Bundyology - Biographies

Biography of Katey Sagal
Character: Peggy Bundy

Last update January 18, 2015.

This page was created in co-operation with Kerstin "Tini" Laging. Check out her her Sagal-lery to learn more about Katey. The Sagal-lery includes pictures to most of Katey's appearances.

General Infos

Stats
Full Name: Catherine Louise Sagal
Date of Birth: definitely January 19, 1956.
Place of Birth: Los Angeles CA
Height: 5'9" = 178 cm

Addresses
Home: Los Feliz CA
Contact Address: 270 North Cannon Drive, #1064, Beverly Hills CA 90210
Agency: Progressive Artists
Label: Valley Entertainment
Website:www.kateysagal.net
Bra Size: 34-E (US) / 34-DD (UK) / 75-E (Germany) / 90-E (France) / 2-E (Italy) / about 38 Inches or 96 cm
Tattoo: flower symbol on her left outer ankle

Family
Her father Boris Sagal was a noted TV director with Russian roots. He also did some movies, e.g. the 1965 movie "Girl Happy" with Elvis Presley. Therefore Katey met Elvis as a nine year old girl, but she didn't care about that fact back then. Katey's father died on May 22, 1981, on the set for "World War III" when he walked into a helicopter rear rotor on the parking lot of Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon, the place where also Kubrick's "Shining" was filmed. His grave is at some Hollywood Hills cemetary.
Katey's mother Sara Zwilling was America's first feminine director and a singer. She died in 1975 at the age of 47 from a heart desease. By the way, "Zwilling" means "twin" in German, and she gave birth to twins. After Sara's death, Boris married dancer Marge Champion. Marge appeared in films like "Show Boat". Today she lives in New York as a dance teacher and choreographer.
Katey's older brother David is a lawyer. He studied in Harvard.
Her younger brother Joey Sagal appeared in two Married... with Children episodes: "She's Having My Baby, II" (602) and "The Two That Got Away" (1011). He also acted in many movies: "World War III" (1982), "Final Jeopardy" (TV movie 1985), "The Hidden" (1987), "The Return of Swamp Thing" (1989), "Beyond the Law" (1992), "Out for Blood" (1993), "Marilyn & Bobby" (TV movie 1993), "The Chase" (1994) and "Barb Wire" (1996).
Katey's sister Liz (Elizabeth) Sagal (October 9, 1963, LA CA) played in "Skinheads" (1990, aka "Teste Rasate") as Amy, "Howard the Duck" (1986) as Ronette, "Double Trouble" (TV Series 1984-85) as Allison Foster (with her twin sister Jean), "Flashdance" (1983) as Sunny and "Grease 2" (1982) as a Sorority Girl (with her twin sister Jean again). She also had a guest appearance with her twin sister Jean (as Elena) in "Picket Fences" (episode Nuclear Meltdowns as Ellen), "21 Jump Street" (episode Chapel of Love) and "Trapper John, M.D.". Recently she played with Katie in the movie "Following Tildy". She also was a story editor of four episodes of "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" or "Two Guys and a Girl", respectively, episodes ("Two Guys, a Girl and a Wedding", "Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble", "Liver and Learn" and "Feast or Fireman"). She also directed 9 episodes of "So Little Time".
Her sister Jean Sagal, twin sister of Liz, played in "Double Trouble" (TV Series 1984) as Kate Foster (with her sister Liz), "Grease 2" (1982) as a Sorority Girl (with her sister Liz, too), and the 1989 "Quantum Leap" episode "What Price Gloria?" (again with her twin sister. She also had a guest appearance with her sister Liz (as Ellen) in "Picket Fences" (episode Nuclear Meltdowns as Elena), "21 Jump Street" (episode Chapel of Love) and "Trapper John, M.D." (episode The Elusive Butterfly). Recently she directed the "Just Shoot Me" episodes "The Emperor" and "How the Finch Stole Christmas". She was also a technical coordinator of that series.
Kateys godfather is the producer Norman Lear.
In 1978 Katey had her first wedding with bass player Freddie Beckmeyer, but their marriage lasted only three years. On November 26, 1993, Katey married her second husband Jack White after living together for 5 years. Katey and Jack have a daughter Sarah Grace White (August 5, 1994) and a son Jackson James White (March 1, 1996). They used to live in the San Fernando Valley, California, and their wedding song was "Our Love Is Here to Stay". They divorced on July 24, 2000. On October 2, 2004, Katey married her third husband Kurt Sutter. Katey wore a Reem Acra wedding gown. Ed O'Neill attended the ceremony. Katey & Kurt now live in Los Feliz, California. They have another child: Esmé Louise (January 10, 2007) who was carried by a surrogate mother.
In December of 1989, Katey miscarried her first baby in the second month of her pregnancy. She wasn't luckier with her second child: On October 13 or 14, 1991, six weeks early Ruby Alexandra was stillborn. Five days later the episode "God's Shoes" (608) was taped without Katey. At that time (early season 6), she played pregnant Peggy Bundy on Married... with Children. Peggy was absent from the show until episode 610 due to Katey's recovery. I don't know why she was already absent from 607 on, though. After the tragedy, the producers decided to drop the plot of an expectant Peg and her pregnancy was explainded as a bad dream of Al in episode 611.

