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Kathy Hilton (born Kathleen Elizabeth Avanzino, stage name and later renamed Kathy Richards, on March 13, 1959) is an American socialite and sometime actress. She is also the mother of socialites Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton.

Hilton was born in Whittier, California ^[1], daughter of Laurence K. (Larry) Avanzino (December 26, 1935 – Providence, Rhode Island, February 18, 1997, buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Medford, Massachusetts) (Avanzino's ancestry was Italian, some say Italian Jewish, son of Laurence Avanzino and wife Elizabeth ...), and wife (married at St. Mary's, Manhasset, New York, August 16, 1958 and divorced in 1960), Sharon Kathleen "Kathy" Dugan (Omaha, Nebraska, April 7, 1938 – Palm Springs, California, March 2, 2002) (Dugan's paternal line was strongly, if not exclusively, Irish, and her maternal line was either French and Swiss or Irish -- this based on the U.S. Federal Population Censuses from 1870 to 1930). ^{[2] [3]} Her parents later divorced, and her mother went on to marry Kenneth E. (Ken) Richards (1938 - 1998). Her maternal half-siblings are the actresses Kim Richards (born on September 19, 1964) and Kyle Richards (born on January 11, 1969). She also has two half-brothers and three half-sisters from her biological father's re-marriage.

Hilton had a small part in one theatrical movie, the sci-fi horror The Dark (1979) starring William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel, and Keenan Wynn.

Her TV guest appearances include Bewitched, Family Affair, Happy Days, and The Rockford Files. She was one of two final candidates for the role of Jan Brady in The Brady Bunch Hour, the role eventually going to Geri Reischl.

In 2002, she began to sell merchandise on cable TV's QVC home shopping network. In June 2005, she hosted an unsuccessful reality show called I Want To Be a Hilton on NBC.

In 2007 Hilton began selling a signature skincare line on HSN.

The former Kathy Richards married Richard Hilton on 24 November 1979. They have four children.

• Paris Whitney Hilton (born on February 17, 1981 in New York City, New York)
• Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton (born on October 5, 1983)
• Barron Nicholas Hilton (born on November 7, 1989)
• Conrad Hughes Hilton (born on March 3, 1994)

In 2005, Kathy, Rick, and their two younger sons moved into a 1930s Bel-Air mansion, which they purchased for $10 million. The family also maintains a $6.3 million home in The Hamptons.

• Kathy Richards at the Internet Movie Database
• I Want To Be a Hilton website
• House of Hilton by Jerry Oppenheimer Published by Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. ©2006