Timeless Talent: Kathy Garver on Reinventing Stardom and Inspiring Generations

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball. If you believe, you can achieve. Welcome to the Live in the Dream with Curveball Podcast. A show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today's guest is a true television icon whose career spans more than six decades. You might know Kathy Garfer as Sissy from the beloved CBS hit Family Affair. But her career goes far beyond Charles Sodom. Kathy is an accomplished actress, a best-selling author, a celebrated voice talent, and now in 2026, Grammy nominated audiobook narrator. So we're going to be talking about talking to Kathy about how she continues to reinvent herself across multiple generations. So, Kathy, thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Well, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, that would take such a long time because I've been in this business ever since I was three. It's actually a very celebratory year because it's the 70th anniversary of the Ten Commandments, which was one of my first films. Very odd since I'm only 50, you know, Curtis. And it's the 60th anniversary of Family Affair and the 45th anniversary of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends by Marvel, where I created the voice of Firestar. So there's lots going on. And I'm uh excited about the 60th anniversary of Family Affair a lot because there's lots of events that were planned on uh I believe it's September the 13th. That the show debuted on September 12th, uh 1966. Do you remember that year, Curtis?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Oh no, I don't remember that yeah. That was a little before I was born.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Right. That's what I thought. But the reruns, it has never gone off the air. Family Affair went from CBS to Me TV to um now it's on Catchy Comedies, which is a part of Me TV. I'm doing a mini marathon for them there. I picked out my eight favorite episodes. And so I'm giving like a little commentary on each of them. And uh then we have a big fundraiser part of the family affair event that we're doing in December will go to child help, who helps abused children. So lots of interesting things planned for the Family Affair, uh, the Family Affair celebration. When we're done with this show, I have a really interesting Zoom with the investor and the producers of a movie that I'm going to do in Australia. And hopefully it'll start in October, but I have a feeling it's going to be in April, and it's based on the original Pollyanna story, not the one that Disney did um with uh Pollyanna and Haley Mills, but this is based on the original book, based on the original book because it takes place in Australia, and Pollyanna is uh an Indigenous Australian. I play the part of Mrs. Snow, and I'm also executive producing it. Okay, well that's congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Do you want to congratulate me on my book?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Absolutely, and I uh you can go ahead and tell listeners about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Well, this is my sixth book that that I have written. This one is called Romancing with the Stars: Inspiring Hollywood Stories. And it's about long-term relationships in Hollywood. I have a co-writer, Doug Hartline, and it was his like idea. And when he first came to me with his idea, I thought this was going to be a very short book because Hollywood is not known for couples having very long relationships. So turns out to be a 460-page book, and we have 27 couples, ranging from Frankie Avalon and his wife to Pat Boone to Allison Arngrim. From she was had been married the least. The criteria is you had to be at least married 25 years. And so it investigates why the couples stayed together. You know, did they have a special secret? It gives their bios. And then we ask them what was their most romantic moment and their most romantic place. So in their chapter, after we've finished that previous information, then we we uh write for the readers to recreate those most romantic moments that um our our couples uh experienced. So for instance, Morgan Brittany, uh she was on Dallas and she's married to Jack Gill, who is a stump person. And their most romantic um place and moment was when they were in Africa and they were in a tent and they looked out at the sky and they saw all these beautiful, beautiful stars. That was their most romantic moment. So we say, here's how you can go on a safari, and we give all the different kinds of different places that they can go on their safaris. And if that's a little expensive, then we say, Well, you don't have to go in a safari. What you can do is go to the zoo and see a lot of animals and um have like some wine and cheese, maybe on a blanket can be very romantic. And if that's still too, you know, expensive, you can cuddle up on a couch and watch African Queen with um uh Humphrey Bogart and Catherine Hepburn. That's also before your time, Chris. But it's a wonderful romantic movie.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Well, let's talk about, you know, I I know uh some childhood stars struggle struggle when going into adulthood. So what was the mindset that has keeping keep your career going for more than 60 years?

