Kathie Lee Gifford - Current Career

Current Career

Since Live, 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".

In September 2005 she became a special correspondent on The Insider, a syndicated entertainment magazine television show, ending her relationship with that program upon her co-hosting role with Today.

She played the role of Miss Hannigan in a concert performance of Annie at Madison Square Garden in December 2006.

On March 31, 2008, NBC announced that Gifford was to join its morning show, Today, as co-host of the fourth hour, alongside Hoda Kotb. This marked her return to morning television; in many markets, she now airs directly after her old show, now called Live! with Kelly and Michael. Because the fourth hour of Today airs live at 10:00am ET, and Live! with Kelly and Michael airs live at 9:00am ET, Gifford's hour does not compete directly with her former show in most markets. Kotb and Gifford replaced Ann Curry and Natalie Morales. The show's ratings decreased after Gifford's arrival, having drawn 1.9 million viewers the weeks before her arrival and 1.7 million a few months after, although the network maintains that the drop in viewers was seasonal and unrelated to the on-air talent. More recently, the 4th hour of Today has averaged 2.148 million total viewers, an increase of 26 percent over those 2008 numbers.

She is a recipient of the Mousecar Award (as in "Oscar"), a silver Mickey Mouse statue award that was personally designed by Walt Disney himself. The award was presented personally by Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, who said that only five had been given out previously.

On March 27, 2010, she guest starred on The Suite Life on Deck, along with her real-life daughter, Cassidy.

Gifford is a celebrity ambassador for the non-profit organization Childhelp. She regularly makes appearances at fund raisers and events for the child abuse prevention and treatment organization and is an ardent supporter.

Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford raised the money to build and continue to financially support 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 July 1, 2008, Gifford appeared on NBC's Celebrity Family Feud. She and her friends and family competed against the cast of Dog The Bounty Hunter for their favorite charity. Gifford's family won the $50,000 for The Association to Benefit Children.