Kathie Lee Gifford hopes to inspire people to remember their self-worth and never give up on their dreams with her new book, I Want to Matter: Your Life is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste.
Among the dozens of stories used as anecdotes in the pages, the author, actress and television personality recalled an incident in which she used comedy and laughter as a means to deal with a “cruel” casting agent back in the summer of 1979. .
In a recent interview with People, Gifford (born Kathryn Lee Epstein) revealed that she once discovered that producers were looking to replace one of Charlie’s Angels’ three lead actresses, who she believed was Kate Jackson.
Although she was sick in bed with the flu at the time, her agent convinced her to go to the studio, which she did, only to be told by the casting agent that she wasn’t pretty enough to star in ABC’s hit crime action series. which originally starred Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith.
“She says, ‘Let me tell you right now, you’re not right for Charlie’s Angels,'” she recalled the shocking moment the woman told her she wasn’t good enough within seconds of meeting her.
Kathie Lee Gifford, 70, revealed in her new book how a casting agent told her she wasn’t pretty enough to be in the original Charlie’s Angels. Gifford attempted to audition for a new lead role on the show in the summer of ‘197.
When she asked why, the casting agent told Gifford, who was about 26 at the time, “Because we’re looking for a pretty girl.”
To add insult to injury, the studio agent went on a passive-aggressive tirade while describing the type of actress they were looking for.
“You know, like Jaclyn Smith, pretty, gorgeous, gorgeous,” the agent said.
While she confessed that the words were “kicking her in the gut,” the Paris-based talk show host, who grew up in Bowie, Maryland, now finds humor in the situation.
“I started to think it was fun. “I really did,” she said. “And as she walked out, I looked at her and said, ‘Okay, thank you very much.’
Instead of simply leaving, Gifford turned to the woman again, then lifted one of her legs in a playful gesture and said, “When you’re doing a cartoon, let me know,” and proceeded to walk out the door.
“I left thanking God I could laugh about it,” he remembers thinking as he left with his dignity intact.
In retrospect, Gifford could see how that casting agent decided to be mean when he didn’t have to.
‘I started to see, first of all, what an a**** she was. What an unnecessary bitch she was,” he said of the woman, whom he still remembers by her name to this day.
When she asked the casting agent why she wasn’t Charlie’s Angels material, the woman said, “Because we’re looking for a pretty girl,” before adding, “You know, like Jaclyn Smith, pretty, pretty, pretty.”
Although she confessed that the cruel words were ‘kicking her in the gut’, she found humor in the situation and raised one of her legs in a funny gesture and said: ‘When you’re doing a cartoon casting, let me know’; Gifford hoped to replace Kate Jackson (front) after the third season.
“She didn’t say, ‘I’m sorry, honey, have a good life. You’re not what we’re looking for. “It had to be cruel,” Gifford continued. ‘She had to be the exact opposite of what my dad taught me to be. The fact that she remembers her name to this day is because she was very cruel.
Kate Jackson’s replacement role ultimately went to Shelley Hack, although she was subsequently replaced by Tonya Roberts after one season due to another drop in ratings after an initial spike.
While the show ended after the fifth season, it helped inspire a film franchise featuring Cameron Diaz, Lucy Lui, and Drew Barrymore as the new Charlie’s Angels (2000), leading the trio to return for Charlie’s Angels: A full speed (2003).
The franchise was rebooted in 2011 with a television series of the same name starring Minka Kelly, Annie Ilonzeh and Rachael Taylor, but was canceled after just seven episodes.
Another reboot of the Charlie’s Angels movie was released in 2019 and starred Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska. But after less than stellar box office numbers, the studio opted not to make a sequel.
With I Want to Matter: Your Life is Too Short and Too Precious to Waste, Gifford is on a mission to remind people what’s important in their lives.
‘I hope it is a blessing to everyone. “It’s a sweet little book,” Gifford said. Peoplewhile also sharing how he believes humanity has gotten much worse.
‘People are feeling desperate right now. They feel terribly hopeless. They are afraid. “I’ve never seen so much fear in my life,” he said of the state of the world.
While her acting career never earned her A-list status, Giffords became a successful talk show host with Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee (1985-2000) with Regis Philbin
Gifford also had a successful career as co-host of NBC’s Today show (2008-2019) with Hoda Kotb, as well as being a New York Times bestselling author.
“When I was a kid, what was weird was the cruelty,” Gifford added. And it broke your heart that you cried at those news stories about cruelty. Now, what is rare are the stories about kindness. There is cruelty every two minutes. Now we have everything wrong. “We have to get back to what is truly important.”
His new self-help book is a follow-up to the New York Times bestseller It’s Never Too Late: Make the Next Act of Your Life the Best Act of Your Life (2020).
Over the years, Gifford has published seven other biographical novels, two cookbooks, three Christian faith novels, and six children’s books.
She is best known for co-hosting the daytime talk show Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee (1985-2000) alongside Regis Philbin, and as co-host of NBC’s Today show (2008-2019) with Hoda Kotb.
