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Kathie Lee Gifford
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Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress, and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. Gifford is also known for her 11-year run with Hoda Kotb, on the fourth hour of NBC's Today show (2008–2019). She has received 11 Daytime Emmy nominations and won her first Daytime Emmy in 2010 as part of the Today team.
Gifford's first television role was as Tom Kennedy's singer/sidekick on the syndicated version of Name That Tune in the 1977–1978 season. She also occasionally appeared on the first three hours of Today and was a contributing NBC News correspondent.
Gifford married Paul Johnson, a composer, arranger, producer and publisher of Christian music, in 1976, and they divorced in 1982. She is the widow of sportscaster and former NFL player Frank Gifford, whom she married in 1986. Gifford has released studio music albums and several books, with her music and writings featuring spiritual and uplifting themes.
Gifford was born Kathryn Lee Epstein in Paris, France, to American parents, Joan (born Cuttell; January 20, 1930 – September 12, 2017), a singer, and Aaron Epstein (March 19, 1924 – November 19, 2002), a musician and former US Navy Chief Petty Officer. Aaron Epstein was stationed with his family in France 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 ancestry. Her mother, a relative of writer Rudyard Kipling, was of French Canadian, German and English descent.
After seeing the Billy Graham-produced film The Restless Ones at age 12, Gifford became a born-again Christian. She told interviewer Larry King, "I was raised with many Jewish traditions and raised to be very grateful for my Jewish heritage."
During high school, Gifford was a singer in a folk group, "Pennsylvania Next Right", which performed frequently at school assemblies. After high school graduation in 1971, Gifford attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying drama and music. During a summer in the early 1970s, she was a live-in secretary/babysitter for Anita Bryant at her home in Miami. Her first regular appearances on national TV were as a singer on the game show Name That Tune, hosted by Tom Kennedy in the late 1970s, in which she would sing small portions of songs that contestants would have to identify.
Gifford's career took off in 1978 when she joined the cast of the short-lived Hee Haw spinoff, Hee Haw Honeys. She was also a correspondent and substitute anchor on ABC's Good Morning America in the early 1980s.
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Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress, and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. Gifford is also known for her 11-year run with Hoda Kotb, on the fourth hour of NBC's Today show (2008–2019). She has received 11 Daytime Emmy nominations and won her first Daytime Emmy in 2010 as part of the Today team.
Gifford's first television role was as Tom Kennedy's singer/sidekick on the syndicated version of Name That Tune in the 1977–1978 season. She also occasionally appeared on the first three hours of Today and was a contributing NBC News correspondent.
Gifford married Paul Johnson, a composer, arranger, producer and publisher of Christian music, in 1976, and they divorced in 1982. She is the widow of sportscaster and former NFL player Frank Gifford, whom she married in 1986. Gifford has released studio music albums and several books, with her music and writings featuring spiritual and uplifting themes.
Gifford was born Kathryn Lee Epstein in Paris, France, to American parents, Joan (born Cuttell; January 20, 1930 – September 12, 2017), a singer, and Aaron Epstein (March 19, 1924 – November 19, 2002), a musician and former US Navy Chief Petty Officer. Aaron Epstein was stationed with his family in France 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 ancestry. Her mother, a relative of writer Rudyard Kipling, was of French Canadian, German and English descent.
After seeing the Billy Graham-produced film The Restless Ones at age 12, Gifford became a born-again Christian. She told interviewer Larry King, "I was raised with many Jewish traditions and raised to be very grateful for my Jewish heritage."
During high school, Gifford was a singer in a folk group, "Pennsylvania Next Right", which performed frequently at school assemblies. After high school graduation in 1971, Gifford attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying drama and music. During a summer in the early 1970s, she was a live-in secretary/babysitter for Anita Bryant at her home in Miami. Her first regular appearances on national TV were as a singer on the game show Name That Tune, hosted by Tom Kennedy in the late 1970s, in which she would sing small portions of songs that contestants would have to identify.
Gifford's career took off in 1978 when she joined the cast of the short-lived Hee Haw spinoff, Hee Haw Honeys. She was also a correspondent and substitute anchor on ABC's Good Morning America in the early 1980s.
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