Life and career

Strickland was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Theodosia and Lynn Strickland, who owned a tire shop. She had featured roles in 1970s films such as Bound for Glory, The Drowning Pool and Norma Rae.

In a memorable Drowning Pool scene, Strickland and Paul Newman are trapped in a room filling with water from floor to ceiling, stripped to their underwear, with no apparent escape.

Strickland appeared on the U.S. Navy series JAG first season episode "War Crimes". She played Ambassador Bartlett, the U.S. ambassador to Peru.

She appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Night Court as the public defender. She guest starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Paradise" as the character Alixus.

In 1994-1995, she appeared as Ms. Landis of Doubleday in the Seinfeld Season 6 episodes "The Chaperone" and "The Switch".

Gail played a struggling rancher's daughter in the 1987 "Highway to Heaven" episode "A Dream of Wild Horses," alongside legendary actor, Richard Farnsworth.

Strickland played nurse practitioner Marilyn McGrath in the 1988 TV series HeartBeat. This was one of the earliest portrayals of a lesbian character on American network television.

She also had a memorable appearance on the television series M*A*S*H as Captain Helen Whitfield, a nurse in an ongoing battle with alcoholism. She appeared in 11 episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman from 1993-94 as the character Olive Davis.

She played Esther MacInerney, the wife of A.J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen), Chief of Staff for President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas), in the 1995 movie The American President.

Strickland was a cast member in the brief run of the 2002 CBS television series First Monday, playing a Supreme Court justice.

Gail has reportedly been suffering from spasmodic dysphonia which may have resulted in a halted career.

TV and filmography

• Dark Shadows (1966) (TV series) (1969)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973) (TV series)
• Hawaii Five-O (1974) (TV series)
• The Bob Newhart Show (1974) (TV series)
• The Drowning Pool (1975)
• Bittersweet Love (1976)
• Bound for Glory (1976)
• The Bob Newhart Show (1976) (TV series)
• The Gathering (1977) (TV movie)
• One on One (1977)
• Lou Grant (1978) (TV series)
• Norma Rae (1979)
• Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case (1980)
• M*A*S*H*: Bottoms Up (Season 9) (1981) (TV series)
• Darkroom (1981) (TV series)
• My Body, My Child (1982) (TV movie)
• Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983) (TV)
• Uncommon Valor (1983)
• Oxford Blues (1984)
• Murder, She Wrote (1984) - Kate Hollander
• Protocol (1984)
• The Insiders (1985) (TV series)
• What a Country! (1986) - Principal Joan Courtney
• Highway to Heaven (1987)
• The Man in the Moon (1991)
• Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) (TV series)
• Three of Hearts (1993)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994) (TV series)
• Seinfeld (1994-1995) (TV series)
• When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
• How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
• JAG (1995) TV series
• The American President (1995)
• Walker, Texas Ranger (1997) TV series
• First Monday (2002) (TV series)
• Quality Time (2008)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]