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Biographies: Katie Sagal (AKA Peggy Bundy)

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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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