Blonde leading-lady Sharon Gless owns the distinction of being the last-ever "contract player" at Universal Studios. Signed by Universal in 1969, Gless did yeoman work as a supporting player on such series as Marcus Welby MD and films like Airport 75. She was a regular on the short-lived TVer Faraday and Company (1973) before achieving a degree of stardom as Maggie, "girl Friday" to Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert, on the popular crime-caper series Switch (1975-78). Her next series was the weekly House Calls (1981), in which she replaced departing regular Lynn Redgrave. It was another replacement assignment that solidified Gless as a bankable name: in 1982, she replaced Meg Foster as NYPD officer Chris Cagney on the detective series Cagney and Lacey. She remained in this role until the series' cancellation in 1988, winning two Emmy awards along the way, then reprised the part (with her co-star Tyne Daly) in a well-received 1995 TV movie. Sharon Gless' most recent TV-series gig was as the public-defender heroine of The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990-92), produced by Gless' husband, Barney Rosenszweig.