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Katey Sagal
Katey Sagal Comic-Con 2011.jpg
Sagal in 2011
Born
Catherine Louise Sagal

(1954-01-19) January 19, 1954 (age 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater California Institute of the Arts
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active 1971–present
Known for Married... with Children
Futurama
8 Simple Rules
Sons of Anarchy
Shameless
The Conners
Spouse(s)
  • Freddy Beckmeier
    (m. 1977; div. 1981)
  • Jack White
    (m. 1993; div. 2000)
  • Kurt Sutter
    (m. 2004)
Children Three, including Jackson White
Parent(s)
  • Boris Sagal
  • Sara Zwilling
Relatives

Catherine Louise Sagal (/səˈɡɑːl/; born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Peggy Bundy on Married... with Children (1987–1997), Leela on Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023-present), Cate Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules (2002–2005), Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2011, and Louise Goldufski-Conner on The Conners (2018–present).

Early life

Sagal was born in California to a show business family of five children. Her younger sisters Jean and Liz Sagal. They are a pair of twins who also act. Her brother is actor Joe Sagal. Her mother, Sara Zwilling was a writer and producer. Sagal's father, Boris Sagal was a director. Sagal grew up in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Musical career

Sagal began her career in show business as a singer and songwriter. In 1973, she worked as a backing vocalist for various singers, including Bob Dylan, Etta James, and Tanya Tucker. In 1976, while a member of The Group with No Name, she contributed to the album Moon over Brooklyn (on which she was credited as "Katie Sagal"). She performed backing vocals on the self-titled Gene Simmons solo album (1978), the Molly Hatchet album Take No Prisoners (1981), and on Olivia Newton-John's 1985 single "Soul Kiss."

She was a member of the music group the Harlettes, Bette Midler's backup singers, in 1978, and again from 1982 to 1983.

She performed the song "It's the Time for Love" that appears in the film Silent Rage (1982) featuring Chuck Norris. During the filming of 1983's Valley Girl, Sagal was scheduled to sing at The Central. Her name can be seen in the schedule of upcoming acts, posted inside the door. Sagal also provided the vocals for "Loose Cannons," the theme song for the 1990 film of the same name featuring Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd.

On April 19, 1994, Sagal 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 in the early 2010s, working with its house band The Forest Rangers (Davey Faragher/bass, John Philipe Shenale (Phil Shenale)/keyboards, Billy Harvey/guitar-vocals, Michael Urbano/drums, Bob Thiele Jr./vocals-guitar) with songs that became part of its soundtrack albums (Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1–4, Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 2, Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 3, and Sons of Anarchy: Songs of Anarchy Vol. 4) and singles.

She worked with the band for her album Covered (2013). For their live performances The Forest Rangers have occasionally used the name The Reluctant Apostles.

The 2019 single "Mayans MC: Black is Black" from Mayans M.C. was performed by Sagal and The Forest Rangers.

Acting career

Katey Sagal by Alan Light - 1989 Emmy Awards
Sagal at the 1989 Emmy Awards

Early roles and success with Married... with Children

Katey Sagal by Gage Skidmore 2
Sagal at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con

One early role was as a receptionist in the detective Columbo installment "Candidate for Crime" (1973) which was directed by her father Boris. Katey Sagal briefly appeared in the 1986 music video for Debbie Harry's song French Kissin (in the USA).

Sagal's first major role was as a newspaper columnist in the series Mary (1985–86) starring 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, lazy and free-spending wife of shoe salesman Al Bundy. The series ran for 11 years. Reportedly Sagal brought her own red bouffant wig to audition for the role, and with the producers' approval the look transitioned into the show. However Sagal later explained that she had initially styled her own hair, then once the show took off, the producers began to invest in a wig.

Continued career

After the end of Married... with Children, several more television films followed; Sagal also guest starred on the children's cartoon Recess as the voice of Spinelli's mother. In 1998, Matt Groening chose her to provide the character voice of the purple-haired mutant spaceship captain, Leela, in his science-fiction animated comedy Futurama. The show developed a cult following, but was canceled after four seasons. However, syndication on Adult Swim and Comedy Central increased the show's popularity and led Comedy Central to commission a season of Futurama direct-to-DVD films, which the network later retransmitted as a 16-episode fifth season. She reprised her role as Leela in the films, and in the sixth season that began airing June 24, 2010. The series ended its run on Comedy Central in 2013. Taking a break from animation, she went on to star in the critically acclaimed movie Smart House.

Sagal guest-starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde's mother, in three episodes of That '70s Show. She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker in 2000.

Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the 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 show was canceled in 2005 after its third season.

In 2005 and 2006, Sagal made two appearances on Lost as Helen Norwood.

