[10] With her sisters Jean and Onriett, Kate Murtagh performed in a vocal trio coached by her parents while the family lived in Los Angeles.

[1] The sisters were then also performing summers in a revival of the old melodrama The Drunkard at Theatre Mart in Beverly Hills, and touring in vaudeville on the Pacific coast and states to the east.

[16] Having gained experience, the Murtah Sisters (sic) were able to secure engagements in the large Eastern cities, including Philadelphia's Carman Theater in March–April 1940.

[33] Television appearances, propelled by her appearance in Texas L'il Darlin' included Zeke Manners' show (1950) on WJZ-TV[34] and The Billy Rose Show (1951)[35] In the 1940s she pursued her painting hobby with seriousness, and in 1955 her one-panel comic "Annie and Fannie" was launched in syndication by New York's United Feature Syndicate.

[36] Murtagh appeared in films including Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), The Night Strangler (1973), Dirty O'Neil (1974), Switchblade Sisters (1975), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), The Car (1977), Doctor Detroit (1983) and Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992).

[37] She also appeared in other shows, including Daniel Boone, My Three Sons, The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie, The Twilight Zone and Highway to Heaven.

[citation needed] Murtagh is pictured on the front and back covers of the English rock band Supertramp's 1979 multi-platinum album Breakfast in America.

[38] Murtagh retired from acting in 1999 and was in her last years a resident at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital (MPTCHH), in Woodland Hills, California,[1] where she took classes in improvisation.