Katey Sagal

Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal (born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She first achieved widespread fame as Peggy Bundy on Married... with Children, for which she was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Television Series and two American Comedy Awards during the show's run.

Katey is also well-known for voicing the character Leela on another popular FOX series, the animated science fiction series Futurama and its related direct-to-DVD movies since 1999, as well as for starring on the show 8 Simple Rules in the role of Cate Hennessy. In the latter role, she worked with John Ritter until his death, leading to Sagal's taking over as the series' lead for the remainder of the show's run.

From 2008 to 2014, she portrayed the role of Gemma Teller Morrow in the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy, for which she won a Golden Globe in 2011. She has been married to Sons of Anarchy creator, Kurt Sutter, since 2004. She recently played as Randy DeLuca in CBS sitcom series Superior Donuts from 2017 to 2018.

Early life

Sagal was born in California to a show business family of five children, including younger twin sisters Jean and Liz Sagal, and brother Joe Sagal all three of whom are actors. Her mother, Sara Zwilling, was a writer and producer who died of heart disease; her father, Boris Sagal, was a television director, born in the Ukraine, who died in an accident on the set of the TV movie World War III when he accidentally walked into a helicopter's spinning tail rotor. Sagal and her siblings grew up in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

Acting career

After graduating from California Institute of the Arts, Katey began her acting career in Hollywood, appearing in several made for TV movie]]s between 1971 and 1975, including a small role as a receptionist in the Columbo installment Candidate for Crime (directed by her father). Sagal's first major role was as a newspaper columnist in the short-lived NBC series Mary which starred Mary Tyler Moore. This led to her being cast as Peggy Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children (1987–1997). She portrayed the lower-class, sex-starved wife of shoe salesman Al Bundy. Sagal brought her own red bouffant wig to audition for the role, and with the producers' approval, the look transitioned into the show. As Peg, she wore the wig, capri-length leggings with a large belt, and high slip-on heels, which were all fashion styles from the 1960s. The series ran for 11 years.

After the end of MWC, several more television films followed; she also contributed to the children's cartoon Recess as the voice of Spinelli's mother. While Sagal worked to avoid being typecast, some roles were nods to Peg Bundy. In 1998, Sagal starred in the Disney movie Smart House, playing a computer avatar to look after the home of a single father and his kids. She wore the same Peg Bundy bouffant, but the difference being whereas Peg was lazy and wanted nothing to do with motherhood, in this case she thought it her role to take care of a man and his children.

In 1999, Matt Groening cast her as the purple-haired, cyclopian spaceship captain, Leela, in his science fiction animated comedy Futurama which originally aired on FOX. The show developed a cult following but was cancelled after four seasons. However, airings in syndication on Adult Swim and Comedy Central increased the show's popularity and led Comedy Central to commission a series of Futurama direct-to-DVD films, which the network later rebroadcast as 16 episodes, season five. She reprised her role as Leela in these films, and in the new season that began airing June 24, 2010. Two more seasons were created until Comedy Central officially cancelled the show in 2013. .

Sagal guest starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde's mother, in three episodes of That '70s Show. She starred in the short-lived NBC-TV sitcom Tucker the following year.

She was cast as the wife of former Three's Company series star John Ritter in the ABC-TV sitcom 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) in 2002. Ritter had completed only three episodes of the second season before his death, and the series was slated for cancellation. With the blessing of Amy Yasbeck, John Ritter's widow, Sagal would continue the show. The show was reworked into the format that Sagal's on-screen husband had died, and now as a widow she would do the same role he had done in vetting out potential suitors for her daughter. Sagal continued on for a third season of the show, when it was retired.

In 2005, she made two appearances on Lost as Helen Norwood. In 2007, she had a role in the season finale of The Winner as Glen Abbot's former, and Josh's current, teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience. The following year, she appeared in four episodes of the short-lived series Eli Stone.

In January 2009, Sagal reunited with her TV son David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) for an episode of Faustino's show Star-ving'. In 2010, she appeared twice more on Lost. In 2009, she starred in the film 'House Broken with Danny DeVito. In 2010, she returned to the stage in Randy Newman's musical Harps & Angels.

From 2008 to 2014, she played Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX show Sons of Anarchy, created by her husband, Kurt Sutter. She also made a cameo in the pilot episode for SOA spin-off, Mayans M.C. in 2018.

In 2011, Katey Sagal was reunited with Ed O'Neill during his awarding of a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, alongside Sofia Vergara, to have Ed's two famous "TV wives" honoring him.  3 years later, in 2014, Sagal would get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where she was joined by O'Neill, David Faustino and Christina Applegate. In 2022, she joined Faustino and Amanda Bearse to celebrate Christina Applegate getting her star.

In 2016 it was announced that Sagal would star in the CBS comedy series Superior Donuts as Randy DeLuca. The show premiered on February 2017, but was cancelled after two seasons, ending in May 2018.

From 2019 until 2025, she has had a recurring/regular role on the ABC sitcom, The Connors, a spin-off of Roseanne as the new love interest for Dan Conner (John Goodman), after the original star, Roseanne, was killed off.

In 2022, streaming service, Hulu, announced that it would revive Futurarama, despite already having an official series finale in 2013, with Sagal once again reprising her role as Leela. The show debuted its eighth season in 2023, followed by a ninth season in 2024, with each season consisting of 10 episodes. A tenth and eleventh season are planned for release in 2025 and 2026.

Musical career

Katey started her career in show business as a singer and songwriter. In 1973, she worked as a backing vocalist for various singers, including Bob Dylan and Tanya Tucker]]. In 1976, while a member of The Group With No Name, she contributed to the album Moon over Brooklyn. She was a member of Bette Midler's backup group The Harlettes in 1978, and again from 1982–83. She performed backing vocals on the self-titled Gene Simmons solo album, the Molly Hatchet album Take No Prisoners (Molly Hatchet album)|Take No Prisoners and on Olivia Newton-John's 1985 single "Soul Kiss". Sagal also provided the vocals for "Loose Cannons", the theme song for the movie featuring Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd in 1990. The song featured her singing most of the song, while Aykroyd sang the chorus and had some background impersonations from the movie.

On April 19, 1994, she released her first solo album, Well... On June 1, 2004, she released her second album, Room. She has also contributed to the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack.

Personal life

Sagal was married to German American musician Freddie Beckmeier (1978–1981). In 1991, Sagal learned she was pregnant. This was unexpected by the directors of Married... with Children, so the pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show. However, in October 1991, she had to have an emergency Caesarean section in her seventh month of pregnancy, ending in the stillbirth of a daughter. The pregnancy on the show was then regarded as a "dream", which was mentioned only briefly at the end of the episode "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick". She also had an early miscarriage around this time. She and White eventually had two children - a daughter, Sarah and a son, Jackson. The writers of Married... with Children deliberately didn't write Sagal's two later pregnancies into the show due to the earlier stillbirth, opting instead to shoot her in instances where her midsection was obscured, such as in a taxicab or at a craps table in Las Vegas.

Married presently to Sutter, whom she wed in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in Los Feliz, CA, they have a daughter, Esme, who was born through a surrogate mother.