Gail Fisher

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 Potters 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 CocaCola 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 Dantons 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 AfricanAmerican to win an Emmy Award After Mannix was canceled in 1975 she rarely appeared on television She gueststarred in a 1980 episode of The White Shadow Description above from the Wikipedia article Gail Fisher licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia