Kathie Lee Gifford Biography

Fast Facts

• Represented Maryland in the 1970 Junior Miss Pageant, but was disqualified for befriending a member of the pageant's staff
• Worked as a nanny to Anita Bryant's children for a year
• Was hired to play Nurse Callahan on Days of Our Lives while visiting a friend on the set; the gig turned into a nine-month job
• Filled in on the A
• M
• Los Angeles radio show for a few days in 1981 after its host, Regis Philbin, left to pursue other opportunities
• Good Morning America's executive producer happened to hear her, and sought her out to do occasional reporting and fill-in work for the morning show
• First met future husband Frank Gifford when they cohosted GMA together in the early 1980s, but it would be several years before they began dating
• Shares the same birthday as husband Frank
• Her other famous partner, Regis Philbin, pursued her as cohost for The Morning Show, a local WABC-TV talk program, after spotting her on GMA in 1985
• Three years later it went national as Live With Regis & Kathie Lee
• During its run, she was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmys
• Campaigned to strengthen sweatshop laws after learning that her Wal-Mart clothing line was being manufactured by child laborers in Honduras
• Founded (with Frank) the Cody House and Cassidy's Place charitable foundations, which are run by the Association to Benefit Children
• Published an autobiography, I Can't Believe I Said That!, in 1992
• Has written several musicals, including Saving Aimee and Under the Bridge; and appeared on Broadway in Putting It Together