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Kathy Garver

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Kathy Garver
Kathy Garver at the Golden Halo Awards 2014 in Hollywood, California
Born (1945-12-13) December 13, 1945 (age 79)
Long Beach, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Occupations
  • Actress
  • producer
  • speaker
  • author
Years active1952–present
Spouse
David Travis
​
(m. 1981)​
Children1
WebsiteOfficial website

Kathy Garver (born Kathleen Marie Garver; December 13, 1945)[1] is an American actress most remembered for having portrayed the teenaged orphan, Catherine "Cissy" Davis, on the popular 1960s CBS sitcom, Family Affair. Before that, she was cast by Cecil B. DeMille in the film The Ten Commandments (1956), and after that, she provided the voice of Firestar in the animated television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–83). Garver authored The Family Affair Cookbook (2009), Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (2015),[2] and X Child Stars: Where are They Now? (2016).[3]

Early life and child career

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Garver was born in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Rosemary (Schmoker) and Hayes Garver.[4] She was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic primary school.[5] Garver recalled that her mother began getting her into acting from a young age: "I started singing and dancing at the Meglin Studios in Hollywood, at three years old, as was Shirley Temple, who was also discovered there. I think my mom had the vision of her little daughter as Shirley Temple."[6] When she was nine, she was cast in I'll Cry Tomorrow, but her most famous movie role was one of the young slaves in The Ten Commandments. Garver was cast as an extra in The Ten Commandments, but during filming director Cecil B. DeMille noticed her and wrote her into the movie.[6]

During the 1950s Garver did voice work on radio dramas, including Whispering Streets and Heartbeat Theater.[6] In 1969, Garver released a Christmas song called "Lem, the Orphan Reindeer" on the Aquarian label, distributed by Bell Records. The song was written by Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, and E. Justin, and arranged by Jimmie Haskell.[7]

Career

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Garver (bottom left) with her co-stars of Family Affair, Brian Keith (center), Sebastian Cabot (back), Johnny Whitaker, and Anissa Jones

In 1966, while studying at UCLA, she auditioned for, and won, the role of "Cissy" Davis, the eldest of the three siblings on Family Affair.[8] Garver had been a fan of series star Brian Keith since she was ten years old and had guest-starred on his earlier CBS series about the Cold War, Crusader. She had also previously worked with co-producer Don Fedderson on The Millionaire.[6] While working on Family Affair Garver began dating her on-screen boyfriend Greg Fedderson, but otherwise did not socialize much with the rest of the cast, since they were all either much older or much younger than she.[6] Family Affair ran for five seasons.

In 1969, Garver appeared as Laura Hayden in The Big Valley season 4 episode "The Royal Road".

Garver appeared in such movies as Princess Diaries, Unleashed, and Helen's Last Love, and as guest star in such TV films as Hercules Saves Christmas and FBI Murders. Her stage plays include Voice of the Turtle, Vanities, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Sunday in New York, Star Spangled Girl, Romeo and Juliet with musicals My Fair Lady, River Song: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Summer Magic.[citation needed]

Garver provided the voices of Firestar, Storm and other female guest characters on the Saturday morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. In the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon series, she played the voice of Miss America.[9][10]

Garver was the voice of Alice Mitchell in the Dennis the Menace cartoon special Mayday for Mother and Pepper in Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos. Her other voice roles included the television series Fonz and the Happy Days Gang; The Tom & Jerry Kids Show; Droopy, Master Detective; The New Yogi Bear Show; The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show; The All-New Super Friends Hour and the cartoon special Marvin: Baby of the Year. In addition to her television work, Garver has lent her voice talents to numerous commercials, toys, and audiobooks.

Her voice has been heard in the films Apollo 13, Ransom, Backdraft and Jingle All the Way.

Garver appeared in the Christmas episode of the 2002–2003 Family Affair WB series, which was a remake of the original.

Garver has produced, narrated, written lyrics, and composed the music for eight audio Beatrix Potter tales and eight Mother Goose based audiotapes for Smarty Pants, Inc. She has recorded books for Brilliance Audio, Dove, Audible, and Listen and Live.

From 2008-2012 she co-hosted the Comcast television talk show Backstage! With Barry & Kathy.[11][12]

Garver's stage performances include productions of Absolutely Dead and Dinner at Five, the latter written and directed by Lloyd J. Schwartz.[13][14]

As a paid speaker, Garver gives presentations on "The Power of Perseverance" among other topics.[citation needed]

Personal life

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As of November 1994, Garver was living in Hillsborough, California, with her husband, David Travis, and their adolescent son, Reid.[15]

Appearances and books

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On June 26, 2008, she attended the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony when Brian Keith was awarded a star posthumously; Garver gave a speech on his behalf.[16]

In 2009, Garver co-authored, with Geoffrey Mark, The Family Affair Cookbook.[17] In September 2015, she published her autobiography, Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair Of Life In Hollywood.[7]

Awards and honors

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In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.[18] Garver has won two Audie Awards, one for her narration of The World's Shortest Stories, the other in 2004 for her direction of Amy Tan in The Opposite of Fate read by the author. In 2010, Garver was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for her role in Family Affair.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Pilato, Herbie J. (2014). Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door: Television's Iconic Women from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-58979-969-1.
  2. ^ King, Susan (2 September 2015). "'Family Affair's' Kathy Garver looks back on childhood stardom in new autobiography". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. ^ Hayes, Anthony C. (2 October 2016). "Family Affair actress looks at X Child Stars: Where Are They Now?". The Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Senior in Action – Kathy Garver". Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  5. ^ Parker, Melissa (4 February 2009). "Exclusive Interview with Kathy Garver of Family Affair". Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. I went to a Catholic school until the sixth grade and then my mother put us all in public school so we could find out real world was like. But, we remained religious and spiritual since then.
  6. ^ a b c d e Clancy, Shaun (August 2020). "From Family Affair, Firestar, and Beyond: An Interview with Kathy Garver". RetroFan (10): 19–23.
  7. ^ a b Garver, Kathy (2015). Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-63076-115-8.
  8. ^ Bihun, Ashley (13 January 2023). "Family Affair's Kathy Garver talks about her illustrious career with Paul Lisnek" (MP3). WGN Radio 720 - Chicago's Very Own. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Kathy Garver". GalaxyFest. 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  10. ^ Markstein, Don (2010). "Miss America". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. [Miss America] made an appearance in a 1997 episode of Spider-Man's animated TV show...There, her voice was done by Kathy Garver.
  11. ^ Barsamian, Barry; Garver, Kathy (6 October 2008). "Backstage! With Barry & Kathy". IMDb.[unreliable source?]
  12. ^ Nahmod, David Alex (10 September 2009). "Kathy Garver's charmed life after playing Cissy on classic sitcom 'Family Affair'". The Bay Area Reporter.
  13. ^ Puglisi, Jackie (7 March 2017). "Play is a classic whodunit". The Winchester Star. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  14. ^ Jones, Peter (8 November 2017). "'Dinner at Five' a family affair for Kathy Garver". The Villager. Denver, Colorado. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Kathy Garver". People. 28 November 1994. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  16. ^ Larsen, Jennifer (31 July 2008). "Brian Keith's star added to Hollywood's Walk of Fame". Ritzville.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  17. ^ Garver, Kathy; Mark, Geoffrey (4 July 2009). The Family Affair Cookbook (Hardcover ed.). BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-5939-3458-3.
  18. ^ "Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated" (PDF). Palm Springs Walk of Stars. 2012.
  19. ^ "31st Annual Young Artist Awards". Young Artist Awards. 11 April 2010. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
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