“Time’s A-Changin” How key shows featuring Black Actors in the 60’s led to a game changing evolution.
Television had yet to see black actors in prominent roles before the 1950’s hit sitcom Amos & Andy. But due to backlash from the NAACP CBS cancelled that show and would not attempt to do another black cast television series until 20+ years later when Sanford and Son premiered. But in the interim of the 1960’s, the era of the civil rights movement and many other big time shaking up movements in the country, 1960’s television did something special that it gets very little credit for and that was being the decade that created the evolution of blacks on television.
It all started in 1965 with the spy drama I Spy starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. It aired on NBC and was a giant hit from 1965–1968.
It was the first television show in history to feature a black actor in not only a major role in a television series but an equal one at that. It was a note that both Cosby and Culp insisted upon. Robert Culp, who wrote many of the episodes himself, talks about how I Spy came about and how important it was that the show didn’t comment on race and that making more of a powerful statement than had they commented on it all the time:
The same year Hogan’s Heroes premiered with Ivan Dixon as Staff Sergeant James “Kinch” Kinchloe. Colonel Hogan’s right hand man and resident communications and German accent impressionist extraordinaire. The idea of a black man who had such a high rank in the military as well as shown versatility enough to do many accents including German and African was very new:
Mr. Dixon went on to direct many television series after Hogan’s Heroes, including The Rockford Files, Magnum, PI, Quantum Leap, In The Heat of The Night, The A Team as well as a few feature films like blaxploitation film Trouble Man and 1973’s The Spook Who sat by the door. Mr. Dixon died at the Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2008 but he left behind a huge legacy, and the most beloved of that legacy will always be his role as Kinch in Hogan’s Heroes.
Then in 1966, ABC premiered Mission: Impossible which became a ratings and pop culture smash for seven seasons. The show was groundbreaking in many ways: Its creative and unique premise, the use of back then state of the art tech, the intelligent and clever plots and specifically the character of Barney Collier played by the late great Greg Morris who was the team’s resident tech genius and engineer. Everyone had their important job but without Barney the impossible missions really would’ve been impossible.
This was an entirely unique character for a black actor to portray for that time and it is still a rare type of character for a black actor to play now. If you’re a fan of Leverage and the iconic and badass computer hacker extraordinaire Alec Hardison played by the talented Aldis Hodge then I think you have Greg Morris’ Barney to thank because I feel like this character was modeled a lot after Barney.
And what about the sisters? Well, black women were represented well by three stunning and talented actresses that were classy, gorgeous and showed the warmth, strength and passion of the black woman. First being Nichelle Nichols as communications officer on The Enterprise, Nyota Uhura. Star Trek made history with the first interracial kiss between Nichols as Uhura and William Shatner as Captain Kirk:
But there was a time when Nichols considered quitting the show due to feeling she wasn’t getting enough to do as an actress but Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A good friend of hers convinced her otherwise and thank the lord he did:
Then there was the beautiful and ever so classy Gail Fisher who co starred with Mike Connors in the 1967–1975 private detective drama Mannix as Peggy Faire, Mannix’s efficient and kind hearted secretary who came into the show in it’s second season and stole America’s heart.
Fisher earned four Emmy nominations and won one in 1970 as well as earning three nominations for the Golden Globe winning twice:
This was a huge accomplishment for any actor but especially a black actress that has seen no match since. To this day the only black actresses I recall getting their due close to what Ms. Fisher accomplished were Isabel Sanford, Jackee Harry and Viola Davis. It took great talent to achieve this and Ms. Fisher had that in spades:
And then there was the late great Diahann Carroll’s Julia 1968–1971.
The first weekly series to star an African American woman in a non stereotypical role. The show was groundbreaking but with a softer touch. It centered on Julia Baker, a widowed single mom and nurse who tried to balance motherhood and work. It also starred Lloyd Nolan and Marc Copage as her son Corey.
Recently Marc Copage did a short interview discussing the legacy of the series and how it paved the way for many future programs starring black actors:
I agree with Marc that the show was so groundbreaking and unique at the time and for me it’s because of its push to just show African American life as just life and how some of the issues every family faces is what a black family can face the exact same way, the diverse cast and the incredibly gorgeous and master of glamour Diahann Carroll herself who we unfortunately lost on October 4th 2019. Carroll would go on to star in many amazing and classic tv series such as Dynasty, A Different World and White Collar but perhaps her most notable and important role will always be Julia Baker from Julia:
These pioneers paved the way for the renaissance of black actors getting quality roles and television shows with predominant or all black casts and even crew members behind the camera. The 1960’s had its fair share of problems for the country but these television shows and stars proved that there’s always evolution and progress and it all has to start somewhere. Slow and steady always wins the race. So, to these television shows and actors from the era I speak for everyone when I say, Thank you.