Valentine first won a spot representing California at the Miss Teenage America pageant. When Ed Sullivan saw her act (where she would comically dance in a flamboyant costume while lip-synching to Eydie Gormé's "Blame it on the Bossa Nova" , he was quoted as saying, "I want that girl on my show."

In 1969, Valentine won her breakthrough role as a school teacher on the TV series Room 222. She was nominated twice for an Emmy and once for a Golden Globe, winning an Emmy in 1970 for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role.

The actress later starred as Gidget in the film Gidget Grows Up, and on her own television series in 1975, Karen. Valentine was a regular on Hollywood Squares, often Read more...

Karen married three times. Her first marriage was in 1967 to David Ross Williams, which ended in divorce in 1969. That same year, she married Carl MacLaughlin before they divorced in 1973. Karen is currently married to musician Gary Verna, whom she married in 1977.