Background:

“Family Affair was then the most popular show in that country, and a live musical presentation of the show was mounted. It was cast with impersonators, except for me. I performed my role phonetically in Hebrew - people were stunned when I stepped out onto the stage!” Kathy Garver

Kathy Garver is an American film, television and voice-over actress. She is best recalled for playing Catherine “Cissy” Davis on the popular sitcom “Family Affair” (CBS, 1966-1971). In 2010, she was honored with Former Child Star “Lifetime Achievement” Award by the Young Artist Foundation for her role on the series. Garver also wrote the best selling book, “The Family Affair Cookbook.” The UCLA graduate has acted in many films, including “Sweet November” (2001), The Princess Diaries” (2001), “Race You to the Bottom” (2005) and “Hercules Saves Christmas” (2011), and has done voice overs for the cartoon series “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” (1981-1983) and “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” (1997). She has also recorded over 30 audio books.

Currently, Garver lives in Hillsborough, California, with her husband David and son Reid. She serves as the President of the Family Affair foundation which provides reading companions to the elderly and at risk youth.  


Kathleen Marie Garver

Childhood and Family:

Kathleen Marie Garver, who would later be popular as Kathy Garver, was born on December 13, 1945, in Long Beach, California, to Hayes Gilbert Garver, Sr. & Rosemary Garver. Her father is of French Irish extraction, while her mother is of Swiss Austrian descent. She is the youngest of four children, and has two brothers ( Hayes Gilbert Garver, Jr. and Lance Garver) and one sister (Beverly Garver). Kathy later relocated to San Bernardino, in which she attended Pacific High School and stayed there until her graduation. She then attended UCLA with a major in Speech and Drama, and became a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women there. Her acting mentor was Brian Keith.

On May 3, 1981, Kathy married business executive David Travis, whom she met on a tennis court in Palm Springs. The couple has one son named Reid Garver Travis.     


Sweet November

Career:

At age 8, Kathy Garver landed guest starring roles on the television series “Dave and Charley” (as Marlene), “Private Secretary” (as Angelea) and “Our Miss Brooks” (as Gina). She continued to make guest appearances in such shows as “The Millionaire,” “My Favorite Husband” (both 1955), “Crusader” (1956), which starred her idol, Brian Keith, “Matinee Theatre” (1956, 1957), “Fury” (1956), “Telephone Time” (1957), “The Adventures of Jim Bowie” (1957) and “Panic!” (1957). Garver made her first appearance on feature films when she was 10 years old in “The Night of the Hunter” (1955), a film-noir starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. It was followed by other uncredited parts in “The Bad Seed” and “The Ten Commandments” (both 1956) as well as a supporting role on the drama “Monkey on My Back” (1957), starring Cameron Mitchell, Dianne Foster and Paul Richards.     

After a few guest spots in the early 1960s, Garver scored a recurring role on the NBC medical drama television series “Dr. Kildare,” starring Richard Chamberlain as the title role. She appeared as Tracey Richards in the episodes “Fathers and Daughters,” “A Gift of Love,” “The Tent Dwellers” and “Going Home” (all 1965). She also had a recurring role as Monica in “The Patty Duke Show” (3 episodes 1966) before gaining her big break with the regular role of Catherine 'Cissy' Davis, the teenage niece of Uncle Bill (portrayed by Brian Keith) on the CBS TV sitcom “Family Affair.” The show ran for five seasons from September 12, 1966 to September 9, 1971, and Garver would remained with the show until its finale.

About a decade after the cancellation of “Family Affair,” Garver lent her voice to the characters Angelica Jones / Firestar on the Saturday morning cartoon “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,” a gig she kept until 1983. She voiced Alice Mitchell on the Dennis the Menace cartoon special “Mayday for Mother” (1981), Pepper on the animated TV series “Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos” (1986), which was created by and starred Chuck Norris, Jenny Miller in “Marvin: Baby of the Year” (1989) as well as Miss America in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” (1997). In the meantime, Garver had guest starring roles in various television series, including “Simon & Simon” (1983, 1988), “New Love, American Style” (1986), “ Superior Court” (1987) and “Matlock” (1989). In the late 1990s, the actress was cast as Mrs. Gilliam in the Bo Mehrad drama film “Closer Than the Boy Next Door” (1998), opposite Erik Bennett, Ellen Ferris and Michael Wharton, and as Ms. Mason in the direct to video “Invisible Mom II” (1999), with Dee Wallace, Justin Berfield and Trenton Knight.  

Entering the new millennium, Garver picked up the role of Aunt Katey in the made for television film “The Trial of Old Drum” (2000), starring Bobby Edner, Ron Perlman and Randy Travis,  and portrayed Helen Richards in an episode of “Nash Bridges” called “Jump Start.” She returned to the big screen with roles on “Family Secret” (2001), a drama directed and written by Sally Champlin and starring Angela Jones, Tim Redwine and Pamela Bellwood, the Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron romantic vehicle “Sweet November” (2001), where she was cast as Nurse, and the box office hit comedy “The Princess Diaries” (2001), in which she played the Cable car tourist. In 2002, she was featured as Beverly in an episode of the television series remake of “Family Affair.”

Next up for Garver, she co-starred in the thriller film “Seizing Me” (2003), along with Lisa Keller and Howard Antony, had a featured role as Spa attendant in “Race You to the Bottom” (2005), a drama film written and directed by Russell Brown and starring Ruben Dario, Kristin Hensley and Cole Williams, and appeared in the Samm Styles helmed drama film “Black August” (2007).  Besides, she landed roles in Christopher Noice's “Soupernatural” (2010), Joe Estevez's comedy/horror “Horrorween” (2011) and Edward Hightower's family film “Hercules Saves Christmas” (2011), in which she played Sister Augustus.  

Garver has completed filming the role of Mrs. Black on the upcoming adventure/comedy film “Technicolour Llama” (2012), co-directed by Paul Collett and Tammy Massa. She is set to portray Ms. Jones on the comedy film “Executive Ranks” (2013), by writer/director John Wesley Norton.

Garver has also narrated, produced and written lyrics and composed the music for eight audio “Beatrix Potter” tales and eight “Mother Goose” based audiotapes for Smarty Pants Inc. Her Beatrix Potter tapes have won many awards and have sold more than two million units. She has recorded books for Brilliance Audio, Dove, Listen and Live and can be downloaded at the Timber Wolf Press website.   


Awards:

Young Artist Foundation: Former Child Star “Lifetime Achievement” Award, “Family Affair,” 2010 Show Less