She was television’s golden girl in the early to mid-1970s. But actress Gail Fisher traveled from meager beginnings in central New Jersey to acting in bit parts in Hollywood before taking center stage as Tinseltown’s “it girl” in 1973.
That’s the year that Fisher became a household name, after becoming the first African American actress to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – TV Series Drama for her role as a secretary and police officer’s widow in the hit 1970s TV series Mannix. Two years prior, she took home a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – TV Series for her work in the same show.

Afterward, the actress talked about winning the awards and how delighted she was to play such a positive, impactful character. In an interview, Fisher said, “Certain people who had no knowledge of Blacks have maybe… maybe… learned something because of Mannix’s Peggy Fair. Blacks were pretty much alien objects on TV as recently as ten years ago, you know, and now we’re people.”
In addition to her two Golden Globe victories (and two additional nominations), Fisher also received an Emmy Award and an NAACP Image Award. The groundbreaking Mannix lasted for a total of eight seasons, with Fisher riding its wave of success for much of that time. She was joined on television by a handful of other Black actresses during that same time period, including Diahann Carroll, who starred in the sitcom JuliaTeresa Graves, who was cast as the title character in crime drama Get Christie Love! and Denise Nicholas, who had a role in Room 222.

But Fisher’s streak of success hit a bump after Mannix ended. She landed numerous guest-starring roles in various TV shows, before ultimately battling a drug problem and then passing away in 2000 at the young age of 65.
To this day, Fisher’s 1973 Golden Globe win still stands out as one of the most historic moments in Golden Globes history. Fisher was the only Black woman with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – TV Series Drama for nearly two decades, until actress Regina Taylor won the award in 1992 for her role on the TV series I’ll Fly Away.
Fisher’s Golden Globe victory in 1973 didn’t just catapult her to fame, but paved the way for other African Americans in Hollywood to have opportunities, and portray realistic characters with nuance and depth. Since Fisher’s historic win, three Black women have won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – TV Series Drama.