Gail Fisher
Gail Ann Fisher ( born August 18, 1935 in Orange, New Jersey; † 2 December 2000 in Culver City, California ) was an American actress. It was 1970, the first African-American Emmy -winning actress.
Life
Fisher grew up as the youngest of five children on as an orphan after her father had died early. During her time at the High School in Metuchen, she participated in various beauty contests and won some local titles. Of their income as a model, it has financed her acting training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In New York City she studied with Lee Strasberg and later joined the Repertory Theater at where she worked with Elia Kazan and Herbert Blau. Her Broadway debut in 1961 in Purlie Victorious.
A year earlier, she had her first guest appearance in a TV series, and the following year she joined one of the first African-American actor on in a speaking role in a national television commercial. In 1965 she appeared in the English language editing of Georg Büchner's Danton's Death. After a few more guest appearances on television series in 1968 she managed the breakthrough when she as his secretary received a series starring role from the second season of the detective series Mannix; by Nichelle Nichols it was only the second African-American actress who achieved this. Until the cancellation of the series in 1975, she played the role of Peggy Fair in 117 episodes. During this time she was awarded the Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards; for both awards she was nominated four years in a row.
After the end of the series they could not continue their successes. In 1978 she was arrested for drug possession and made following a drug therapy. In the 1980s, she had sporadic appearances in television series and television movies. In 2000 she died of kidney failure. She left behind two daughters from the first of several marriages.