Actress

Actress Teresa Graves, who starred as a sassy undercover cop in the 1970s television police drama “Get Christie Love!” died Thursday Oct. 10 from a fire at her L.A. home. She was 54. Cause of the fire was under investigation.

Firefighters found Graves unconscious in a bedroom. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died.

The blaze began shortly after midnight. Firefighters found the rear part of the home engulfed in flames.

Graves started her career as a singer with the Doodletown Pipers and transitioned to acting, appearing regularly on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” during the late 1960s and appeared on “The New Dick Van Dyke Show.” She had supporting roles in several films during the 1970s, including “Black Eye,” “That Man Bolt” and “Vampira.”

On “Get Christie Love!,” which ran during the 1974-75 season, she played the first black woman hired by a big-city police department. Graves left acting during the mid-1970s to pursue religious endeavors.

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