Gail Kobe (born Gabriella Kieliszewski; March 19, 1932 – August 1, 2013) was an American actress and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

Early years

Kobe was born Gabriella Kieliszewski in

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ; ; ; ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Hamtramck is located roughly north of downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 census, the city had a po ...

(within

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

), the younger child of Benjamin and Theresa Kieliszewski, who later Americanized their surname. She had one sibling, an older sister, Beatrice (later Mrs. Walter Adamski), who predeceased her. Kobe graduated from UCLA earning a fine arts degree in theatre and dance.According to the 1940 United States census records, her name is listed as "Gabriella Kobe" and her age is eight years old, indicating 1932 year of birth; it is unclear when her parents, listed as Benjamin and Theresa Kobe, changed the original surname (Kieliszewski).
Source Information: Ancestry.com. California, Divorce Index, 1966–1984 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: State of California. California Divorce Index, 1966–1984. Microfiche. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Kobe had polio as a child and began

dancing Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

as a form of therapy. A

heart murmur Heart murmurs are unique heart sounds produced when blood flows across a heart valve or blood vessel. This occurs when turbulent blood flow creates a sound loud enough to hear with a stethoscope. The sound differs from normal heart sounds by th ...

that she developed in her high school years caused her to cease dancing. She graduated from Hamtramck High School.

Early career

Kobe portrayed Penny Adams on the TV series '' Trackdown''. She appeared on the ''

Alcoa Theatre ''Alcoa Theatre'' is a half-hour American anthology series sponsored by the Alcoa Corporation and telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to May 23, 1960. For its first four months on the air, the title ''Turn o ...

'' in a 1958 episode titled "Disappearance" starring

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received num ...

and

Joan Blackman Joan Blackman (born May 17, 1938, San Francisco, California) is an American former actress. Film Blackman appeared in her first motion picture, '' Good Day for a Hanging'', in 1959. She had significant roles in two Elvis Presley films: she play ...

. In 1965 she portrayed Doris Schuster on TV's '' Peyton Place''. She also appeared on daytime television in the NBC serial ''

Bright Promise ''Bright Promise'' is an American daytime soap opera that ran on NBC from September 29, 1969 to March 31, 1972. Synopsis The show revolved around students and faculty at the fictional Bancroft College, located in the community of Bancroft, some ...

'' as Ann Boyd Jones (1970–1972). During the 1950s and 1960s, Kobe made guest appearances on ''

Highway Patrol A highway patrol is a police unit, detail, or law enforcement agency created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways within a jurisdiction. They are also referred to in many countri ...

'' ("The Search"), '' The O. Henry Playhouse'' ("The Guilty Party"), '' The Californians'', '' The Rebel'', '' Mackenzie's Raiders'', '' Blue Light'', ''

Felony Squad ''The Felony Squad'' is a half-hour television crime drama originally broadcast on the ABC network from September 12, 1966, to January 31, 1969. Overview Sergeant Sam Stone and Detective Jim Briggs are investigators in a major crimes unit in a ...

'', '' Ironside'', '' The Outer Limits'', ''

Richard Diamond, Private Detective ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960. Radio Dick Powell starred in the ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective' ...

'', '' The Fugitive'', ''

Bourbon Street Beat ''Bourbon Street Beat'' is a private detective television series that aired on the ABC network from October 5, 1959, to July 4, 1960, starring Richard Long as Rex Randolph and Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, with Arlene Howell as detective agen ...

'', '' Maverick'', '' M Squad'' (four episodes), ''

Whirlybirds ''Whirlybirds'' (sometimes called ''The Whirlybirds'' or ''Copter Patrol'') is a Television syndication, syndicated American Dramatic programming, drama/adventure television series, which aired for 111 episodes — broadcast from February ...

,'' ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

,'' ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a Prisoner-of-war camp, prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, and centers around a group of Allied prisoner ...

'', ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'' ("

In His Image "In His Image" is an episode of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone'' aired on January 3, 1963. This was the first episode of the fourth season. Each episode was expanded to an hour ...

", " The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross", " A World of Difference"), '' Dr. Kildare'', ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'', ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...

'' (S3E25 "Dirt", S12E13 "The Moonstone" and S14E23 "The Intruder"), ''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

'', ''

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible'', ''

The Untouchables Untouchable or Untouchables may refer to: People * Untouchability, the practice of socially ostracizing a minority group of very low social status * Untouchables, word for the Dalits or Scheduled Castes of India * Untouchables (law enforcement), ...

'', ''

Have Gun – Will Travel ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Ri ...

'', ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, Pegg ...

,'' ''

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 a ...

'', ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typi ...

'', and ''

Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that originally aired for eight seasons on CBS from September 16, 1967, to March 13, 1975. The show was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer ...

''. In 1962, she portrayed Dr. Louise Amadon in the episode "A Woman's Place" on ''

Rawhide Rawhide may refer to: *Rawhide (material), a hide or animal skin that has not been tanned * Whip made from rawhide Entertainment * ''Rawhide'' (1926 film), a Western directed by Richard Thorpe * ''Rawhide'' (1938 film), a Western starring baseball ...

'', about a woman doctor's struggles against stereotypes in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

. In 1963 she appeared in ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers ...

'' as Francoise. On February 17, 1959, Kobe was cast in the episode "Disaster Town" of the series ''

Rescue 8 ''Rescue 8'' is a syndicated American action adventure drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a deca ...

'' in the role of Ellen Mason, a mother looking for her son in a western

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. In the series, '' Laramie'', Kobe played a saloon girl in the episode "Gun Duel" (aired December 25, 1962).

Later career

Kobe began to work behind the camera as supervising producer and associate producer on such daytime programs as CBS's ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American mystery crime drama soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its ...

'' and NBC's ''

Return to Peyton Place ''Return to Peyton Place'' is a 1959 novel by Grace Metalious, a sequel to her best-selling 1956 novel '' Peyton Place''. Plot summary After the phenomenal success of her first novel, Metalious hastily penned a sequel centering on the life an ...

''. From 1981 to 1982, its final year on the air, Kobe became

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of the NBC soap opera, ''

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

''. From 1983 to May 1986, she was the

of CBS's ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...

'' (for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award) and then served as a producer on CBS's ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''Th ...

'' from its debut in 1987 through the early 1990s. Kobe taught drama at San Fernando Valley State College. Kobe was a member of St. Louis Church. She volunteered many hours to Eisenhower Medical Center and the Palm Springs Art Museum while she lived in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

. While she resided at the Motion Picture Television Fund Home in Woodland Hills, California, she organized the program, ''We've Got Mail'', which airs on cable Channel 22.

Honors

In 2008, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars was dedicated in Kobe's honor.

Death

For the last two years of her life, the twice-married Kobe resided at the

Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an observ ...

in Woodland Hills. She died on August 1, 2013, aged 81, from undisclosed causes.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Notice of death of Gail Kobe
deadline.com; accessed February 26, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobe, Gail 1932 births 2013 deaths Actresses from Detroit American soap opera actresses American television actresses 20th-century American actresses Television producers from California American women television producers American people of Polish descent People from Hamtramck, Michigan Actresses from Palm Springs, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni Television producers from Michigan 21st-century American women Place of death missing