Terry Louise Fisher, a lawyer-turned-writer and producer best known as the co-creator of L.A. Law, has passed away.
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The three-time Emmy winner died in her sleep on Tuesday in Laguna Hills, CA, after a long illness that was not disclosed, her cousin Sharone Rosen told Variety. She was 79.
Fisher co-created the hit legal drama L.A. Law with Steven Bocho. She worked as a supervising producer and writer for many of the show’s early episodes.
Fisher won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1987 for her work on L.A. Law, along with two more nominations in 1988. She also wrote and produced Cagney & Lacey from 1982 to 1987, earning another Emmy for her contributions.
According to Variety, Fisher was born in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. She attended UCLA for her undergraduate studies and graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 1968. After law school, she worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office before transitioning to entertainment law, where she worked with several studios.
Terry Louise Fisher Shifts from Law to Hollywood
While working as a lawyer, Fisher wrote two books: A Class Act (1976) and Good Behavior (1979). After spending a decade practicing entertainment law, she transitioned to writing full-time in Los Angeles.
Her first film, Your Place…or Mine, starred Bonnie Franklin and Robert Klein. It was co-written with Steve Brown, her writing partner from Cagney & Lacey.
Fisher worked as a producer and writer on the CBS police drama Cagney & Lacey until 1985. She later co-wrote two reunion films, Cagney and Lacey: The Return and Cagney and Lacey: Together Again.
Fisher and Bochco also created the ABC dramedy Hooperman, which starred John Ritter as a San Francisco police inspector. The show, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, ran for two seasons from 1987 to 1989.
Fisher created the summer series 2000 Malibu Road, featuring Drew Barrymore. She was involved in the pilot Daughters of Eve with Sophia Loren, although it was not picked up during the 1995-1996 season.
Other notable credits include Blue Bayou, Bar Girls, This Girl for Hire, and Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies. Per IMDb, Fisher’s last credited work was writing Cagney & Lacey: Together Again in 1995. She also received credit for the 2000 L.A. Law reunion movie, L.A. Law: The Movie, for co-creating the original series with Bochco.
She is survived by Dale Gordon, Ken, Charlie, and Sharon Rosen.