Kathie Lee Gifford

At 71 years old, Kathie Lee Gifford has this physical status:

Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, occasional actor, and author.

She is best known for her 15-year tenure (1985-2000) on the talk show Live. Regis and Kathie Lee, co-hosted by Regis Philbin with Regis and Kathie Lee.

On the fourth hour of NBC's Today show (2008–2019), she is also known for her 11-year career with Hoda Kotb.

She has received 11 Daytime Emmy awards and won her first Daytime Emmy Award in 2010 as part of the Today crew.

On the syndicated version of Name That Tune, Gifford's first television appearance was as Tom Kennedy's singer/sidekick from 1974 to 1978.

She appeared on the first three hours of Today and was a contributing NBC News reporter. In 1976, Kathie Lee married Paul Johnson, a Christian composer/arranger/producer/publisher.

Frank Gifford, a former NFL player and sportscaster, married her in 1986 following their divorce in 1982.

He died in 2015.

Kathie Lee has recorded studio albums as well as written books.

Early life and beginnings

Gifford was born in Paris, France, to American parents Joan (born Cuttell, 1930 – September 12, 2017), a performer and former US Navy Chief Petty Officer. Aaron Epstein was stationed in France with his family at the time of Gifford's birth. Gifford grew up in Bowie, Maryland, and attended Bowie High School.

Gifford's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew from Saint Petersburg, and her paternal grandmother had Native American roots. Her mother, a cousin of writer Rudyard Kipling, was of French, German, and English descent.

After seeing Billy Graham's film The Restless Ones at the age of 12, Gifford became a born-again Christian. "I was born with many Jewish roots and raised to be extremely grateful for my Jewish roots," she told interviewer Larry King.

Gifford, a student at the University of Harlech, was a member of the "Pennsylvania Next Right" folk group, which appeared frequently in school assemblies. Gifford attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying drama and music after high school graduation in 1971. She was a live in secretary/babysitter for Anita Bryant at her Miami home in the early 1970s. Her first regular appearances on national television was as a contestant on "Name That Tune," hosted by Tom Kennedy in the late 1970s, in which she would perform small portions of songs that contestants would have to recognize.

Personal life

In 1976, Kathie Lee married Paul Johnson, a composer/arranger/producer/publisher, in a marriage. They came to prominence in Christian music after being on the front pages of Christian journals. From the start, the marriage was tense, and Johnson was pushed out in 1981. In 1982, the couple divorced.

Kathie Lee married again on October 18, 1986, this time to Frank Gifford, an American football player and television sports analyst. It was his third marriage after being a member of Maxine Avis Ewart and Astrid Lindley in Astrid Lindley's respective marriages. He had three children with Ewart.

Kathie Lee was 23 years old when she was younger than Frank. Cody Newton Gifford (born March 22, 1990) and Cassidy Erin Gifford (born August 2, 1993) had two children together. They also posted a birthday: August 16. Frank died on August 9, 2015, from natural causes at their Greenwich, Connecticut home at the age of 84. "He Saw Jesus," Kathie Lee co-wrote (with songwriter Brett James) and dedicated to her husband in 2017. The proceeds from the album went to Samaritan's Purse, a worldwide evangelical Christian humanitarian aid group.

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Career

Gifford's career began in the 1970s as a vocalist on Tom Kennedy's game show Name That Tune. Hee Haw Honeys, a short-lived Hee Haw spinoff, appeared in 1978. In the early 1980s, she served as a reporter and substitute anchor on ABC's Good Morning America.

Gifford replaced Ann Abernathy as co-host of The Morning Show on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin on June 24, 1985. Live! in 1988, the program went to national television. Regis and Kathie Lee, as well as Gifford, became well-known around the country. Morning viewers watched her morning life with her sportscaster husband Frank, son Cody, and daughter Cassidy throughout the 1990s.

Live! In 1990, when TV Guide published a questionnaire for readers to select the most beautiful woman on television, a poll was held. Gifford's earned votes after a week of mockery. Despite winning the poll, Gifford ended up winning the vote, with more than four times as many votes as the runners-up, Jaclyn Smith, and Nicollette Sheridan.