Sons of Anarchy and Hollywood Walk of Fame star

From 2008 to 2014, Sagal starred as Gemma Teller Morrow on the TV show Sons of Anarchy, whose creator, Kurt Sutter, she had married in 2004, four years before the series premiered. In January 2009, Sagal reunited with David Faustino (who had played her son Bud Bundy in 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.

In 2013, Sagal had a cameo on Glee as Nancy Abrams, Artie Abrams' mother. She co-starred in Pitch Perfect 2, released in 2015, as the mother of Hailee Steinfeld's character. Next she appeared in the biography drama film Bleed for This, as the mother of Vinny Pazienza.

On September 9, 2014, Sagal received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the Married... with Children cast – Ed O'Neill, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino – were present to celebrate the actor's recognition.

Recent roles

On September 20, 2016, Sagal appeared on The Big Bang Theory as Susan, the mother of Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Sagal and Cuoco had played mother and daughter before, on 8 Simple Rules. Sagal was also a series regular on the CBS sitcom Superior Donuts from 2017 to 2018. She also appeared on Shameless as Frank's latest, crazy lover. She appeared in a recurring role as Dan Conner's love interest, Louise Goldufski, in The Conners. She had a cameo appearance in the Netflix series Dead to Me in season 2, episodes 9 and 10 as Judy Hale's (Linda Cardellini) estranged, emotionally abusive mother Eleanor Hale who was incarcerated. Sagal's co-star on Married...with Children, Christina Applegate, also stars in Dead to Me. In 2018 she had a cameo appearance in the crime drama series Mayans M.C. as Gemma Tellor Morrow reprising her role from the Sons of Anarchy series.

In 2021, Sagal played the lead role of Annie "Rebel" Bello in the ABC drama series Rebel, which was written by Krista Vernoff. Due to low ratings, ABC cancelled Rebel after airing five episodes.

On February 9, 2022, Hulu announced that streaming service would be reviving Futurama for a 20-episode 11th season run set to premiere in 2023 with Sagal returning as the voice of Leela.

In 2023 Sagal appeared live off-broadway in The Gospel According to Heather, which was written by Paul Gordon, directed by Rachel Klein and produced by Amas Musical Theatre and Jim Kierstead.

Personal life

Sagal was married to musician Freddie Beckmeier from 1978 to 1981, and to actor Jack White from 1993 to 2000. She married writer-producer Kurt Sutter in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz. They have a daughter, Esmé Louise, born in 2007 through a surrogate.

In 1991, while working on Married... with Children, Sagal discovered that she was pregnant. This was unexpected and the pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show. In October 1991, however, she had to have an emergency caesarean section in her seventh month of pregnancy, ending in the stillbirth of a daughter. The showrunners did not want to subject a grieving Sagal to further stress by interacting with an infant during filming, so the pregnancy on the show was then treated as a "dream sequence," which was mentioned only briefly at the end of the episode "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick." Sagal and White eventually had two children—a daughter, Sarah Grace, in 1994, and a son, Jackson James White, in 1996. The writers of Married... with Children purposely did not write Sagal's two later pregnancies into the show due to the stillbirth, opting instead to write off her absences in a subplot in which Peg is traveling the world to reunite her parents. In scenes where Peg was shown, Sagal had her midsection obscured, such as when she was sitting in a taxi or at a craps table in Las Vegas and was often seen or heard talking to family members over the phone.

The loss of her daughter was the inspiration to write the lyrics for "(You) Can't Hurry the Harvest". Sagal recorded this song on her debut album, Well..., which was released in April 1994.

She was the subject of an episode of the television genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016.

Filmography

Katey sagal walk of fame
Sagal's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Maid to Order Louise
1988 The Good Mother Ursula
1999 Smart House PAT
2000 Dropping Out Wendy
2001 Recess: School's Out Mrs. Flo Spinelli Voice
2002 Following Tildy Connie St. John Short film
2006 I'm Reed Fish Maureen
2007 Futurama: Bender's Big Score Turanga Leela Voice
Direct to video
2008 Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs
Futurama: Bender's Game Turanga Leela/Leegola
2009 Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder Turanga Leela
House Broken Mary Cathkart
Jack and the Beanstalk Mrs. Thatcher
2014 There's Always Woodstock Lee Ann
2015 Pitch Perfect 2 Katherine Junk
2016 Bleed for This Louise Pazienza
2022 Torn Hearts Harper Dutch

