Kathy Garver Talks ‘Family Affair’ 60th Anniversary & Revisiting Cissy

Kathy Garver/Catchy Comedy

How do you look at Cissy’s journey through the series? The show really helped break that idea of a nuclear family and showed a new dynamic. 

I do like a lot of autograph shows. I’m even going to Mayberry Days in a couple weeks, where we followed The Andy Griffith Show, which was a good show to follow. But you look at Cissy, and I look at it during the first year. I was playing  this young teenager, and I was kind of young for my age anyway, even though I was in my third year at UCLA, but I’ve always looked really young and I’ve always acted really young. But this marathon shows the first year to the fifth year. It’s amazing to me to see her growth. And it was in the ‘60s, and I did have a little discussion with the producers and writers and directors. I said, “Look at all these discos and cute little miniskirts. I want that.” They responded, “No, you don’t.” I thought, “I don’t?”

Because Don Fedderson had this great eye, and he was our producer, as well as Edmund Hartmann, our creator and producer, and he looked toward having the show play for a long time. He had that vision. He did it with My Three Sons that they did before. That’s still relatable. So the stories were relatable, the settings were relatable. I wore clothes that no one would give a second look. Or they may say, “Oh, well, that’s super vintage”  Of course, I always say, you know you’re old when you can wear your own vintage clothes. I do have things downstairs in the closet that are, like, 30 years old. 

What did you think of the episodes chosen for viewers to watch? What is your favorite episode?

What was nice is they came to me, and they said, “You pick out your favorite eight episodes.” Okay, this is an easy task with 138 episodes. I took the five years, and I chose my favorite for each one of those years. And then I added on three more of my favorites. But my most favorite one was the “A Waltz from Vienna” where Sissy gets wooed by this very handsome Austrian prince, and they’re in love. And she turns him down. I say, “What is wrong with you, Sissy? You’re turning down a prince?” That’s what my Kathy would say, and I think that’s what older Sissy would say. But it just showed that was a basis of the series. It was all about love, it was all about family, it was about caring for those people that you spend time with that you really love.

And it showed how strong-minded Sissy was and how independent. A free spirit that loved her family.  

I think that was part of it because she remembered,  and she was grateful. Here she was, an orphan, and her parents died, and this giving man invited all of them into his beautiful. luxurious penthouse apartment in New York. I think she had integrity. I think that that was really a big part of who she is and remains like me.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 17: Kathy Garver attends The Brave & Rescued Awards at The LA City Fire Museum on January 17, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

The show ended abruptly without a formal finale. How would you have liked Sissy’s and the family’s story to end? 

It did end abruptly. What I think happened was the whole world was evolving. It was a matter of, “We want more realistic shows.” And they took it to ABC and ABC was just about to sign on the dotted line. They go, “Oh, we have another show that’s too close to it.” Guess what that was? The Brady Bunch. The little girl even wore little pigtails that she admits she did just like Anissa or Buffy, and she carried the Mrs. Beasley doll. But I think if the show would have gone on…Well, I am thinking about doing a sequel. called Aunt Cissy, and I have two grand-nephews and a niece that are adorable twins. But it would have been that I’d go to college, maybe keep in touch with my prince. He gets me a wonderful job in New York. And so Jody goes out and he’s an explorer, and I become the female Uncle Bill. And I take on kids.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the core cast it’s you and Johnny left. But whether it’s a movie or spin-off, how often have you talked about revisiting these characters? 

About 6 years ago, there was an Aunt Cissy. We didn’t finish the pilot, but we had parts of it. And so, I think just once. They made a reboot. I personally don’t think that they work. It’s just not the same that the audience has come to know with these people as their friends. But sequels work. I mean, I think Leave It to Beaver had like three or four and then The Brady Bunch. They’re still going on, you know. This is Grandma, you know, or Barry Williams. So it keeps going like the Energizer Bunny.

The late Tim Curry was part of The Family Affair reboot. Did you ever talk to him about the show, and why it didn’t work? 

No, not really. I think that he brought a different kind of comedy to the show, and we had. We had some scenes together. I did a guest spot in the reboot, and I got to know him then. I think it’s just very difficult because the people have become enamored and loved our characters as they were. They loved Buffy and Jody, and I have a lot of guys who had a crush on Cissy, it seems, and they still do in their 60s and 50s. Well, I’m only 50. I don’t know what’s happening with the 60th anniversary.

FAMILY AFFAIR, from left, Johnny Whitaker, Sebastian Cabot, Brian Keith, Kathy Garver, Anissa Jones, 1966-71. courtesy Everett Collection

I’m sure it’s hard to be part of a show that was so popular and then it ends. Sadly, Anissa died young. How did you avoid being one of those cautionary tales? 

First of all, I went back to college. And so I was a junior at UCLA when I got the part of Cissy playing a 15-year-old. And I have always had a lot of interests. And I think that that’s why I’m still working today. I will produce and do a movie in Australia toward the beginning of next year. I have a podcast, Katchy Klassics with Kathy and Larry [Dasilva], that just premiered. I write a lot of books. I have a lot of interests. I have a big voiceover career. It’s the 45th anniversary of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, where I have  the role of Firestar. I went to Israel to do an Israeli version of Family Affair in Hebrew. Now, this was a challenge, since I don’t speak that. I’m a Catholic girl, and so I went to Israel. I’m singing. From there, I thought I’ll go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I come back and I do all kinds of dinner theaters. You’re too young to remember dinner theaters. Don Knotts did them. All the TV stars were going and doing dinner theaters. Then when that wasn’t doing as much, then that’s when I started voiceover and I did commercials and I did stage. And so that’s just the way that I am. I think also to be able to keep the 70-year career, you have to do all of this. I just got a Grammy nomination.

I heard about that. Congratulations. 

Yes! Can you believe that? Y And it wasn’t because I can sing. I’m not a great singer, but I am a great storyteller. That was for the Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording. 

You’re always about reinvention. You’re always evolving. I think that helps.

Yes, I think you’re right. 

Anything from the set that you treasure and still have? 

I have a pink telephone. I used it for the Catchy Comedy. I picked out my eight favorite, uh, episodes, and, uh, there was one of them called “A Room with a Viewpoint.” And Cissy gets a brand new makeover of the room she shares with Buffy. I had this beautiful pink phone that I still like. Yeah, that’s one of them.

It was groundbreaking, it was about a different kind of family, a single person that’s raising children that are not his own. So that’s going to stand out. The beauty of the show itself. It was on film. It’s not on digital recording where everything is very sharp. It’s beautiful. The lighting people and the sound people, all came from movies. They were doing big movies with Bob Hope, etc. as was the director. So it’s going to stand out for that. It will always be there for love. I mean, the show is based on love of each other, love of family, and there’s a little guidance at the end. Just a guidance. There are problems that come in a family. That’s ever since Socrates was having problems with his teenager. There are perennial problems, and I think that this show helps people. It also is a comfort from all the chaos. Hey, let’s have a little entertainment. Let’s have a little inspiration. Let’s have a little laugh. And I think for those reasons, it’s going to remain after I’m gone.

Family Affair 60th Anniversary, September 13, 1/12c, Catchy Comedy Network