[Deathwatch] Teresa Graves, actress, 53

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

'Get Christie Love!' Actress Dies in House Fire
Fri Oct 11, 6:17 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Teresa Graves, who appeared on "Rowan &
Martin's Laugh-In" and starred as the sexy undercover cop on The 1970s
TV series "Get Christie Love!," has died in a fire that erupted in her
Los Angeles home, authorities said.

Graves, 53, was found unconscious in a rear addition to the house where
a faulty space heater sparked the blaze, and she was pronounced dead
early Thursday at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in nearby Inglewood,
according Los Angeles Fire Department officials.

They said the home in the city's Hyde Park district was equipped with
working smoke detectors, but Graves may not have heard them from the
room she was in. Neighbors said Graves lived with her mother, who had
suffered a stroke last year.

Graves is perhaps best known for her title role as a sassy Los Angeles
police detective in the ABC action drama "Get Christie Love," which
aired from September 1974 to July 1975 and was one of the first
prime-time series with a black woman in the lead. Other credits include
a big-screen role as the Countess Vampira in the 1974 British horror
spoof "Old Dracula," starring David Niven (news).

She also was a regular on NBC's "Laugh-In" from 1969 to 1970 and
appeared in 1969's multimedia/variety flop "Turn-On," one of the
biggest one-episode fiascos in television history.

According to the Los Angeles Times, her final showbiz appearance was in
a Bob Hope (news) special in 1982.