Awards
Dramalogue Award (1986)
Nominated as Best "Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical" at the 48th Golden Globe Awards (1991)
Nominated as Best "Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical" at the 49th Golden Globe Awards (1992)
Nominated as Best "Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical" at the 50th Golden Globe Awards (1993)
Nominated as Best "Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical" at the 51st Golden Globe Awards (1994)
American Comedy Award (1990 and 1992) for her portrayal of Peg

Career

Music Career
Katey released two CDs:

Well - April 19, 1994 - Virgin Records CD/CT US 39543 - including the song "Can't Hurry the Harvest".
room - June 1, 2004 - Valley Entertainment VE 15185 CD

She was born into a show business family and grew up in Los Angeles. Katey is a singer/songwriter who began singing at the age of five. From fall 1971 to June 1972 she took singing and acting classes at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. Her classmates included Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens and David Hasselhoff. In 1973, she hit the road for one year with a part in a musical production of Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona." Her roommate on tour was Joanna Kerns. Back home she had to earn money as a singing waitress at "The Great American Food and Beverage Company" restaurant. With co-workers with Henry Medross, Carolyn Ray, Jimmy Lott and Alan Miles she started the band "The Group with no Name". One night, Katey waited on Gene Simmons and his 70s rock band Kiss. In a friendly conversation she mentioned her band and one band member turned out to be one of Simmons' former college classmates. This led to an introduction with record executive Neill Bogard who eventually signed Sagal and her group for Casablanca Records. They released the 1976 album "Moon over Brooklyn" which wasn't a success, though. However, Simmons chose her as a back-up singer for his solo album. She has also worked as a back-up singer for Etta James, Tanya Tucker, Carolyn Ray, Mark Goldenberg, Paolinho da Costa and others. Katey even rehearsed for six weeks to take part in Bob Dylan's 1978 tour, but she was fired a couple of days before the tour started.

Some specific examples of her back-up work:
On Gene Simmons' 1978 album "Gene Simmons" (the Kiss bassist) she's credited as "Kate Sagall"
On Molly Hatchet's 1981 album "Take no Prisoners" she's credited as "Katy Sagal"
On Bette Midler's 1983 album "No Frills", she's credited as "Katie Sagal" for the song "Soda and a Souvenir"
On Olivia Newton-John's 1985 album "Soul Kiss"
On David Della Rossa's 1987 album "Nothin' but Trouble"

Katey performed with Bette Midler as one of the "Harlettes" in the late 70s and early 80s. She joined the group for Bette's fall 1978 world tour. Bette had wanted Charlotte Crossley (who played Peggy's friend Louise in 206, 212 and 403), Ula Hedwig, and Sharon Redd (the three that that served as her Harlettes during the 1977 "Club Tour"), but since their trio "Formerly of the Harlettes" was doing so well, they declined. So, for the first time, Bette had to advertise for three new ladies to become the newest members of Bette's backup trio. 248 women (plus two man in drag) answered the ad placed in the trade paper "The Hollywood Reporter". From this group, three women were eventually chosen: Linda Hart, Frannie Eisenberg, and Katey Sagal (she called herself Katie at that time). The three soon started a series of grueling 12 hour rehearsals to prepare for this tour; the only thing that kept the three going was the knowledge that Bette was working equally as hard as they were, and that she often was still working after they had gone home at midnight. The tour started out in Seattle, Washington. There were ten concerts at London’s Palladium, and the tour stopped at Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and other cities. The tour ended on November 27, 1978, in Sydney. Katey decided to leave the Harlettes before Bette's 1979 "Divine Madness" tour. She was replaced by Paulette McWilliams.

