and set up shop as a private investigator. In 1968, she made guest appearances on the TV series My Three Sons, Love, American Style, and Room 222. In 1970, her work on Mannix was honored when she received the Emmy Award for outstanding performance by an actress in a dramatic supporting role. In winning the Emmy, she beat out Susan Saint James in The Name of the Game and Barbara Anderson in Ironside becoming the first African-American to win an Emmy Award. After Mannix was canceled in 1975 she rarely appeared on television. She guest-starred in a 1980 episode of The White Shadow. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gail Fisher, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Series11
TV7.0RealityTalk ShowAn annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Golden Globe Awards
1944 · 20 votes
TV6.9Action & AdventureCrimeMannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
Mannix
1967 · 57 votes
TV6.2ComedyAn anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance.
Love, American Style
1969 · 21 votes
TV7.5Action & AdventureSci-Fi & FantasyMichael Long, an undercover police officer, is shot while investigating a case and left for dead by his assailants. He is rescued by Wilton Knight, a wealthy, dying millionaire and inventor who arranges life-saving surgery, including a new face and a new identity--that of Michael Knight. Michael is then given a special computerized and indestructible car called the Knight Industries Two Thousand (nicknamed KITT), and a mission: apprehend criminals who are beyond the reach of the law. The series depicts Michael's exploits as he and KITT battle the forces of evil on behalf of the Foundation for Law and Government.
Knight Rider
1982 · 1.5K votes
TV6.8DramaSoapHotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty. Based on Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel of the same name, the series was produced by Aaron Spelling and set in the elegant and fictitious St. Gregory Hotel in San Francisco. Establishing shots of the hotel were filmed in front of The Fairmont San Francisco atop the Nob Hill neighborhood. Episodes followed the activities of passing guests, as well as the personal and professional lives of the hotel staff.
Hotel
1982 · 26 votes
TV6.6ComedyFamilyA widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and later the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.
My Three Sons
1960 · 41 votes
TV6.4DramaMedical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.
Medical Center
1969 · 14 votes
TV6.1ComedyDramaRoom 222
1969 · 19 votes
TV8.0ComedyDramaThis syndicated anthology series staged a different play every week covering all genres, dramas, comedies, musicals, fantasies, mysteries, et al, utilizing some of the best talent appearing on Broadway.
Play of the Week
1959 · 1 votes
TV6.5ComedyThe Second Hundred Years
1967 · 4 votes
TV5.2ComedyHe & She is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network as part of its 1967-1968 lineup, originally sponsored by General Foods and Lever Brothers. He & She is widely considered to be ahead of its time by broadcast historians. Its sophisticated approach to comedy was viewed as opening doors to the groundbreaking MTM family of sitcoms of the 1970s, beginning with The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. The character of Oscar was openly the pattern for the Ted Baxter character, for which creator Leonard Stern granted permission. CBS aired reruns of He & She in prime time from June 1970 to September 1970.
He & She
1967 · 5 votes
Movies5
Movie4.0ComedyRomanceA chauvinistic architect is pressured into hiring a feminist as his assistant, and soon finds himself falling for her.
Every Man Needs One
1972 · 3 votes
MovieComedyUnited States Savings Bond Division payroll informational training film produced by Paramount Pictures, starring Sandy Duncan and characters from various other television series including "Mission: Impossible", "The Odd Couple" and "Mannix".
Movie5.3ThrillerTV MovieDr. Kristine Lipton finds that something strange is happening in the hospital she works for when a friend is strangled by an elderly patient, who runs away but has an accident and dies. Kristine tries to find out more about this man, but discovers that all the personnel (including the hospital's director), are hiding something.
Donor
1990 · 4 votes
- Movie
In pursuance of a lucrative government contract, a private company hires its first Black female employee to comply with government regulations concerning equal economic opportunity.
The New Girl
1960
Movie4.4ActionA female CIA agent is assigned to train and lead an all-female squad to Colombia to stop a renegade agent who has hired himself out to a drug cartel.
Mankillers
1987 · 22 votes