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Home > Index > TV Character Bios > Peggy Fair
       
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 FAIR, Peggy
(Mannix)
( KL5 - 6175
Los Angeles, CA

Peggy is a secretary. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Peggy is a widow, extremely efficient,  and a former Department of Motor Vehicles employee. She now works as the full-time employee of Joe Mannix, an Armenian private eye who lives and works at 17 Paseo Verde Drive in West Los Angeles.

Gail Fisher as secretary Peggy Fair on 'Mannix' - Photo Courtesy of CBS.
Peggy Fair, Mannix's Girl Friday


Peggy married police officer Marcus Fair in January of 1961. They had a little boy named Toby later that year. Unfortunately, Marcus died in the line of duty on March 1968. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Peggy’s only relatives include her mother and some family that live in Chicago

Peggy uses her contacts with the DMV when conducting background checks for Joe‘s clients and sometimes goes undercover as a maid, or hooker to help solve a case. She once even helped Joe battle foreign agents who set out to assassinate African Premier Obuko who was being treated incognito in a nearby hospital.

Most of the time Peggy likes her job,
but from time to time, Peggy quit the employ of “Mr. Mannix” when angered by Joe. But after an appropriate cooling off period she returns to work. When not mad at Joe, Peggy will offer him advice or sometimes even loan him money when he's short of cash. A loyal friend, Peggy was also on hand to nurse Joe through a stretch of temporary blindness when he was shot by a killer's bullet.

In turn, Joe helped Peggy clear the name of her late husband Marcus Fair, when his name appeared on a list of policemen who were being paid off by a burglary ring. Joe also came to the rescue when Peggy and her son, Toby were held hostage by people who desperately needed a roll of incriminating film and when Peggy was held in the clutches of syndicate thugs who had mistaken her for a potential informer.

When not helping out Joe Mannix, Peggy is helping her own friends like the time her friends Brad Turner and Jimmy Whitewing were wrongly accused of murder and Peggy let them hide in her apartment; or the time, Peggy's friend Glenn Gerard, a one-time juvenile delinquent (now reformed) was sought for the commission of a crime.

Occasionally, Peggy finds time for a love life. Her romantic interests included dating a guy named Gabe Johnson who turned out to be a prison road-gang escapee falsely convicted by a sheriff of a small southern community; and boyfriend, Floyd Brown whom Mannix accused of stealing  45 cartons of morphine.

When not being kidnapped or placed in other perilous situations, Peggy enjoys listening to music (jazz, blues, pop), eating soul food and watching old Humphrey Bogart movies. She also finds time to be a secretary for the local Boy Scout troop meetings.

At work, Peggy likes to dress smart. She especially likes short skirts that show off her lovely legs. But, when her boss Joe Mannix fails to notice her new wardrobes, well, let's just say, it doesn't make Peggy's day.

Gail Fisher as secretary Peggy Fair on 'Mannix' - Photo Courtesy of CBS.

TRIVIA NOTE: Gail Fisher who won a 1970 Emmy for her portrayal of secretary Peggy Fair on the detective series Mannix, died in Los Angeles December 2, 2000 at the age of 65, due to kidney failure.

Born in Orange, New Jersey on August 18, 1935, Fisher was the first black performer to do a national television commercial with spoken lines (for All detergent).

Hearing of her death, Mike Connors who played private eye Joe Mannix told an Associated Press reporter "I think she opened new ground for a lot of people and allowed African-American actresses to be seen in a different light." 


MANNIX/CBS/1967-75

  Mike Connors as Joe Mannix
  Gail Fisher as  Peggy Fair
  Joseph Campanella as Lou Wickersham (1967-68)
  Robert Reed as Lt. Adam Tobias
  Robert Wood  as Lt. Art Malcolm
  Jack Ging as Lt. Dan Ives
 

              
 

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