Kathleen Bradley: First African-American model on television's most popular game show
By Jason C. Klose
Best known to television audiences as a model on the CBS daytime game show The Price Is Right from 1990-2000, Kathleen Bradley has an impressive resume in the entertainment industry that includes not only modeling, but acting on television and film and music. But this beautiful, groundbreaking woman didn't achieve her success without plenty of hard work, determination, and remembering where she came from.
"Family life was great, and everybody was going to each other's homes every now and then," Bradley recalls. "You didn’t have to lock the doors, and you could go home before the streetlights came on."
Bradley was brought up in a community that at the time was still segregated. The neighborhood was made up of mostly blacks and white Italians, and she learned about different people and different ways of living. Interacting with other children in the neighborhood, Bradley took part in activities like marbles, jacks, hopscotch, kick can, hide and seek, and even some baseball.
"We have some great memories as
children, and unfortunately nowadays it's all computers, and kids barely look up
at each other," she says. "It's a whole other way of living. They're missing out on so much
of the interaction between themselves and their parents - like families playing board games together. It's unfortunate that they just don't take the
time to do it anymore."
Bradley's fondest memories of growing up were when she was eight years old, when her mother was singing around the house and taking the kids to the local movie theater. This, aside from singing, sparked her interest in the art of acting.
"Mom would take us to the movie theater and I would look at the screen and see those actors, and I would be in awe," she fondly recalls. "I really felt eager to step into that screen and be a part of that. And television was very fresh obviously when I was growing up, so I was enamored with all of it."
"I was a little show-off, so I wasn't too shy," she admits. "I had to have a little bit of training and get my feet wet. I think it was all the preparation for me coming to Los Angeles, which was obviously very helpful and beneficial."
Bradley always knew she wanted to sing, as she and her late brother, Robert, would get on their toy box in their bedroom when they were kids, hang curtains up and put on shows for their parents.
"My
brother Robert always liked to sing like Johnny Mathis," she recalls. "He'd do
Johnny Mathis and I’d do Barbra Streisand or whatever. So it’s always been in
my blood, and I just enjoy it so immensely."
In the 1970s, Bradley was part of two short-lived disco groups, The Love Machine and Destination. With The Love Machine, she made her singing debut on the French Riviera in St. Tropez, along with six other female beauties. The group shared the stage with many well-known entertainers, such as Sammy Davis Jr., Julio Iglesias, Tom Jones, Redd Foxx, and Duke Ellington, just to name a few.
Bradley's experiences traveling the world, particularly with The Love Machine, helped put her on the map and gave her a sense of working together with people. Having that type of education in terms of traveling with the singing group would eventually lead Bradley to her working with the models on America's number-one-rated daytime television game show, The Price Is Right, which premiered in 1972.
"With The Love Machine we worked in Europe for eight years, and you're with people all the time – 24/7," she said. "It teaches you how to basically get along with certain people. You can’t be selfish. You learn how to interact and kind of go with the flow of certain things, no matter how bad it may get."
Here is Kathleen singing with The Love Machine in 1975, performing the song "I've Got the Music in Me," originally recorded by The Kiki Dee Band in 1974.
Bradley toured around the world with The Love Machine, performing for Kings and Queens and dignitaries all through Europe - Spain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, France - which became their second home, and even Japan.
"It was a wonderful part of my life and career that I will always be grateful to have had," she said. "It changes you when you’re able to travel abroad and go see different places."
Bradley believes that this was another contributing factor for why she was hired on The Price Is Right, as she was able to talk to the models about certain things on certain levels.
"I was never intimidated to be around them, and I was very comfortable," she admits. "I think a lot of the other girls who tried out were intimidated, they felt inferior, and they weren't secure going up against them. But not me. As a matter of fact, I had to tone it down a little bit. But it all worked out evidently."
After leaving The Love Machine, Bradley got married to her first husband, actor Bill Overton in 1980, and had a daughter, Cheyenne. After a short break, Bradley went back on stage as a member of the MCA Butterfly recording artist trio Destination. Their 1979 remake of Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" spent four weeks at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and #68 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. While with Destination, Bradley performed at the world-famous Copa Cabana, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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| Bradley playing a nurse in a 1979 episode of Good Times. |
After doing some modeling, Bradley's first love of acting came back into focus, as she guest-starred and co-starred on such shows as Good Times, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, Redd Foxx, Divorce Court, Amen, and A Different World. It was during this time that she observed on television what would later become her job and second home for 10 years.