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Well, it's true. I wrote one of my books that I wrote with ex-child star was Where Are They Now? I was very fortunate. I had great parents, um, and they one of their defining uh words of greatness and phrases is that they kept all my money. A lot of these kids, you know, they work hard, and then when they're 18, they find out that they have no money because the parents spent it all on themselves or on the kid or on the rest of the family, and they didn't save any for the child. So my parents saved every single penny, and they were very supportive, and it was uh it was a really a good experience. And my mom always told me, says, Well, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to. And I said, No, I want to do this. She always gave me the choice. So it really devolves on who your the parents are, how they treat you, and how they save their money.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Okay, well, um what life lessons did you learn that that still sticks with you today during your time on family affair?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Well, a lot. Um, actually, as I said, I was just doing these uh my eight favorite episodes, and we always had like a little moral at the end of them. And I was saying, yeah, there's there's a lot of life lessons. One, I think one of the basic ones is to follow your instincts, do what your heart says. And you can temper that a little bit with your rational side, which I do. Uh, and even on the character of Sissy in in family affairs, she was always out there, oh, I'm falling in love here, I'm falling in love here. And then good old Uncle Bill would come and say, Well, now, really, are you prepared, you know, to go to Chile on a Peace Corps mission and have a tin cup to drink out of in a one bathroom that doesn't work? Sissy says, Well, no, I'm not prepared to do that even now. So I think that the instincts can be very good. Yes, I want to help people, for instance, join the Peace Corps, but then you have to look at the the practical side and what's going to happen if you actually do that. Well, she was always falling in love, and this prince asked her to marry him in Austria. I said, Well, I could marry this prince. Oh, but then I'd have to leave my family, and oh, I'm only 18. So I think that's one of the main things is to, you know, make sure you're you're following your spirit, but also, you know, tempering it with the reality of what will happen if your dreams really do come true. Then what do you do with with the adulation or or uh lots and lots of money? And do you just spend it all at once or are you reasonable and buy a house and make some investments?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Well, let's talk about your 2026 Grammy nomination. Congratulations on that. Tell us what that uh means to you personally and um you know what lessons it teaches people who feel like their best days are behind them.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Well, yes, because I I did have a new big birthday, and I'm still going on, going on. Uh, as I said, doing the movie, have a new book. I just I'll tell you after I talk about the Grammys going to China this year. Uh, but I did not get the Grammy, as you said, for my singing. I I am a half a note off, but I really am a great storyteller. And I've I've um narrated about, oh, I don't know, 70 audiobooks. I taught narration at uh Voice One Studios in San Francisco, but I never thought I would be nominated for a Grammy. It was a wonderful surprise, and it was for the book Elvis Rocky and Me. It was the Carol Connor story, but I was up against a Dalai Lama, so that was pretty stiff. If he hadn't been in there, I'm sure that I would have won. But it was great to be nominated, uh, you know, and I have a lovely plaque and I have a nice medallion and a certificate, and I can always tell everybody, yes, well, I was nominated for a Grammy. So, and I'll probably do an audio book of Romancing with the Stars, my my own book. I've done some audiobooks of theirs. So, my trip to China. Um, do you know about these verticals and these short dramas?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

No, uh tell us about them.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Well, this is a phenomenal uh occurrence and a global occurrence, and it started in Shanghai, China, where every single person has a phone. I mean, the government gives every person a phone. And when I was in Shanghai to film one of these verticals, I saw all these people, their headstands and what are they bowing? No, they were all looking at their phones. So uh because of that, that one of the reasons, they developed uh a way to film that's vertical instead of horizontal, because phones are vertical primarily. So they film vertically and they do little episodes of only like two minutes a piece, one to two minutes a piece. It's the same story over and over and over again with different characters, but they like and it's like the hidden billionaire, or I married the garbage man he turned out to be, you know, a billionaire that was hiding from his family, or uh, you know, so there's stories like that. There's the cruel husband and the abused wife and the hidden millionaire, and uh another romance that's going on. So that's what's done over and over again. And they stop and make a cliffhanger, so it plays for uh, you know, almost two minutes, and then but does she really go on? Does she walk into the house? And so people cling on and they do it um, you know, so for maybe six episodes, and now they really people are cooked, and now they have to buy a subscription to to finish watching the rest of the series. So I flew to to China and I I did one of those short dramas, and now I'm putting together with a friend uh a short drama company. So besides being on the advisory board, I'm gonna write some and appear in some. And uh I invest in the company as well because it's it's really everybody from China to Russia to South America, Africa, uh, US, all over, um, have these things.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

