Kathleen Elizabeth “Bunny” Gibson, born on January 19, 1946, is an actress and used to dance regularly on the American Bandstand TV show. People called her “American Bandstand’s Sweetheart,” and Dick Clark, the show’s host, called her a “national symbol” because she got thousands of letters every week.
Early Life:
Bunny was born in 1946 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and grew up in Darby, Pennsylvania. She started going to American Bandstand when she was thirteen and danced regularly on the show from 1959 to 1961. Bunny went to Catholic schools in Philadelphia and graduated from Northeast High School. She also learned acting in New York.
Career:
She became a regular dancer on American Bandstand at the age of 13 and continued until 1961. Bunny danced with various partners and even had fan clubs across the country. She was popular in teen magazines alongside stars like Elvis Presley and Connie Francis. She also did acting, commercials, and moved to Los Angeles in 1983 to pursue her acting career.
Bunny appeared in TV shows like Glee, Two and a Half Men, and How I Met Your Mother. She also did movies like The Back-up Plan and Scout’s Honor. She was part of various comedy sketches and made appearances on different TV programs.
Charity Work:
In the 1990s, Bunny founded Americans Sheltering America’s Poor (ASAP) to help the homeless. She later started the “Dancing Is Our Drug of Choice” program, organizing dance contests for foster children.
Personal Life:
Bunny has two daughters, Angel and Maria, and four grandchildren. Despite being raised Catholic, she discovered later in life through DNA tests that she is half-Ashkenazi Jew, so she embraced the culture and learned about the religion.
In 1998, Bunny was featured in The Century Book and The Century Book for Young People by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, used in high schools across America. She has also helped students with term papers comparing their lives with hers.