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a biography
Reviewer:
Sarg
Actress
Katey Sagal earned four Golden Globe nominations for her role
as Peg Bundy, a Spandex-clad, curvaceous housewife. Who would
guess that the woman behind the famous floozy is a former rock
'n roller and has overcome many personal tragedies to become a
professional success?
Although
it wasn't until her early 30s that Katey Sagal became famous for
her role as Peg Bundy, the matriarch on the mega-popular, dysfunctional
family sitcom "Married...With Children," she was harboring
show-business dreams long before that. Her father, Boris Sagal,
was a successful film and TV director (his movies included the
1965 Elvis Presley film "Girl Happy"); her mother, Sarah
Zwilling, was the first female assistant director in Hollywood.
From
the time she was a young girl, Sagal was fixated on forging a
career as a rock star. But she started her career by acting. At
18, she hit the road with a part in a musical production of Shakespeare's
"Two Gentlemen of Verona." When she returned to Los
Angeles a year later, she discovered her mother was seriously
ill; she died when Sagal was just 19.
When
Sagal wasn't working as an actress, she supported herself waiting
tables, a job that brought her closer to her initial musical goal.
One night, she waited on Gene Simmons of the '70s rock band Kiss.
A friendly conversation led to an introduction with a record executive
who eventually signed Sagal and her group, The Band With No Name.
Unfortunately, The Band With No Name quickly became the band with
no future, since their first and only recorded album went nowhere.
Sagal was more successful as a backup singer, landing a gig with
Bob Dylan and then spending five years as one of Bette Midler's
Harlettes.
In
1981, Sagal faced yet another family tragedy when her father was
killed in a helicopter accident on the set of one of his movies.
Devastated by the loss, she turned to drugs and alcohol. Sagal
finally got help during her stint on CBS's one-season sitcom "Mary,"
starring Mary Tyler Moore, and has been sober ever since.
In
1987, Sagal landed her biggest role yet as Peg Bundy, the obnoxious
but loveable wife on "Married...With Children," the
hugely popular sitcom that stayed on the air a staggering 11 years
and earned the actress four Golden Globe nominations for Best
Actress in a Comedy Series.
But
Sagal didn't rest on her laurels: She continued performing at
blues clubs on the weekends, and at one of these gigs, she met
and fell in love with drummer Jack White. The couple married and
later gave birth to a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Jackson. She
also snagged a contract with Virgin Records to release her debut
solo album "Well," which received warm praise from critics.
After
the cancellation of "Married...With Children" in 1997,
Sagal appeared as the voice of Leela, the buxom cyclops on the
clever animated series "Futurama." Along with the changes
in her career, Sagal is weathering some personal transitions:
She and her husband recently split up. Still, her career is thriving.
This season, she stars in the new NBC sitcom "Tucker"
as Claire, the uptight, stern aunt.
"Katey
Sagal: Intimate Portrait" is narrated by David Faustino (a
former co-star in "Married
With Children") and
features interviews with actresses Joanna Kerns and Christina
Applegate, and rocker Gene Simmons.
Information
on Katey Sagal is from Lifetime.com
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