Actress Kathy Garver Releases New Memoir SURVIVING CISSY

When her hair suddenly turned green during a casting session, Kathy Garver feared her burgeoning Hollywood career may be over. Instead, the disaster-an unexpected result of using store-bought hair color-broke the ice with a producer, landing the teenage actress a career-changing role on Family Affair, one of the most iconic television sitcoms of the 1960s.

So begins Garver's memoir, SURVING CISSY: MY FAMILY AFFAIR OF LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD (Rowman & Littlefield). With a forward by Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke, Garver's book is chock-full of anecdotes-some hilarious, others poignant, but all fascinating-about working with some of the biggest names in the business, including Charlton Heston, Bette Davis, Charles Laughton, Barbara Stanwyck, Brian Keith and many more.

"Surviving Cissy is an exposé, not of actors' and other people's foibles, but of their trials, tribulations and ultimate goodness," Garver said. "It's an inspiring book that most people will be able to relate to, even if they don't work in the industry."

Born in Long Beach, California, Garver got her start playing a child-slave in the classic 1956 motion picture The Ten Commandments. Originally hired as an extra, she ended up with a speaking role, when director Cecil B. DeMille singled her out for an unplanned scene with Moses (Charlton Heston). She remained friends with Heston for the rest of his life, often visiting him at his home in Beverly Hills.

"Working on The Ten Commandments at such a young age was an extraordinary experience," Garver said. "To be surrounded by all those animals and go to work each day and perform on a papier-mâché mountain was like a dream. And Charlton Heston was incredibly kind and generous."

While growing up, Garver guest-starred on many television series, including The Rifleman, The Big Valley, Dr. Kildare, The Patty Duke Show and others. But it was the CBS series Family Affair that catapulted her career to a new high. As Cissy, Garver played the older sister of twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnny Whitaker), who lived with their Uncle Bill (Brian Keith) and his butler, Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot), in New York. The show, which ran from 1966-71, was one of the network's highest-rated.

Garver was devastated when actress Anissa Jones died from a drug overdose at the age of 18. Though Garver had always been aware of the pervasiveness of drugs and alcohol in Hollywood, it was Jones' tragic death that made her realize the vulnerability of child actors to the stresses that often come with fame. It is one of many such issues she covers in her upcoming book X-Child Stars, which will be released in 2016.

"My next book will explore what happened to many beloved TV child stars through the decades," Garver said. "These children are exposed to a higher level of attention, publicity and expectation. I survived Hollywood's murky waters by having a strong parental foundation, an excellent education and by not taking drugs, but many others were not so fortunate."

Following Family Affair, Garver guest-starred on other television series, including Adam 12, Simon & Simon, Matlock, Nash Bridges and more. Through the years, she has also performed character voices in many animated series, most notably the character of Firestar in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and narrated over 60 audio books, including Word of Promise, with Richard Dreyfus, Marisa Tomei and Michael York, which received a prestigious Audie Award.

Recently, Garver has appeared in several movies, including Animal Planet's Hercules Saves Christmas, Mom, Murder and Me and The Executive, which co-stars Larry Thomas (Seinfield's "Soup Nazi"), which she also produced. She has also recently starred in various regional theatre productions.

Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood is available at bookstores nationwide and online. For information about the book, visit https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781630761158/Surviving-Cissy-My-Family-Affair-of-Life-in-Hollywood.

Information about Kathy Garver is available at www.KathyGarver.com.

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