"I watched The Price Is Right occasionally and saw the girls," she said. "It seemed like the perfect gig - you're showing these products, you're on TV, you get paid a lot of money, and you don't have to remember a lot of lines. I thought 'that would be perfect for me, I would love to do that.'"
Bradley said she had always prayed for a career in television that would pay well, required no more than six to eight hours of work per day, and had little dialogue to memorize. When the call came, Bradley was in her second marriage to mechanical engineer Terrence Redd and had a son, Terrence Redd II.
"Three months after I'd had my son, I got a call from my agent to audition," she said. "I wrote it down - I literally wrote it down and I prayed on it. I just went for it, and God willing it turned out in my favor. I was just elated."
When Bradley auditioned to become the show's fourth model, she admits that she wasn't ever really nervous or intimidated by the models, as she was in their age range and had a lot of life experiences.
In the fall of 1990, Bradley was chosen to be the newest permanent model on The Price Is Right, joining ranks with longtime models Janice Pennington, Dian Parkinson, and Holly Hallstrom.
"At first, it took me a little while to get the hang of getting the timing down, because it's live and in real time when we're doing the show," she added. "A few times I flubbed up fooling around in the Green Room and didn’t get out there on time. Dian was so very helpful when I first got there."
Bradley became the first permanent African-American model in the history of The Price Is Right, paving the way for other minority models who would come later, such as African-American models Claudia Jordan and Lanisha Cole, Jamaican and British model Gwendolyn Osborne, and current Price model, Colombian-born Manuela Arbelaez.
"Them bringing a black model on the show - it kind of made me feel good to be the first," she said.
What Bradley wasn't aware of when she joined the cast of The Price Is Right was the turmoil that was already brewing backstage between the models. Parkinson at the time was having a sexual relationship with host and executive producer Bob Barker and was receiving preferential treatment, which caused a rift between her and Pennington and Hallstrom.
"I didn't realize that Dian, Holly and Janice were arch enemies at the point I got there, but I stayed away from all of that drama," she confesses. "But they were professional on the stage and everybody did their jobs. I don't care how much you don't like somebody. You better be professional when you hit that stage. You don't have to live with them, but you surely better work with them the proper way."
The hostility among the models grew even more intense when Parkinson posed in Playboy and was the cover girl for the December 1991 issue. Fearing the family-friendly show's image would be tarnished, the late and legendary show creator Mark Goodson issued a stern warning to the models not to pose nude in any way, shape or form, or there would be harsh consequences. Goodson passed away in December 1992.
Parkinson later posed in Playboy for a second cover and racy pictorial, this time for the May 1993 issue. This was the beginning of the end for Parkinson, as she was forced to leave the show after 18 years. Barker announced that Parkinson was supposedly leaving to "pursue other interests" during her final taping, which aired on June 18, 1993.
"Dian was the first to leave, and that kind of broke the mold of the age range of all of us, because Gena Lee Nolin came in and she was younger," Bradley noted. "Everybody had been on that show almost since its inception. But I didn't get on there until 17 years in, so that in itself was quite a monumental task."
In 1994, Parkinson filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Barker for sexual harassment, alleging their three-year sexual relationship was extorted by threats of firing from The Price Is Right. Barker denied the sexual harassment allegations. Parkinson later withdrew her lawsuit in April 1995, claiming it was too costly and that stress from the ordeal had taken a toll on her health.
"When Dian accused Bob of sexual harassment, that tarnished him forever - whether he was guilty or not," Bradley said. "Bob said he wasn't going to pay her one red penny. But if you never saw the retraction or anything that's going to vindicate him, you might always think he's a dirty guy. But he wasn't - he was nothing like that at all. He was always a gentleman around me."
In the summer of 1995, Hallstrom was fired by Barker after nearly 19 years on the show. Hallstrom's last episodes aired at the beginning of The Price Is Right's 24th season. Her last appearance on the show was October 27, 1995.
It was first reported by the media that Hallstrom's dismissal was due to weight gain she had experienced from taking a prescription hormone medication. However, Hallstrom later alleged that she was forced into retirement and eventually fired by Barker because she refused to support him in the sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by Parkinson in 1994. Barker had ordered Hallstrom to go on talk shows and do interviews saying that Parkinson was lying, and instructed her to recall certain events differently from how she remembered them. Hallstrom, who did not want to get involved in the situation or perjure herself, refused and was dismissed from the show.