All right. Well, it sounds like you're staying busy and you're definitely not slowing the rock down.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

I'm not slowing down.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

So let's talk about, you know, you've been in Hollywood Hollywood for several decades. What what are the qualities that separate people who have a successful career as you do versus those who just simply fade away?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Um, I think one thing is that I don't take drugs. I have I drink a glass of Chardonnay at nighttime, but I've never taken drugs. And uh and I graduated from UCLA, so I have an education. I have the bachelor's degree in speech and a master's degree in in theater arts. Um, I had a stable marriage. I was married for 44 years until unfortunately my husband passed away last year. And so I think that those things really add to this stability and uh allow a person to be the best they can and to just keep on going. And again, a lot of people will be one hit wonders, and that happens in music a lot. They'll have one great big hit and they'll get paid lots of money for it, and they spend it all. That hasn't happened to them before, so they'll buy a big house, or you know, but then they don't have a follow-up record, or something happens. And the same thing with actors. Oh, they get a starring part on a movie, oh, and another starring part, and then they start, you know, buying all these things, and then uh they don't get another movie, or they fall out of favor, or something happens. Movies are really this movie that I'm working on in Australia, I've been working on for two and a half years, you know. Sometimes are not spontaneous that that happened, so it's important, you know, to learn that what actors have are just gigs. And there's one, oh, I have uh a thing that I a music and that I'm going to do on a stage presentation, and it's for two days. And maybe they get paid for a lot, but then they don't get anything the next month or the month after. So what they have to do is figure out on a budget how much it costs for them to live every month, how much is the rent, how much is the utility bill, how much are, you know, my my regular bills, how much is my phone, all those things, budget them and and say, okay, this is how much I have to make to do it. And then if I make more than that month, then I can you know buy an extra pair of shoes or I can save some of it. You should always take a little bit, you know, and save a little bit each month. So that will get you on a steady plane and a P L A any plane, not the kind that goes up, but a plane that's that's that's level. So that I think helps helps a lot because when you don't have like money worries and how am I going to pay the rent, then you can't concentrate on being creative or or you know doing something else.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, tell everybody how we can keep keep up with everything that you're up to and gonna be up to and give us some final thoughts um if there was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Okay. Um people can go to my Facebook, which is strangely enough, Kathy Garver, K-A-T-H-Y, G-A-R-V-E-R, Kathy Garver. That's my one Facebook page. That one's kind of filled because that one can only have 5,000, but I have another one, Kathy Garver fan page, and that can you know accommodate. And I go to both of those. And uh I also have the Kathy Garver group. I'm now I'm installing a new page, and that is uh for Family Affairs 60, and that's the 60th anniversary, and so there's going to be a lot of giveaways and swag on there and the events that are happening for the family affair celebration, and also my Instagram is kg sissy, c i s y. So it's kg sissy, and um I I post a lot of pictures on that, and so that's how they can get uh acquainted with me. My uh website is KathyGarver.com, strangely enough. K-A-T-H-Y-G-A-R-V-E-R.com. And there's like merchandise and pictures there and fun things to do. And you if you sign up, then I have a newsletter that comes out. And one thing that I'd like to talk about too is that I'm having a podcast, a new podcast come up, and it's called Catchy Classics, K-A-T-C-H-Y-K-L-A-S-S-I-C-S. Did that to confuse everybody after you've learned to spell something, then you change it. But this is catchy classics with a K. And I do it with my co-host, Larry DeSilva, and we will be starting next month and where all your excellent podcasts are found. Uh and one of our guests is Paul Peterson, who was on the Donna Reed show, and he he found it a minor consideration. So kids have uh they will have money when they get to 18. That's the crux of of what he found. And and we also have a Facebook for catchy classics. So if you just go to Facebook and then you can search and you'll find K-A-T-C-H-Y-K-L-A-S-X I C S.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

All right, there you go, ladies and gentlemen. KathyGarva.com. Please keep up with her on social media, and she's definitely doing a lot and heads down a lot. So keep up with everything that she's up to. Follow, rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Also share the website and the show to everybody you know. www.curveball337.com. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Kathy, thank you for all that you do. Congratulations and thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Thank you, Curtis. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.curveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.