Katey joined the Harlettes again for Bette Midler's 1982/83 "De Tour". Her co-Harlettes were Ula Hedwig (again) and Linda Hart. "De Tour" premiered on December 6, 1982 at the Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles. One number was called "Delores DeLago", where Bette and her Harlettes (playing the "DeLago Sisters") were dressed in mermaid costumes and driving around in wheelchairs. At the New Year's Eve show, Bette was accompanied by Barry Manilow who was dressed as an old man representing "1982" while Bette was dressed as "baby 1983". The tour ended in the Radio City Music Hall, New York City, on March 21, 1983. Bette enjoyed the tour so much she decided to take it back out again in the summer until late fall. She brought a whole new set of Harlettes, though. The concert movie "Art or Bust" was filmed on this second "De Tour". The three Harlettes of the first "De Tour" performed background vocals on Bette Midler's 1983 album "No Frills" on the song "Soda and a Souvenir". After that, Katey focussed on her TV career. During that time, she also worked for movie soundtracks:

"Plain Clothes" (1988) with Arliss Howard: "Ain't Got Nobody", a duet with Billy Sherwood
"Loose Cannons" (1990) with Gene Hackman & Dan Aykroyd: "Loose Cannons" which appears over the end credits

She recorded the duet "Suddenly Seymour" with Scott Dreier. Check out Scott's website. Katey continues to perform in nightclubs throughout the Los Angeles area.

Stage, TV and Movie Career
Katey studied theater at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1985, appearing in a production of the musical "The Beautiful Lady," she was spotted by casting agents, who cast her as Mary Tyler Moore's feisty co-worker, Jo Tucker, in "Mary," a short-lived comedy series. This was the real start of her TV career. Her TV debut had been in "The Failing of Raymond" in 1971 as a patient. Her father was the director of that movie. "Mary" helped her to get the "Peggy" part on Married... with Children which made her famous. Therefore you can find one of Katey's bras in the Frederick's of Hollywood Lingerie Museum in Hollywood (6608 Hollywood Boulevard). It was stolen during the 1993 riots, but the thieves brought it back. Katey uses a wig for her Peggy part since season four. It has to be replaced every season because of the intense TV studio lights. One wig costs about US$ 4'000.

After Married... with Children

Her longest commitment after Married... with Children were the animated Fox series "Futurama" which lasted for five seasons from 1999 until 2003 and on Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013, where she gave her voice to the character Leela. In her ABC series "8 Simple Rules", which lasted for three seasons from 2002 until 2005, she played Cate, the mother of the family. In the FX series "Sons of Anarchy" she played the Gemma Teller Morrow, a mother of members of a motorcycle gang, from 2008 to 2014.

Today

After her three successful series "Futurama", "8 Simple Rules" and "Sons of Anarchy", Katey is concentrating on making TV films again. She got a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2014. She also continues to perform as a singer.

Deutsche Titel der folgenden Liste (German titles of the following list).

Motion Pictures

Maid to Order (1987)	[Louise] with Ally Sheedy (from War Games)
The Good Mother (1988)	[Ursula] with Diane Keaton, Liam Neeson
Dropping Out (2000)	[Wendy]
Recess (2000)	[Mrs. Flo Spinelli (voice)]
Following Tildy (2002)	[Connie St. John] with her sister Liz
I'm Reed Fish (2006)	[Maureen]

Television

The Failing of Raymond (1971)	[Young Mental Patient]
The Dream Makers (1975)	[Unemployment Manager]
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990)	[Mary Quite Contrary]
Violation of Trust (aka She Says She's Innocent) (1991)	Lead [Susan Essex]
American Saturday Night (1991)	unknown
Free to Laugh (1992)	unknown
Trail of Tears (1995)	[Annie Cook]
Mr. Headmistress (1998)	[Harriet Magnum, assistant headmistress]
Chance of A Lifetime (1998)	[Irene Duncan]
God's New Plan (aka No Greater Love) (1999)	[Ellen Young]
Smart House (1999)	[PAT]
When Angels Come to Town (2004)	[Jo]
Campus Confidential (2005)	[Violet's Mom]
Three Wise Guys (2005)	[Shirley]

