1. Kathryn Lee Gifford is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress, and author.
38 Facts About Kathie Lee Gifford
1. 2.
Kathie Lee Gifford has received 11 Daytime Emmy nominations and won her first Daytime Emmy in 2010 as part of the Today team.
3.
Kathie Lee Gifford occasionally appeared on the first three hours of Today and was a contributing NBC News correspondent.
4.
Kathie Lee married Paul Johnson, a composer, arranger, producer and publisher of Christian music, in 1976, and they divorced in 1982.
5.
Kathie Lee Gifford married sportscaster and former NFL player Frank Gifford in 1986.
6.
In 2015, Frank Kathie Lee Gifford died from complications of CTE, often caused by contact sports-related injuries.
7.
Kathie Lee has released studio music albums and several books, her music and writings feature spiritual and uplifting themes.
8.
Kathie Lee Gifford grew up in Bowie, Maryland, and attended Bowie High School.
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Kathie Lee Gifford's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew from Saint Petersburg and her paternal grandmother had Native American ancestry.
10.
Kathie Lee Gifford's career took off in 1978 when she joined the cast of the short-lived Hee Haw spinoff, Hee Haw Honeys.
11.
Kathie Lee Gifford was a correspondent and substitute anchor on ABC's Good Morning America in the early 1980s.
12.
On June 24,1985, Kathie Lee Gifford replaced Ann Abernathy as co-host of The Morning Show on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin.
13.
Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford were jointly nominated eight years in a row for Outstanding Talk Show Host during the Daytime Emmy Awards.
14.
Kathie Lee Gifford explained that filling in for Carol Burnett on Broadway and guest-hosting Late Show with David Letterman had inspired her to pursue more challenging work.
15.
Kathie Lee Gifford has made guest appearances in films and television series, and has several independently released albums on CD, including 2000's The Heart of a Woman, featuring the single "Love Never Fails".
16.
Kathie Lee Gifford appeared as a spokesperson for Slim Fast diet shakes after her son Cody was born.
17.
Kathie Lee Gifford did a number of voice overs most notably as Echidna in the 1998 TV series Hercules and in Higglytown Heroes as the Mail Carrier Hero in 2004.
18.
Kathie Lee Gifford played the role of Miss Hannigan in a concert performance of Annie at Madison Square Garden in December 2006.
19.
Kathie Lee Gifford has written numerous autobiographical books, Just 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, and It's Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life in 2020.
20.
Kathie Lee Gifford's book regarding the Christian faith, The Jesus I Know: Honest Conversations and Diverse Opinions about Who He Is was released in 2021.
21.
Kathie Lee Gifford has written a number of children's books.
22.
Kathie Lee Gifford left Today in order to pursue a movie career as an actress, director, and producer.
23.
Kathie Lee Gifford intends to make movies about the experiences of losing a loved one and being a widow, which she considers an underrepresented topic in Hollywood.
24.
Kathie Lee Gifford has several projects in the works including sequels to Then Came You.
25.
Kathie Lee Gifford's star is located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard, only five stars away from that of her former co-host Regis Philbin.
26.
Kathie Lee Gifford contributed a number of musical numbers to Hats, and wrote and produced Under The Bridge, based upon the children's book The Family Under The Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson.
27.
Kathie Lee Gifford wrote the book and lyrics for Saving Aimee, a stage musical about evangelist Aimee McPherson, which premiered in 2007 at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.
28.
In 2011, Kathie Lee Gifford was working on a musical adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life with John McDaniel; McDaniel is composing music while Kathie Lee Gifford is writing lyrics.
29.
Kathie Lee Gifford is a celebrity ambassador for the non-profit organization Childhelp.
30.
Kathie Lee Gifford regularly makes appearances at fund raisers and events for the child abuse prevention and treatment organization and is an ardent supporter.
31.
Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford raised the money to build and continued to financially support two shelters in New York City for babies born with HIV, or a congenital crack cocaine addiction.
32.
In 1996 Kathie Lee Gifford was earning $9 million annually licensing her name to a brand of clothing sold at Walmart.
33.
Kathie Lee Gifford explained during this broadcast that she was not responsible for the contract manufacturers that made her products.
34.
Kathie Lee Gifford later contacted federal authorities to investigate the issue and worked with US federal legislative and executive branch agencies to support and enact laws to protect children against sweatshop conditions.
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Kathie Lee Gifford appeared with President Bill Clinton at the White House in support of the government's initiatives to counter international sweatshop abuses.
36.
On October 18,1986, Kathie Lee married a second time, this time to Frank Gifford, an American football player and television sports commentator.
37.
Frank Kathie Lee Gifford died on August 9,2015, from natural causes at their Greenwich, Connecticut, home at the age of 84.
38.
In 2017, Kathie Lee Gifford released the song "He Saw Jesus", co-written with songwriter Brett James, which she dedicated to her late husband.