Gail Fisher

The youngest of five children, Fisher was born in Orange, New Jersey.{{sfn|Otfinoski|2010|pages=68–69}} Her father died when she was two years old, and she was raised by her mother, Ona Fisher, who supported her family with a home-operated hair-styling business while living 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.Laurie Jarmon (1995), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&dq=gail+fisher+actress&pg=PA223 Gail Fisher], in Notable Black American Women, Jessie Carney Smith, editor. {{ISBN|0-8103-9177-5}}. Pages 223–224.

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{{cite book|first=David |last=Garfield |title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio |url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf|url-access=registration|year=1980 |publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-02-542650-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/278 278] |chapter=Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980}} 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 NTA Film Network program The Play of the Week.{{cite web |url= http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=1087 |title= Gail Fisher |publisher= African American Registry |access-date= August 22, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091004050630/http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=1087 |archive-date= October 4, 2009}} The article cites Jet as its source. In the same year, she appeared in a film sponsored by the US government called [https://blackfilmarchive.com/The-New-Girl-in-the-Office The New Girl in the Office], which depicted a fictional firm hiring its first African-American secretary to ensure compliance with federal contract requirements.

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."{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/c9fc8bdd012e04a93cb55d145a822a71|title=TV Actress Gail Fisher Dies at 65|author=|work=Associated Press|publisher=Associated Press, Inc.|location=New York City|date=February 22, 2001|access-date=March 17, 2019}} 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 leaves a detective firm and sets up shop as a private investigator. She became the second African American woman after Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek to show prominently on weekly television. 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 Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. In 1971, Fisher became the first African-American woman to win a Golden Globe, and won her second in 1973. After Mannix was cancelled in 1975, she appeared on television about once a year, guest starring on popular shows such as Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, General Hospital, and The White Shadow.

Fisher was also a lyricist for a number of jazz songs. With Vincent Levy, she wrote lyrics to Joe Zawinul's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," first performed by The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1966.{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/work/48476/originals#nav-entity|website=SecondHandSongs|title=Mercy, Mercy, Mercy|accessdate=March 27, 2023}} The song was covered by dozens of artists, including The Buckinghams, who took the vocal version to #5 in August 1967.{{cite web|url=https://billboard.elpee.jp/single/Mercy%2C%20Mercy%2C%20Mercy/The%20Buckinghams/|website=Billboard Database|title=Mercy, Mercy, Mercy|accessdate=March 27, 2023}} Fisher wrote lyrics for another Adderley song, "Do Do Do (What Now is Next)," with music by Nat Adderley, featured on the Cannonball Adderley Quintet's 1967 album 74 Miles Away. On the album's liner notes, critic Leonard Feather calls Fisher "the prettiest songwriter in town."{{cite web|website=CannonballAdderley.com|url=https://cannonball-adderley.com/406.htm|title=74 Miles Away|accessdate=March 27, 2023}} Fisher also wrote lyrics for an existing jazz standard, "Stolen Moments," composed by Oliver Nelson; the vocal version was first recorded by Carmen McRae and Betty Carter on their 1987 album The Carmen McRae – Betty Carter Duets.{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/work/163563|website=SecondHandSongs|title=Stolen Moments|accessdate=March 27, 2023}}

Fisher was married and divorced three times. She had two daughters, Samara and Jole, from her 1964 marriage to John Levy. Her marriage to Wali Muhammad (Walter Youngblood), famed cornerman to Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, ended in divorce when he changed religions. Wali was also an assistant minister to Malcolm X at Nation of Islam Mosque No. 7.{{cite web|url=http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/mike-tyson-and-other-notes |title=SecondsOut Boxing News - Thomas Hauser - Mike Tyson and Other Notes |publisher=Secondsout.com |date=October 26, 2009 |access-date=October 7, 2016}}{{Cite web|title=In loving memory of W'ali "Blood" Mohammad|url=http://www.honoryou.com/programs/PDF/120121wm.pdf|access-date=2020-07-09}}{{cite web|last=Allah |first=The |url=http://allahteam.blogspot.com/2012/01/wali-mohammed-rip.html |title=The Allah Team™: Wali Mohammed (R.I.P.) |publisher=Allahteam.blogspot.com |date=January 22, 2012 |access-date=October 7, 2016}} Jet magazine reported in its July 26, 1973 issue that she also was married to Robert A. Walker, a businessman from Los Angeles.{{cite news|title=Mannix Girl Orders Spouse To Stay Away From Her|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkMDAAAAMBAJ&q=gail+fisher+divorced&pg=PA57|access-date=June 14, 2017|work=Jet|date=July 26, 1973|page=57|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}}

Fisher died in Los Angeles in 2000, aged 65, reportedly from kidney failure and emphysema.{{sfn|Otfinoski|2010|pages=68–69}}{{cite news|first=Lawrence|last=Van Gelder|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/arts/gail-fisher-65-tv-actress-who-won-emmy-for-mannix.html|title=Gail Fisher, 65, TV Actress Who Won Emmy for 'Mannix'|work=The New York Times|location=New York City|date=February 20, 2001|access-date=February 20, 2001}}The reference book African Americans in the Performing Arts says that Fisher died of lung cancer. Twelve hours later, her brother Clifton died from heart failure.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gtKKftZw2cC&q=%22Gail+Fisher%22+actress&pg=PA68|title=African Americans in the Performing Arts (A to Z of African Americans)|first=Steven|last=Otfinoski|author-link=Steven Otfinoski|publisher=Facts On File|location=New York City|edition=Revised|year=2010|orig-year=2004|isbn=978-0816078387|pages=68–69}}

• {{IMDb name|0279500}}

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Category:1935 births

Category:2000 deaths

Category:Actresses from New Jersey

Category:American television actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners

Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (television) winners

Category:Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners

Category:Deaths from kidney failure in California

Category:Actors from Orange, New Jersey

Category:Actors from Edison, New Jersey

Category:African-American female models

Category:Female models from New Jersey

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Category:20th-century African-American actresses