As of 2014, the fourth hour of Today with Gifford and Kotb has averaged 2.15 million total viewers, an increase of 13 percent over the 2008 ratings. In the weeks prior to Gifford's arrival, ratings indicated 1.9 million viewers of the fourth hour of Today. Kotb and Gifford replaced Ann Curry and Natalie Morales. Because the fourth hour of Today airs live at 10:00 am ET, and Live with Kelly and Ryan airs live at 9:00 am ET, Gifford's hour did not compete directly with her former show in most markets. This marked her return to morning television in many markets, she aired directly after her old show, currently called Live with Kelly and Ryan. On March 31, 2008, NBC announced that Gifford was to join its morning show, Today, as co-host of the fourth hour titled Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda, alongside Hoda Kotb. Philbin and Gifford were jointly nominated eight consecutive years in a row (1993 to 2000) for Outstanding Talk Show Host during the Daytime Emmy Awards. Throughout the 1990s, morning-TV viewers watched her descriptions of life at home with her sportscaster husband Frank, son Cody, and daughter Cassidy. The program went into national broadcast in 1988 as Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, and Gifford became well known across the country.
On June 24, 1985, Gifford replaced Ann Abernathy as co-host of The Morning Show on WABC-TV with Regis Philbin.
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Her first regular appearances on national TV was 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.Ĭareer Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee During a summer in the early 1970's, she was a live-in secretary/babysitter for Anita Bryant at her home in Miami. After high school graduation in 1971, Gifford attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, studying drama and music. She told interviewer Larry King, "I was raised with many Jewish traditions and raised to be very grateful for my Jewish heritage." ĭuring high school, Gifford was a singer in a folk group, "Pennsylvania Next Right", which performed frequently at school assemblies.
Īfter seeing the Billy Graham–produced film The Restless Ones at age 12, Gifford became a born-again Christian. Her mother, a relative of writer Rudyard Kipling, was of French Canadian, German and English descent. Gifford's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew from Saint Petersburg and her paternal grandmother had Native American ancestry. Gifford grew up in Bowie, Maryland, and attended Bowie High School. Aaron Epstein was stationed with his family in France at the time of Gifford's birth. Gifford was born Kathryn Lee Epstein in Paris, France, to American parents, Joan (born Cuttell Janu– September 12, 2017), a singer, and Aaron Epstein (March 19, 1924 – November 19, 2002), a musician and former US Navy Chief Petty Officer.