Kathleen Marie Garver is an American stage, film, television, and voice-over actress most remembered for having portrayed the teenaged orphan, Catherine "Cissy" Davis, on the popular 1960s CBS sitcom, Family Affair. Before that, she was cast by Cecil B DeMille in the film The Ten Commandments. She also played the character Paula Jessup on one episode of the television showAdam-12, which aired on 12/29/1971.She later provided the voice of Firestar in the animated television seriesSpider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Garver authored The Family Affair Cookbook, Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood, and X Child Stars: Where are They Now?.
Early life and child career
Garver was born in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Rosemary and Hayes Garver. She was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic primary school. When she was nine, she tried her hand at acting and was cast in I'll Cry Tomorrow, but her most famous movie role was that of one of the young slaves in The Ten Commandments. In 1960, Garver released a Christmas song called "Lem, The Orphan Reindeer" on the Aquarian label, distributed by Bell Records. The song was written by Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, and E. Justin, and arranged by Jimmie Haskell. Garver later moved to San Bernardino, California, where she entered Pacific High School in 1960 and remained there until graduation in 1964. After high school, she entered UCLA, majoring in speech and drama, until her graduation in 1968. Garver was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women at UCLA.
Career
In 1965, Garver played a youthful Isadora Duncan, with June Lockhart as librarian Ina Coolbrith, the first poet laureate of California, in the episode "Magic Locket" of the syndicatedwestern television series Death Valley Days. In the story line, Coolbrith develops a tenuous friendship with the teen-aged free spirit, "Dorita Duncan". A year later, she had a supporting role in "Lady of the Plains". In 1966, while studying at UCLA, she auditioned for, and won, the role of "Cissy" Davis, the eldest of the three siblings on Family Affair. Garver had been a fan of series star Brian Keith since she was ten years old and had guest-starred on his earlier CBS series about the Cold War, Crusader. Family Affair ran for five seasons. In 1969, Garver appeared as Laura Hayden in The Big Valley season 4 episode "The Royal Road". Garver appeared in such movies as Princess Diaries, Unleashed, and Helen's Last Love, and as guest star in such TV films as Hercules Save Christmas and FBI Murders. Her stage plays include Voice of the Turtle, Vanities, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Sunday in New York, Star Spangled Girl, Romeo and Juliet with musicals My Fair Lady, River Song: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Summer Magic. Garver provided the voices of Firestar, Storm and other female guest characters on the Saturday morning cartoonSpider-Man and His Amazing Friends. In the 1990sSpider-Man cartoon series, she played the voice of Miss America. Garver was the voice of Alice Mitchell in the Dennis the Menace cartoon special Mayday for Mother and Pepper in . Her other voice roles included the television series Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, The Tom & Jerry Kids Show, Droopy, Master Detective, The New Yogi Bear Show, The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and The All-New Super Friends Hour, and the cartoon special Marvin: Baby of the Year. In addition to her television work, Garver has lent her voice talents to numerous commercials, toys, and audiobooks. Her voice has been heard in the films Apollo 13, Ransom, Backdraft and Jingle All the Way. Garver appeared in the Christmas episode of the 2002–2003 Family Affair WB series, which was a remake of the original. Garver has produced, narrated, written lyrics, and composed the music for eight audio Beatrix Potter tales and eight Mother Goose based audiotapes for Smarty Pants, Inc. She has recorded books for Brilliance Audio, Dove, Audible, and Listen and Live. From 2008-2012 she co-hosted the Comcast television talk showBackstage! With Barry & Kathy. Garver's stage performances include productions of Absolutely Dead and Dinner at Five the latter written and directed by Lloyd Schwartz. As a paid speaker, Garver gives presentations on "The Power of Perseverance" among other topics.
Personal life
As of November 1994, Garver was living in Hillsborough, California, with her husband, David Travis, and their adolescent son, Reid. She kept in touch with and visited her Family Affair co-star Brian Keith until his death on June 24, 1997, and attended his funeral.
Appearances and books
On June 26, 2008, she attended the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony when Brian Keith was awarded a star posthumously; Garver gave a speech on his behalf. In 2009, Garver co-authored, with Geoffrey Mark, The Family Affair Cookbook. In September 2015, Amazon Books published her autobiography, Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair Of Life In Hollywood. Garver's popularity allowed her to earn income on the nostalgia autograph convention circuit, including sittings at Western Legends Roundup in Kanab, Comic Con San Diego, Wonder Con Anaheim, Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention and others..
