LOS ANGELES (N.Y. Times) — Gail Fisher, who won an Emmy award in 1970 for her portrayal of Peggy Fair, secretary to the gumshoe played by Mike Connors on the CBS television series "Mannix," died on Dec. 2 at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 65.
The cause was kidney failure.
Fisher's role on "Mannix" was the high point of a career that arched from rural poverty in New Jersey to a home in Beverly Hills, Calif., before descending into problems with drugs and sporadic acting jobs.
At the peak of her career, on "Mannix," whose residuals helped support her later, Fisher was fiercely proud of her achievement.
"Well, certain people who had no knowledge of blacks have maybe — maybe — learned something because of 'Mannix's' Peggy Fair," she said in a 1972 interview. "Blacks were pretty much alien objects on TV as recently as 10 years ago, you know, and now we're people. I think maybe before it's all over, it's going to be all right, and I'm proud I'm a part of that."
The series, one of the most violent and longest-running of its era, began in September 1967 and continued until August 1975.