Katey Sagal

**Catherine Louise Sagal** (born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is known for playing Peggy Bundy on *Married... with Children*, Leela on *Futurama*, and Cate Hennesy on *8 Simple Rules*. In the latter role, Sagal worked with John Ritteruntil his death, leading to Sagal's taking over as the series lead for the remainder of the show's run. She is also widely known for her role as Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX series *Sons of Anarchy*, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2011. Sagal was also a series regular as Randy DeLuca on the CBS sitcom *Superior Donuts* from 2017 to 2018.

## Early life

Sagal was born in Los Angeles to a show business family with five children. Her father, Boris Sagal, was a Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant who worked as a director, and died in 1981 in an accident on the set of the miniseries *World War III*. Sagal's mother, Sara Zwilling, was a singer (stage name Sara Macon) producer, and television writer who died of heart disease in 1975; After Sara died, Sagal's father married dancer/actress Marge Champion, in 1977. Three of Sagal's four siblings are actors: her younger twin sisters, Jean and Liz Sagal and brother Joe Sagal; her other brother David Sagal is an attorney married to actress McNally Sagal. Sagal and her siblings grew up in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Her godfather is prominent sitcom producer and writer Norman Lear. In 2016 both Katey and Norman acknowledged that she was not only his goddaughter, but that he also introduced her parents to each other. Sagal has described herself as "culturally Jewish" but with no "formal religious experience."

## Career

Sagal attended California Institute of the Arts to study singing and acting; she began her acting career in Hollywood, appearing in several made-for-TV movies between 1971 and 1975. One role was as a receptionist in the *Columbo* installment "Candidate for Crime," which was directed by her father. 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 eleven years. Sagal brought her own red bouffantwig to audition for the role, and with the producers' approval, the look transitioned into the show.

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 cancelled 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 these films, and in the sixth season that began airing June 24, 2010. The series ended 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 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 cancelled in 2005 after its third season.

In 2005 and 2006, Sagal 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 teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience.

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.[*citation needed*] She co-starred in *Pitch Perfect 2,* released in 2015, as the mother of Hailee Steinfeld's character. She next 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; most of the *Married ... with Children* cast – including Ed O'Neill, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino – were present to celebrate the actor's recognition.

On September 20, 2016, Sagal appeared on *The Big Bang Theory* as Susan, the mother of Penny (Kaley Cuoco). She had previously played the mother of Cuoco's character on *8 Simple Rules*.

From 2017 to 2018, Sagal was also a series regular on the CBS sitcom *Superior Donuts*.

## Selected filmography

### Movie

* *I'm Reed Fish* as Maureen
* *Chance of a Lifetime* as Irene Dunbar
* *Three Wise Guys* as Shirley Crown
* *The Good Mother* as Ursula

### TV

* *Married with Children* as Peggy Bundy
* *Futurama* as Turanga Leela
* *8 Simple Rules* as Cate Hennessy / Bridget Hennessy
* *Lost* as Helen Norwood
* *Sons of Anarchy* as Gemma Teller Morrow
* *Superior Donuts* as Randy DeLuca

## Trivia

* She is currently married to Kurt Sutter since October 2, 2004.
* She recently has three children including a daughter Sarah and a son Jackson James (with White) and a daughter Esmé Louise (with Sutter) through a surrogate mother.