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| Birth Name(s) : Kathie Lee Gifford |
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Full Kathie Lee Gifford Biography
Kathie Lee Gifford (born Kathryn Lee Epstein on August 16, 1953) is an American playwright, singer, songwriter, and actress, famous for her 15 year stretch on the television talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin. She has received 11 Emmy nominations.
Her brother, Rev. David Paul Epstein, is an evangelical Baptist preacher and pastor of Calvary Baptist Church on West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City. David and Kathie Lee have remained close through the years.
Gifford appeared in television advertisements for Carnival Cruise Lines beginning in 1984. The ads were the first cruise line ads to air on network television.
Following her divorce from Johnson in 1983, Gifford met sports commentator Frank Gifford during an episode of ABC's Good Morning America; the couple married in 1986. Coincidentally they share the same birthday, 23 years apart.
The inspiration for the name Cody (the first born child) is when Gifford was watching Frank on a Monday Night Football game in 1989 featuring the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears (the Browns went on to win 27-7 with Webster Slaughter catching a 99-yard touchdown pass and therefore tying the NFL record). Cody Risien was an offensive lineman for the Browns and got much attention during the course of the contest because he was struggling with removing a piece of dirt or other foreign object from his eye that forced him to the sideline. The announcers kept on panning the camera over to Risien and the name Cody was indelibly etched on Gifford's brain.
In 1996, the National Labor Committee, a human rights group, reported that sweatshop labor was used to make clothes for the Kathie Lee line, sold at Wal-Mart. The group reported that a worker in Honduras smuggled a piece of clothing out of the factory, which had a Kathie Lee label on it. One of the workers, Wendy Diaz, came to the United States to testify about the conditions under which she worked. She commented that "I wish I could talk to . If she's good, she will help us."
Labor activist Charles Kernaghan spoke to the media and accused Gifford of being responsible for the sweat shop management activity. Gifford addressed Kernaghan's allegations on the air during Live, explaining that she was not involved with hands-on project management in factories. Gifford subsequently contacted Federal authorities to investigate the issue, and worked with U.S. Federal legislative and executive branch agencies to support and enact new U.S. laws to protect children against sweat shop conditions. She appeared with President Clinton at the White House in support of U.S. Federal government initiatives to counter international sweat shop abuses.
Since September 2005, Gifford is a special correspondent on The Insider, a syndicated entertainment magazine television show although she no longer appears regularly on the program.
Kathie Lee also devotes time to Variety: The Children's Charity. She has also sponsored and supported two shelters in New York City for babies born with HIV or a congenital crack cocaine addiction. These shelters were named in honor of her children, Cody and Cassidy.
On April 16, 2007, Gifford was a guest presenter at the Washington, DC Helen Hayes Award Ceremony, honoring contributions and professional accomplishments in theatre.
In the second episode of South Park, "Weight Gain 4000", Kathie Lee comes to South Park as Mr. Garrison's childhood rival. In the episode, Mr. Garrison tries to kill Kathie Lee, but ultimately fails because Cartman's fat ass (enhanced by the Weight Gain 4000) broke the stage, causing the bullet to hit Kenny instead. Gifford did not provide her own voice; she was impersonated by voice actress Mary Kay Bergman.
On the South Park album Chef Aid, Chef sings in the song No Substitute (track 9) how he wants to make love to Kathie Lee.
Gifford appeared as Miss Hannigan in a concert performance of Annie at Madison Square Garden in December 2006.
Her line of clothing has been discussed in the documentary film The Corporation as it was discovered that despite pledges to children's charities, the clothes were in fact manufactured in South American sweatshops by children as young as 13 years old (though Ms. Gifford was apparently oblivious of that fact until it became national news.)
In a story line in the comic Get Fuzzy, Satchel is tricked by Bucky into sewing soccer balls for no money (he promised to pay Satchel what other dogs in the area were paid, which was nothing). After learning this, Rob says that Bucky is "Kitty Lee Gifford", in a reference to her clothes being manufactured in South American sweatshops.
Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule wrote a song about Gifford, "Kathie Lee", appearing on her EP It's the Thought That Counts (Original 2001 issue only).
In Season 1, Episode 5 of Sam and Max an "Enemy List" is filled with "Kathy Lee Gifford", her parents, friends, etc.
In the Bloodhound Gang song: 'Shutup' Kathie Lee is mentioned, in a list of people Jimmy Pop doesn't like: "I hate Regis and I hate Kathie Lee".
During February 2007 Gifford was attending a CD signing event at the Paramus Mall in, Paramus, New Jersey. During this event Gifford was attacked by Joey Boots, a member of The Wack Pack from the Howard Stern Show. After signing Boots CD, Boots removed a box from a shopping bag, threw it at Gifford, from which two dozen White Mice emerged. Boots was evicted from the mall and Gifford was unhurt. |
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