ROSETTA LENOIRE

Rosetta LeNoire was an African-American actress. As a theatrical producer, in 1968, she founded the AMAS (Spanish for "you love") Repertory Theatre Company and has since produced, created and occasionally appeared in a host of productions, including the original 1980 version of "Mama, I Want to Sing", which later toured the country. In 1976, she established the Eubie Blake Children's Theatre. While she did some experimental TV work in the 40s and appeared as Noah's Wife in the 1957 "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production of "Green Pastures" (NBC), LeNoire did not see her TV career become solid until the late 60s, when she joined the cast of the ABC soap opera "A World Apart." During the 70’s she appeared in "The Guiding Light" (1971), "Another World" (1971-73),"Ryan's Hope" (1975) and "Calucci's Department" (1973). Beginning in 1981, LeNoire made several guest appearances on "Gimme a Break" as Nell Carter's contentious mother becoming a regular in 1986. She followed this with work on "Family Matters" (1989-97and 1997-98). LeNoire died in 2002.

FRANK SILVERA

Frank Silvera was an African-American actor. He joined the American Negro Theatre in Harlem and got a part in the play, "Anna Lucasta," that played successfully on Broadway and in London. Silvera was there at the beginning of a new era for Blacks in American theatre. Due to his looks, ability to transcend color, race, and his skill with language, Silvera moved into the new elite inner circles of the leading American theatre groups, where he became an active member of the famed Actors' Studio of New York. Almost no one in the audience realized that he was Black, when he played the Italian father of characters portrayed by Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa, in the Broadway hit play, "A Hatful Of Rain." Silveras’ credits include Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real, James Baldwin's The Amen Comer, King Lear and many others. He produced, directed, and was featured on television in the western series High Chaparral. During the 1960’s, Silvera conducted acting workshops in the Coronet Theatre of La Cienega Boulevard, in Hollywood and a Writers' Workshop, at the Martinique Theatre, in New York. Silvera died in 1970.

GAIL FISHER

Gail Fisher was an African American actress best known for portraying widowed secretary Peggy Fair on the CBS detective show Mannix, a part she played from 1968 to 1975. Fisher landed her first television appearance at age 25 in the 1960 syndicated program, Play of the Week. Although her television work was sparse thereafter, her career perked up in the late '60s. In 1968, while a regular on Mannix, she also made appearances on My Three Sons, Love, American Style and Room 222. In 1970, Fisher was honored for her work on this series with an Emmy Award for outstanding performance by an actress in a dramatic supporting role. In addition to this honor, Fisher was well regarded as a role model, having served (along with Diahann Carroll in 1968's "Julia") as one of the first African-American women to find substantive work in American television. Her television appearances after the 1975 cancellation of Mannix were few; most notably, she guest-starred in a 1980 episode of The White Shadow. Gail Fisher died in 2001.