Personal Life
Catherine Bach was born Catherine Bachman on March 1st, 1954 in Warren, Ohio to rancher Bernard Bachman and acupuncturist Norma Kucera. She grew up in Faith, South Dakota and was bitten by the acting bug at the early age of 8. After she graduated from Stevens High School in 1970, Catherine enrolled in the UCLA to study acting. While there, she earned some extra money making clothes for friends and theater troupes.
In 1976, Cathy Bach married David Shaw, son of Angela Lansbury. The marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1981. Nine years later, in 1990, Cathy married Peter Lopez, an entertainment lawyer, with whom she had two daughters, Sophia and Laura. On April 30, 2010, Peter was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Professional Life
Catherine Bach made her acting debut in stage production of the musical The Sound of Music as one of the Von Trapp children. The Midnight Man, a murder mystery starring Burt Lancaster, marked her television debut. She played the unfortunate victim, murdered coed Natalie Claiburn.
She was in several movies before becoming Daisy Duke including starring with Clint Eastwood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and with Burt Reynolds in Hustle.
Her husband at the time, David Shaw, told her about the audition for The Dukes of Hazzard. She discovered they were looking for a Dolly Parton lookalike, but wowed them and was hired on the spot, despite bearing no resemblance to what they were looking for. Cathy asked if she could create her own outfit when she heard they wanted her to wear a turtleneck, go-go boots, and a poodle skirt. She came up with the now famous homemade t-shirt, denim cut-off shorts, and high heels. The shorts quickly became known as “Daisy Dukes” after her character on the show. While on The Dukes of Hazzard, Cathy Bach’s legs were insured for a million dollars.
Since the Dukes, Catherine has appeared in several movies and in the Family Channel’s television series African Skies. As of 2012, she has joined the cast of “The Young and the Restless”.