Katey Sagal - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Katey Sagal biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Katey Sagal (born Catherine Louise Sagal on January 19 1954) is an American actress, singer, and writer, known for her roles in Futurama, 8 Simple Rules, and Married... with Children.

Biography

Early career

Sagal was born in Hollywood, California to a show business family; she is the daughter of director Boris Sagal, a Russian Jewish immigrant best known for his work on 1960s television dramas, including The Twilight Zone. Her mother, Sara Zwilling, was a producer. Sagal is the older sister of twin actresses Jean Sagal and Liz Sagal, best remembered as the Doublemint Twins of the early 1980s, and for their own short-lived sitcom of that era: Double Trouble. She is also the sister of actor Joe Sagal. Sagal and her siblings grew up in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.

Career

Sagal began her career working the Hollywood circuit. She appeared in several television films between 1971 and 1975, including a small role as a receptionist in the Columbo film Candidate for Crime (directed by her father) and in 1973 working as a backing vocalist for various singers, including Bob Dylan, Gene Simmons and Tanya Tucker. During this time she also was a member of the now-forgotten rock group The Group With No Name. She was plucked from relative obscurity by Bette Midler, who hired her for her 1979 tour as one of her back-up singers (The Harlettes).

Sagal returned to television in 1985 in the failed television series Mary starring Mary Tyler Moore. This led to her being cast in her best-known role, that of Peg Bundy on the very successful American sitcom Married... with Children (1987–1997). On the show, she portrayed the lower-class, unhappy, sex-craving wife of a shoe salesman. Originally her character was written with the appearance of a modern housewife, but it was Sagal's idea for her character Peggy Bundy to take on the 1960s image because she wanted to parody the 1960s housewife. During her audition for the role, Sagal brought her own red beehive wig and with the producers' approval, the look transitioned into the show. Peggy Bundy wore a large red beehive wig, capris-length leggings with a large belt, and high slip-on heels, which were all fashion styles from the 1960s. Sagal's career focused almost entirely on this series for its ten-year run (although she also appeared in several television movies). Sagal briefly revisited her role of Peg in Futurama (below), when the sitcom was parodied in the episode "A Bicyclops Built For Two".

After the end of Married... with Children, several more television films followed for Sagal, and she was also a featured voice on the children's cartoon Recess. In 1999, Matt Groening, who created The Simpsons, cast her as one-eyed mutant spaceship pilot Leela in his science-fiction cartoon comedy Futurama. The show developed a cult following, but was cancelled four years later. (The revival of Futurama was announced in 2006; Sagal has stated plans to return as Leela in the 2008 season.) Sagal also guest starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde's mother, in three episodes of That 70s Show: "Punk Chick" (1999), "Prom Night" (1999), and "The Career Day" (1999). She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker in 2000.

Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. After Ritter's unexpected death in September 2003, Sagal was suddenly given the difficult task of having to carry most of the show (with a little help from new cast members David Spade and James Garner). Ritter completed only three episodes of the second season of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter with Sagal introducing each episode. The show was cancelled in 2005 after its third season.

Sagal is also an accomplished songwriter. In 1976, while a member of The Group With No Name, she contributed to the album "Moon over Brooklyn". She also performed backing vocals on the solo album by KISS Bassist Gene Simmons. On April 19 1994, she released her first solo album, Well.... Ten years later, on June 1 2004 she released her second album, Room.

In 2005 she made two guest appearances on Lost and one guest appearance on CBS's Ghost Whisperer. She currently hosts The Search For The Funniest Mom In America and has a recurring role as a guest star on Boston Legal.

Personal life

Sagal married Kurt Sutter (a writer, producer, and actor for The Shield) in a private ceremony on October 2 2004 at their home in Los Feliz, California. Before that, she was married to Freddie Beckmeier (1978–1981) and Jack White (November 26 1993–July 24 2000) with whom she has two children, Sarah Grace and Jackson James White.

External links

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