During the Daytime Emmy Awards in 1993-2000, Philbin and Gifford were jointly nominated for eight years in a row (1993 to 2000). On July 28, 2000, Gifford attended the show for the first time.

Gifford will co-host the fourth hour of the television show titled Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda, alongside Hoda Kotb on March 31, 2008. This was her first appearance on morning television; in several countries, she aired directly after her old show, now called Live with Kelly and Ryan. Because the fourth hour of Today airs live at ten a.m. ET, and Live with Kelly and Ryan airs at 9:00 a.m. ET, Gifford's hour did not compete directly with her former appearance in most countries. Ann Curry and Natalie Morales were swapped by Kotb and Gifford. In the weeks leading up to Gifford's arrival, there were 1.9 million viewers of the fourth hour of Today. The fourth hour of Today with Gifford and Kotb has averaged 2.15 million viewers, an increase of 13.5% over the 2008 ratings. It was revealed on December 11, 2018 that she would be leaving Today in April 2019. Cody and Cassidy Gifford's last Today Show appearance on April 5, 2019 was their last on display at a party, which also included a video by her children Cody and Cassidy Gifford. They received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host in 2019.

Gifford has appeared in films and television series, as well as several independently released albums, including 2000's "Love Never Fails" on CD, including the single "Love Never Fails."

After her son Cody was born, she appeared as a spokesperson for Slim Fast diet shakes. She starred in Carnival Cruise Lines in the late 1980s and early 1990s, performing "If my friends could see me now!" In 1991, she christened the Carnival Ecstasy, the second of the Fantasy Class of cruise ships. She appeared as herself in an episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld in 1994.

Echidna was a voice overs in 1998 television series Hercules and in Higglytown Heroes as the Mail Carrier Hero.

She became a special correspondent on The Insider, a syndicated entertainment magazine television show, in September 2005, putting an end to her relationship with the show after she co-hosted it for Today.

Miss Hannigan appeared in Annie's concert performance at Madison Square Garden in December 2006.

She and her real-life daughter, Cassidy, appeared on The Suite Life on Deck in an episode that aired on March 27, 2010.

In the 2015 television film Sharknado 3: Oh No!, she appeared as herself.

She has written several autobiographies, including "When I Thought I'd Dropped my Last Egg: Life and Other Calamities in 2010, The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi in March 2018 is the Best Act of Your Life in 2020. The Jesus I Know: Honest Conversations and Diverse Opinions about Who He Is was published in 2021. Her book on the Christian faith, The Jesus I Know: Honest Conversations and Diverse Opinions about Who He Is was published in 2021. She has also written a number of children's books.

Gifford left Today in order to pursue a film career as an actor, director, and producer. She co-starred Craig Ferguson in Then Came You in 2018. A Godwink Christmas film was shot by Sherry Benn in the same year. Gifford intends to film films about her experiences of losing a loved one and being a widow, which she believes is an underrepresented topic in Hollywood. There are several projects in the works, including sequels to Then Came You.

Gifford was honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021 for her contributions to the television industry on April 28, 2021. Her actress is on 6834 Hollywood Boulevard, just five actors away from her former co-star Regis Philbin's.

Gifford began working in musical theatre in the late 1990s. She performed in Hats and wrote and produced Under The Bridge, based on Natalie Savage Carlson's children's book The Family Under The Bridge. On Universal, she released The Heart of a Woman in 2000.

Saving Aimee, a stage musical about evangelist Aimee McPherson that premiered in 2007 at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, was written by Gifford. Carolee Carmello, the premiere actress, appeared in the lead role. The show, retitled Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson, appeared on Broadway from November 15, 2012, to December 9, 2012, with Carmello reprising her role as McPherson. Carmello's third Tony Award nomination for her work was announced on April 30, 2013.

Gifford was a guest host at the Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Award Ceremony on April 16, 2007, honoring performances and professional accomplishments in theatre.

Gifford and David Friedman produced Key Pin It Real, a junior high school musical. The play depicts a coming-of-age tale involving a teenage girl named Key Pin. At East Noble High School in Kendallville, Indiana, the first production took place in December 2008.

With John McDaniel, Gifford is currently working on a musical adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life; McDaniel is composing music while Gifford is writing lyrics.

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