Kathie Lee Gifford Biography
Kathryn Lee Gifford is an American television host, singer, composer, sometimes actress, and novelist who was born in France. She is best known for co-hosting the talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee with Regis Philbin for 15 years.
Kathie Lee Gifford Age
Gifford is 68 years old as of 2021. She was born Kathryn Lee Epstein on 16 August 1953 in Paris, France.
Kathie Lee Gifford Height
Gifford stands at a height of 5 Feet 5 Inches (1.65 m).
Kathie Lee Gifford Family
Gifford is the daughter of Joan, a vocalist, and Aaron Epstein, a musician, and former US Navy Chief Petty Officer. At the time of Gifford’s birth, Aaron Epstein was stationed in France with his family. Gifford attended Bowie High School in Bowie, Maryland, where he grew up. Gifford’s paternal grandfather was a native American and her paternal grandmother was a Russian Jew from Saint Petersburg. Her mother was of French Canadian, German, and English ancestry, and was a relative of novelist Rudyard Kipling.
Kathie Lee Gifford Wife
In 1976, Gifford married Paul Johnson, a composer, arranger, producer, and publisher. They rose to prominence in Christian music and were featured on the covers of Christian magazines. However, the marriage was troubled from the start, and Johnson left in 1981. In 1982, the couple divorced. Kathie Lee married for the second time on October 18, 1986, to Frank Gifford, an American football player, and television sports commentator. After marriages to Maxine Avis Ewart and Astrid Lindley, this was his third marriage. He had three children with Ewart.
Gifford was 23 years Frank’s junior. Cody Newton Gifford, born on March 22, 1990, and Cassidy Erin Gifford, born on August 2, 1993, were their two children. They both had the same birthday, August 16th. Frank died of natural causes on August 9, 2015, at the age of 84, at their Greenwich, Connecticut, home. “He Saw Jesus,” a song Kathie Lee co-wrote and dedicated to her husband, was released in 2017. The song’s revenues went to Samaritan’s Purse, an international evangelical Christian humanitarian help organization.
Kathie Lee Gifford Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee
Gifford took over as co-host of The Morning Show on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin on June 24, 1985, replacing Ann Abernathy. In 1988, the show was renamed Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, and Gifford became a household name across the country. Morning-TV viewers saw her describe life at home with her sportscaster husband Frank, son Cody, and daughter Cassidy during the 1990s. On July 28, 2000, Gifford announced her departure from the show. Philbin and Gifford have been nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host at the Daytime Emmy Awards for the past eight years in a row.
Kathie Lee Gifford Salary
Gifford earns an annual salary of $5 Million.
Kathie Lee Gifford Net Worth
Gifford has an estimated net worth of $60 Million.
Kathie Lee Gifford Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda
On March 31, 2008, NBC announced that Gifford would join Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford as co-hosts of the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda. This marked her return to morning television; in many regions, she aired immediately following her previous show, now known as Live with Kelly and Ryan. Gifford’s hour did not compete directly with her old show in most locations because the fourth hour of Today airs live at 10:00 a.m. ET and Live with Kelly and Ryan air live at 9:00 a.m. ET.
Ann Curry and Natalie Morales were replaced by Kotb and Gifford. The fourth hour of Today had 1.9 million viewers in the weeks leading up to Gifford’s arrival. As of 2014, the fourth hour of Today with Gifford and Kotb had an average of 2.15 million total viewers, up 13 percent from 2008. She announced her departure from Today in April 2019 on December 11, 2018. On April 5, 2019, she made her farewell visit on the Today Show, which included a party and a video from her children Cody and Cassidy Gifford. They were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host in 2019.
Kathie Lee Gifford Musical Theatre
In the late 1990s, Gifford began working in musical theater. She wrote and produced Under The Bridge, a musical adaptation of Natalie Savage Carlson’s children’s book The Family Under The Bridge, and contributed musical parts to Hats. Universal released her album The Heart of a Woman in 2000.
In 2007, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, debuted Saving Aimee, a theatrical musical about evangelist Aimee McPherson. Carolee Carmello played the lead in the film’s debut. In the musical, now titled Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson, Carmello resumed her role as Aimee Semple McPherson, which ran on Broadway from November 15, 2012, to December 9, 2012.
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