TV shows:
Hollywood Squares (1988)
The Arsenio Hall Show (March, 1989)
Late Show (March, 1989)
Attitudes (April, 1989)
The Joan Rivers Show (September, 1989)
41st Annual Emmy Awards (1989) with Ed O'Neill
3rd Annual American Comedy Awards (1989)
Save The Planet (1990)
42nd Annual Emmy Awards (1990)
2nd International Rock Awards (1990)
Voices That Care (1991)
Entertainment Tonight (August, 1991)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (June, 1992)
The Whoopi Goldberg Show (1992 or February 1993)
A&E's An Evening at the Improv (1993)
MTV's 1993 Video Music Awards (1993)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (April 30, 1993)
Lou Rawls Television Special
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (April 29/30, 1994)
Later with Greg Kinnear (May 5, 1994)
Dennis Miller Show (about 1994)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (November 22/23, 1994)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1994 or 1995)
Return of the Blues Brothers: Driving Wheel (Concert in January, 1996, in the "House of Blues" in LA)
The Rosie O'Donnell Show (October 3, 1996)
Commercial for Victoria's Secret push-up bras in Germany (reported for August 12, 1996)
1997 Golden Globe Award Nominations
The Howie Mandel Show (February 16, 1999)
The View (February 16, 1999)
Politically Incorrect (July 28, 1999)
LIFE Intimate Portrait (November 15, 2000)
Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (September 16/17, 2002)
Funniest Wedding Outtakes (October 30, 2002) as narrator
ABC's Christmas in Aspen (December 8, 2002) singing A Christmas Song
The View (January 21, 2003)
Caroline Rhea Show (January 31, 2003)
Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (February 12, 2003)
Larry King Live (January 12, 2004)
Larry King Live (June 20, 2004)
Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (January 31, 2005)
Americas Search for the Funniest Mom [Host] (2006)

She also appeared in some German TV shows promoting her CD:
Geld oder Liebe (October 22, 1994)
Hit Clip (December 8, 1994; repeated on January 12, 1995)
Late Night mit Thomas Gottschalk (February 9, 1995)
Nachtshow mit Thomas Koschwitz (February 10, 1995)
RTL Samstag Nacht (February 18, 1995)

Television Series

Columbo: Candidate for Crime (Nov 4, 1973)	[Helen, Nelson Hayward's secretary]
Mary (1985)	[Jo Tucker]
Married... with Children (1987-97)	Regular Series Cast [Margaret "Peggy" Bundy]
Tales from the Crypt: For Cryin' Out Loud (1990)	Lead [Miss Killbosa] with Iggy Pop
Duckman: The Germ Turns (1995)	Voice [Duckman's Mother as a Germ]
Space Cases: Mother Knows Best (1996)	Guest Appearance [Ma, an energy force] voice over; Ma's face is by Sheena Larkin
Recess (1997)	[Mrs. Flo Spinelli (voice)]
Earth Scum (1998)	Regular Series Cast
That '70s Show: Career Day (1999)	Guest Appearance [Edna, Steven Hyde's mother]
That '70s Show: Prom Night (1999)	Guest Appearance [Edna (voice)]
That '70s Show: Punk Chick (1999)	Guest Appearance [Edna (voice)]
Futurama (1999)	Voice [Leela]
Tucker (2000)	Regular Series Cast [Claire Wennick]
Pajama Party (2001)	[herself]
The Geena Davis Show: Girls Night Out (2001)	[Ashley]
Imagine That (2002)	[Barb Thompson]
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2002)	Regular Series Cast [Cate Hennessy]
Higglytown Heroes (2004-2006)	Recurring Series Cast [Policewoman Hero]
The Shield: Grave (2005)	Guest Appearance [Nancy Gilroy]
Ghost Whisperer: Undead Comic (2005)	Guest Appearance [Francie Lewis]
Lost: Orientation (2005)	Guest Appearance [Helen]
Lost: Lockdown (2006)	Guest Appearance [Helen Norwood]
Boston Legal (2006)	Recurring Series Cast [Barbara Little]
The Winner: Hot for Teacher (2006)	Guest Appearance [Lydia Berko]
CSI: Two and a Half Deaths (2008)	Guest Appearance [Annabelle Bundt / Natasha Steele]
Eli Stone (2008)	Recurring Series Cast [Marci Klein]
Sons of Anarchy (2008)	Regular Series Cast [Gemma Teller Morrow]

Other Appearances

Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 (Second weekend in July of 1994)
Radio Play "The Stealer of Souls" (playing "Joleen"; available on Radio Repertory Company of America tapes: ISBN 0-9660392-0-3)
Audio Book "Love-Makers" (by Judith Gould; ISBN: 1-8793710-8-1)
Stage "Backstreet"
Stage "Esther"
Stage "Two Gentlemen of Verona"

And Finally...

Host of the September 7, 1996, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) party at the Playboy mansion

Thanks a lot to Kerstin "Tini" Laging, the greatest Katey fan in the world. Also thanks to Gert Walliser, Ralph Morse, Nick Cage, "Alfonzo Bundy", Carl V Sampson, "LoGiKILL" and "Marriedaniac".

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