Kathy Garver

About

Kathy Garver (born Kathleen Marie Garver; December 13, 1945) is an American actress best known for portraying 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 (1956) and later provided the voice of Firestar in the animated television series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–83).
Garver authored The Family Affair Cookbook (2009), Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood (2015), X Child Stars: Where are They Now? (2016), The Family Affair Scrapbook, and the newest book Romancing with the Stars: Inspiring Hollywood Love Stories which launched on Valentine’s Day of 2026.

Garver was born in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Rosemary (Schmoker) and Hayes Garver. She was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic primary school. Garver recalled that her mother began getting her into acting from a young age: “I started singing and dancing at the Meglin Studios in Hollywood, at three years old, as was Shirley Temple, who was also discovered there. I think my mom had the vision of her little daughter as Shirley Temple.” When she…