Gail Kobe

Gail Kobe (March 19, 1931 – August 1, 2013) was an American actress and producer.

Early career

Kobe was born Gabriella Kieliszewski in Hamtramck, Michigan. During the 1950s/60s, she made dozens of guest appearances on such television series as Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Bourbon Street Beat, Whirlybirds, The Californians, The Rebel, Felony Squad, Ironside, The Outer Limits, Hogan's Heroes, The Twilight Zone (episodes "A World of Difference," "In His Image," and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross"), Dr. Kildare, Empire, Gunsmoke, Daniel Boone, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables and Mannix. Kobe made two guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason: in 1958 she played Margo, secretary to Paul Drake, in "The Case of the Lonely Heiress," and in 1964 she was cast as Gertrude Lewis in "The Case of the Accosted Accountant".

On February 17, 1959, Kobe was cast in the episode "Disaster Town" of the syndicated series, Rescue 8, in the role of Ellen Mason, a mother looking for her son, Jimmy, in a western ghost town. Actor Jay North played Kobe's missing son. Rescuers Wes Cameron (Jim Davis and Skip Johnson (Lang Jeffries) are called when Ellen is trapped after she slips through the floor of an abandoned building.

In "Gun Duel" (December 25, 1962), Kobe played a saloon girl, Lottie Harris, on the NBC western series, Laramie. In the story line, series character Jess Harper, played by Robert Fuller, is the weekend deputy while Sheriff Mort Corey (Stuart Randall) is away on business. Mort's newly-married nephew, Johnny Hartley, played by Ben Cooper, wants to become a deputy too but finds he is unsuited for the work only after nearly getting killed by gunshot from two bank robbers, played by DeForest Kelley and Richard Devon. Lottie Harris had hoped to marry a third bank robber, who had promised to take her to California. In a dramatic scene, Jess Harper advises Lottie to stop gazing out the hotel window at the dusty Laramie street and to look instead in the mirror to overcome her own weaknesses.

Kobe had a six-month role as Doris Schuster in ABC's Peyton Place, and a recurring role on the CBS western, Trackdown, starring Robert Culp and Ellen Corby. She appeared on daytime television in the NBC serial Bright Promise as Ann Boyd Jones (1970–72). In 1969, she was cast as the guest star, Evelyn on Season 5 of ABC's Bewitched.

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 and NBC's Return to Peyton Place. In 1981, during its final year on the air, Kobe became executive producer of the NBC soap opera, Texas. From 1982 to 1986, she was the executive producer of CBS's Guiding Light and then served as a producer on CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful from its debut in 1987 through the early 1990s.

Honors

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

Death

For the last two years of her life, Kobe resided at the Motion Picture & Television Fund. She died on August 1, 2013 in her native Michigan from undisclosed causes.