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1971 The Failing of Raymond Girl patient Credited as Catherine Louise Sagal
1972 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Young nurse Credited as Katie Sagal
1973 Columbo Secretary Episode: "Candidate for Crime"
1974 Larry Cashier TV film
1975 The Dream Makers Unemployment manager
1985–1986 Mary Jo Tucker 13 episodes
1987–1997 Married... with Children Peggy Bundy Main role
1990 Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme Mary Quite Contrary TV movie
Tales from the Crypt Ms. Kilbasser Episode: "For Cryin' Out Loud"
The Earth Day Special Peggy Bundy
1991 She Says She's Innocent (Violation of Trust) Susan Essex TV movie
1995 Trail of Tears Annie Cook
Nachtshow Episode: "February 10th, 1995"
Duckman Ivana Duckman Voice, episode: "The Germ Turns"
1996 Space Cases Ma Voice, episode: "Mother Knows Best"
1997–2001 Recess Flo Spinelli Voice, 3 episodes
1998 Rugrats Additional voices 1 episode
Chance of a Lifetime Irene Dunbar TV movie
Mr. Headmistress Harriet Magnum
1999 No Higher Love Ellen Young
Smart House Pat
That '70s Show Edna Hyde 3 episodes
1999–2013 Futurama Turanga Leela Voice, main role
2023–present
2000 Tucker Claire Wennick 13 episodes
2001 The Geena Davis Show Ashley Episode: "Girls' Night Out"
2002 Imagine That Barb Thompson 2 episodes
2002–2005 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter Cate S. Hennessy 76 episodes
2004 When Angels Come to Town Jo TV movie
2004–2006 Higglytown Heroes Monica the Police Officer 3 episodes
2005 Three Wise Guys Shirley Crown TV movie
Campus Confidential Naomi Jacobs
Ghost Whisperer Francie Lewis Episode: "Undead Comic"
2005 & 2007 The Shield Nancy Gilroy 2 episodes
2005–2006, 2010 Lost Helen Norwood 4 episodes
2006 Boston Legal Barbara Little 5 episodes
The Search for the Funniest Mom in America Host Reality show
2007 The Winner Lydia Berko Episode: "Hot for Teacher"
2008 Eli Stone Marci Klein 2 episodes
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Annabelle Bundt/Natasha Steele Episode: "Two and a Half Deaths"
2008–2014 Sons of Anarchy Gemma Teller Morrow 92 episodes
2010 Chadam Sandy Web series
2013 Glee Nancy Abrams Episode: "Wonder-ful"
2014–2015 Regular Show Mordecai's Mom, Aunt Maxine Voice, 2 episodes
A to Z Narrator Voice, 13 episodes
2014 The Simpsons Turanga Leela Voice, episode: "Simpsorama"
2015 The Bastard Executioner Annora of the Alders 10 episodes
2016 The Big Bang Theory Susan Episode: "The Conjugal Conjecture"
This Is Us Lanie Schultz Episode: "The Big Three"
2016–2017 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Karen Peralta 2 episodes
2017–2018 Superior Donuts Randy DeLuca Main role
2017 Dirty Dancing Vivian Pressman TV movie
2018 Spirit Riding Free Butch LePray Voice
Mayans M.C. Gemma Teller-Morrow Episode: "Perro/Oc"
2018–2019 Shameless Dr. Ingrid Jones 7 episodes
2018–present The Conners Louise Conner née. Goldufski Recurring role
2019 Grand Hotel Teresa Williams 3 episodes
2020–2022 Dead to Me Eleanor Hale
2021 Rebel Annie "Rebel" Bello Main role
2022 Tell Me Lies Nora (Stephen's mom) 2 episodes

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions
1976 The Group with No Name - Moon Over Brooklyn
1978 Gene Simmons - Gene Simmons Billboard 200 Albums – 22
1994 Well... Billboard Top Heatseekers – 33
2004 Room
  • June 1, 2004
  • Label: Valley Entertainment
2009 Sons of Anarchy: Shelter – EP Top Independent Albums — 33

Top Soundtracks — 23

2013 Covered
  • November 11, 2013
  • Label: E1 Music

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Film or series Result
1989 American Comedy Awards Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series Married... with Children Nominated
1991 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy
1992
1993
American Comedy Awards Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series
1994 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy
2005 Prism Awards Performance in a Comedy Series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter Won
2009 TV Land Awards Innovation Award
(Shared with: Christina Applegate, David Faustino, Ted McGinley, Ed O'Neill)
Married... with Children
2010 Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Drama Sons of Anarchy Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Actress – Television Series Drama
2011 Golden Globe Award Won
Prism Awards Nominated
Satellite Awards
Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actress in a Drama Series
2012
2013 Prism Awards Female Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline Won
2014 Hollywood Walk of Fame Star on the Walk of Fame N/A

See also

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