Is Everybody Happy?: The Untold Story of Kathy O'Dare A Hollywood Starlet and Her Struggles with Mental Illness

By David F. D'Orazi

Kathy D'Orazi, who went by the stage name Kathy O'Dare, seemed destined to become a Hollywood star. After entering the world of entertainment at the age of three, she soon blossomed into an multi-talented performer and in her teen years won starring roles on some of the 1970's most popular TV shows, including Happy Days and The Brady Bunch. As her ascent continued, she went on to appear in several notable feature films, until her path to stardom was interrupted when she began to struggle with mental illness during her late teens.

Included in this story are Kathy's older brother's memories of her, as well as excerpts from her actual notes, journals, and scrapbooks she'd kept throughout her lifetime. Ultimately, they combine to create a heartfelt story about stardom, family, compassion, hope, and the challenges of coping with mental illness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662479441

Book preview

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Is Everybody Happy?

The Untold Story of Kathy O'Dare A Hollywood Starlet and Her Struggles with Mental Illness

David F. Dand#39;Orazi

Copyright © 2022 David F. D’Orazi

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-7942-7 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-7944-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Born into Hollywood

An Early Bloomer

The Road to Happy Days

Memories of Kathy's Acting Days

The Struggle Begins

A Traumatic Experience in Hawaii

A Challenging Re-entry

Landing the Role of a Lifetime

One of Kathy's Biggest Fans

More Excerpts from Kathy's Diaries

Her Days at the Beach

A Prophecy Comes True

Goodbye to the Beach

Moving Away

Waiting for My Sister

Another Memorable Visit with My Sister

Signs of Improvement

A Change in Her Appearance

Other Memories of Visting My Sister

The Dark Moments

The D'Orazi Reunion Shirt

An Unknown Resource

Kathy's 48th Birthday

The David Lee Roth Concert

Dialing Up Some Trouble

Our Mom's 88th Birthday Party

My Last Visit with My Sister

Kathy's Eulogy by Her Brother Mike

Kathy's Nephews Share Their Memories

My Eulogy for My Sister

Some of Kathy's Poems

Kathy O'Dare's Credits

My Final Thoughts

About the Author

Preface

As Kathy's brother, I was always so proud of her, being able to become a Hollywood star.

At eleven years old, she got the part of one of the seven Sour Grapes girls on the new Hanna-Barbera TV show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.

Then when she got the big part on the pilot episode of "Happy Days," it was amazing.

I thought she would then become a big Hollywood star. At that time, I was already married for three years.

I had one boy. I was busy making a living, working two jobs, paying rent, and saving to buy a house.

However, I was able to see my sister once in a while during her years of acting as well as those that followed her Hollywood career.

We became very close, especially when she started living with mental illnesses in the later part of her life.

It wasn't until my mom asked me to help her out with my sister that I finally realized Kathy needed help.

And years later, after her passing, I realize it was one of my purposes for being here on this earth.

It used to be a major strain on me, especially while I was helping her during the last ten years of her life.

I clearly remember one day, I was visiting my best friend Greg, and telling him, There just seems to be no place for people with mental illnesses in this world. If they don't have family, whom do they have to go for help?

As we have seen, a lot of people with mental illnesses wind up living on the streets.

Therefore, it was this particular day I decided I would be there for my sister and help her as much as possible. I finally got it.

I had helped with my dad who had lived with mental illnesses during his lifetime, so I knew I could help her as well.

I have no regrets.

I loved my sister Kathy very much.

After she passed away nearly twelve years ago, I decided to put together her story from all her journals and scrapbooks as well as my personal memories with her in her lifetime.

I found it interesting, and I hope you do too. I really enjoyed writing it, and it helped me get to know my sister even better than I did when she was with us.

I decided to title Kathy's story Is Everybody Happy? since she seemed to have coined this greeting. This is what she would typically say, whether she was entering a room full of friends or a party. She was a very happy girl most of the time. I hope that reading her story will ultimately bring you happiness. Kathy would have wanted it that way. I am dedicating this book to my sister and television and movie star Kathy O'Dare, who was able to become a Hollywood star, if only for part of her life. I wrote her story, my second book, at my mountain cabin in Crestline, California, which is where I also wrote my first book, The In-Between Artist, which was the life story of our father.

Chapter 1

Born into Hollywood

It was a special morning on August 27, 1957. It was 5:00 a.m. Kathleen Rose D'Orazi was the first girl born to Miltreta and Tony D'Orazi. Tony and Miltreta had us three boys at the time, and now arrived their first little girl, which was like a dream come true. It just seemed to complete the family.

Kathy would later use the name Kathy O'Dare as her stage name, after our father, who used Tony O'Dare throughout his successful radio and television career. The stage name O'Dare did well for Dad, so she thought it would work for her.

I clearly remember the morning she was born. The whole family was so excited. But for me being the youngest boy, I was really excited, since Mom always wanted a little girl. She finally got her wish.

I was so excited. I remember running down our street at 6:00 a.m. yelling It's a girl! I had just finished delivering a local Eagle Rock newspaper called the Eagle Rock Sentinel, a local newspaper near our home in Los Angeles at the time. I couldn't wait to spread the word.

I had been up since 4:00 a.m., and when I got home, I got the call. The D'Orazi family was so excited for Kathy to come home. But that did not happen for seven weeks, since she was born premature. She weighed only five pounds, seven ounces at birth. Therefore, the entire family waited for our new little sister to come home. It seemed like it took forever for her to get home. But during those days, I was playing baseball from dawn to dusk with the neighborhood friends. So we all just patiently waited like the rest of the family.

It was in this little town of Eagle Rock that Kathy and her three brothers—Mike, John, and David—spent most of their childhood years.

It was a quiet town at the foot of the San Rafael Hills in Northeast Los Angeles. Eagle Rock is only twenty minutes from Hollywood and fifteen minutes to downtown Los Angeles, by car.

Kathy with our family cat (1958)

Chapter 2

An Early Bloomer

At age three, Kathy