Theater Deciding to follow her interest in theater, she moved to New York City, where she subsequently enjoyed a 14-year stage career in regional and off-Broadway productions. She became involved with the
Actors Studio, where she studied with
Lee Strasberg.
Television Fisher gained recognition playing Detective Deborah Saxon on the
ABC daytime soap opera
The Edge of Night from 1976 to 1981. She later joined the cast of
CBS's
Guiding Light as Suzette Saxon in 1985. After leaving daytime television, Fisher guest starred as a bartender, Savannah, at "The Lobo" in the first season of ABC comedy series
Roseanne. She also appeared on
Newhart,
Matlock and
In the Heat of the Night. Fisher was originally cast to play
Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom
Home Improvement, but was replaced after initial filming because producers felt that her pilot episode performance did not test well with the audience. She was cast in the unaired pilot to the short-lived 1992 ABC summer series
Human Target (originally filmed in 1990, her role was recast by the time the series was picked up in October 1991, replaced by actress
Signy Coleman). In 1991, Fisher was cast as
Lucille Ball in the television film
Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, which aired to strong ratings and good reviews. From 1994 to 1995 she starred in the
Fox drama series
Strange Luck. In 2000, Fisher portrayed
Audrey Hepburn's mother, Ella Hepburn, in the
biographical film of the actress. In the same year she played the role of
Janet Lee Bouvier in
Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Fisher also guest-starred on ''
Grey's Anatomy, The Shield, Two and a Half Men, Private Practice, Sons of Anarchy, Torchwood: Miracle Day, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, and Castle''. In 2014, Fisher was starring in the ABC drama series
Resurrection about the residents of Arcadia, Missouri, whose lives are upended when their loved ones return from the dead, unaged since their deaths. She played the role of Lucille Langston. In 2017, she and her daughter
Francesca Eastwood both starred in the acclaimed
Fargo episode "
The Law of Non-Contradiction" as the older and younger versions of the same character. In 2019, she starred in the
HBO television series
Watchmen, a sequel to the
graphic novel of the same name.
Film Fisher made her film debut in
Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983) and later appeared in
Patty Hearst directed by
Paul Schrader. She also appeared in the films
The Potters and ''
You're Not You'', both released in 2014. Fisher appeared in the film
Woman in Gold (2015), playing the mother of
Randol Schoenberg (
Ryan Reynolds). == Political activities ==