After receiving angry letters from fans after Hallstrom's dismissal, Barker sued Hallstrom for libel and slander, claiming that she was lying; but he dropped the suit 48 hours before the trial began. The court then declared Hallstrom the prevailing party and ordered Barker to pay her legal fees. Hallstrom eventually brought a countersuit against Barker for age, weight and medical discrimination, wrongful termination and malicious prosecution.
The lawsuits and litigation lingered on for 10 years, forcing Hallstrom to spend all of her resources and savings, sell her home, file for bankruptcy, and even live out of her car temporarily. Hallstrom ultimately received a multi-million dollar settlement from the production company in October 2005.
"After Holly was let go, they would bring in more younger girls," Bradley revealed. "Things just kind of snowballed, and it all really happened after Dian left."
In October 2000, The Price Is Right changed production companies from The Price Is Right, LLC to Pearson Television, Inc. After being assured that nothing was going to change and that their jobs would be safe, the models were told that the show was undergoing a transformation. Pearson Television was considering a new model search television show called Models, Inc., and they were interested in having Bradley and Pennington as possible co-hosts or international liaisons. They were told they would no longer be models on The Price Is Right.
However, Bradley and Pennington were released from their modeling duties on The Price Is Right, shortly after having testified during the lawsuit for slander and defamation of character Barker filed against Hallstrom. Bradley, Pennington, and other show staffers were fired after giving their testimonies in support of Hallstrom, who won her lawsuit against Barker. Bradley accepted an undisclosed monetary settlement and did not pursue litigation.
In June 2014, Bradley released her autobiography, Backstage at The Price Is Right: Memoirs of a Barker Beauty. The page-turning tell-all book is her firsthand account of the behind-the-scenes drama, lawsuits and litigation surrounding the number one game show in television history.
To promote her memoir, Bradley did a book signing tour, including some appearances in her native Ohio. But Bradley felt that she didn't have the right promotion for the book, mostly due to the fact that CBS and all of their affiliates would not touch it.
"I should've had a little bit more notoriety and TV coverage to let people know about it," she acknowledged. "But they just shut me down. They didn't want anything to do with the book. If I had pursued it more, I could've gotten a publisher. But I just said 'I'm going to go ahead and just self-publish my book – I want it out.'"
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| Photo Credit: Jim Hatten |
Bradley said she wanted her memoir to be entertaining and from her own personal point of view. But she insists that it is not a Bob Barker-bashing book.
"It's really not - it's my story," she said. "I did quote some negatives things about Bob and what happened, but I was very particular on how I said things about him. I got a lot of feedback from certain people about it, but I don’t care. It is what it is."
On December 1, 2020, Pluto TV and Fremantle's Buzzr teamed up to launch the channel, The Price Is Right: The Barker Era, aimed at the much beloved and longest-running classic game show's heyday in the 1980s. The channel has been airing episodes from Seasons 11-12 (1982-84), featuring Barker, the late and legendary announcer Johnny Olsen, and former models Pennington, Parkinson, and Hallstrom.
"When they do the ‘90s, I’m curious to see if anyone is getting paid for that," Bradley said. "I remember when I was still on the show, maybe the latter part of the ‘90s, they had a contract for us. They were going to put our shows on the Game Show Network. They paid us, but it never happened. I think Barker had really put a halt on some of the reruns. He held us back so much at some point, and he said he didn’t want any of that going on for whatever reason."
Despite all the conflict that took place during her decade-long tenure on The Price Is Right, Bradley tends not to dwell too much on the negative but does reflect on some of the fun times she had.
"Bob used to take us out to dinner and hang out with us," she recalls. "Over the holidays, he'd take the girls out and some of the staff members. He also included us in some of the TV specials that he was doing. It was so nice, and we looked forward to it."
She also fondly recalls some of the various television appearances she made with the models on shows like Vicki!, The Suzanne Somers Show, and Family Feud.
"That was fun when we did the Celebrity Family Feud - we did that show twice," she said. "We went up against The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful - and we beat them both times! It was fun!"
Here is The Price Is Right playing against The Young and the Restless on Family Feud in 1991. Playing for The Price Is Right are Bob Barker, Dian Parkinson, Janice Pennington, Holly Hallstrom, and Kathleen Bradley. Kathleen and Holly play in the "Fast Money" bonus round and win $10,000 for United Activists for Animal Rights.
Bradley appeared in 1993 on Vicki Lawrence's daytime talk show Vicki!, which featured current and former game show models/hostesses. Joining her were former colleagues Dian Parkinson and Holly Hallstrom from The Price Is Right, Summer Bartholomew of $ale of the Century, Susan Stafford of Wheel of Fortune, and Carol Merrill of Let's Make a Deal.
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