Kathie Lee Gifford reveals how she coped with ‘cruel’ casting agent who told her she wasn’t rather plenty of for a role in 1970s Charlie’s Angels collection

Kathie Lee Gifford is hoping to encourage people to bear in mind their self-well worth and hardly ever give up on goals with her new ebook, I Want To Issue: Your Lifetime Is As well Small And Much too Valuable To Waste.

Between the dozens of tales applied as anecdotes in the internet pages, the creator, actress, and tv temperament recalled 1 incident in which she used comedy and laughter as a implies to deal with a ‘cruel’ casting agent back again in the summer time of 1979.

In a modern job interview with Folks, Gifford (born Kathryn Lee Epstein) exposed that she as soon as uncovered out producers had been searching to change a single of the three major actresses on Charlie’s Angels, which she considered was Kate Jackson.

Nevertheless she was unwell in mattress with the flu at the time, her agent talked her into likely to the studio, which she did, only to be told by the casting agent that she wasn’t fairly more than enough to star in ABC’s hit crime action collection that originally starred Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith.

‘She goes, “Let me tell you right now, you are not right for Charlie’s Angels,”‘ she recalled of the startling minute the lady explained to her she was not good sufficient within seconds of assembly her.

When she questioned why, the casting agent explained to Gifford, who was about 26 at the time: ‘Because we are wanting for a very female.’

Incorporating insult to harm, the studio agent introduced into a passive-aggressive tirade even though describing the type of actress they ended up trying to find.

‘You know, like Jaclyn Smith really, beautiful, magnificent,’ the agent claimed.

While she confessed the words ended up ‘kicking her in the gut,’ the Paris-primarily based discuss exhibit host, who grew up in Bowie, Maryland, now finds humor in the scenario.

‘I started to imagine it was amusing. I definitely did,’ she stated. ‘And as I’m walking out, I appeared at her and I claimed, “All right, perfectly, thank you so considerably.”‘

In its place of just leaving, Gifford turned to the girl once again, then threw up just one of her legs in a amusing gesture and claimed, ‘When you are casting a cartoon, enable me know,’ and proceeded to head out the door. 

‘I left thanking God that I could laugh about it,’ she remembers wondering as she still left with her dignity intact.

In hindsight, Gifford was capable to see how that casting agent created a choice to be necessarily mean when it wasn’t required.

‘I commenced to see, initially of all, what a b**** she was. What an unnecessary b**** she was,’ she explained of the girl, whom she even now remembers by name to this working day.   

‘She didn’t say “Sorry, honey, have a nice everyday living. You happen to be not what we are wanting for.” She experienced to be cruel,’ Gifford ongoing. ‘She experienced to be the precise reverse of what my father taught me to be. The point that I recall her name to this working day is simply because she was so cruel.’ 

The purpose for a substitute for Kate Jackson in the long run went to Shelley Hack, although she was subsequently changed by Tonya Roberts immediately after one particular period thanks to yet another drop in the ratings soon after an first spike.

Although the demonstrate ended just after period 5, it did enable encourage a film franchise with Cameron Diaz, Lucy Lui and Drew Barrymore as the new Charlie’s Angels (2000), which led to the trio returning for Charlie’s Angels: Entire Throttle (2003).

The franchise was rebooted in 2011 with a tv sequence of the exact name starring Minka Kelly, Annie Ilonzeh and Rachael Taylor, but it was canceled after just seven episodes.

Yet another movie reboot for Charlie’s Angels was released in 2019 and starred Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska. But just after significantly less then stellar box place of work numbers the studio opted to not do a sequel. 

With I Want To Matter: Your Life Is Too Short And Also Valuable To Squander, Gifford is on a mission to remind individuals of what’s significant in their life. 

‘I hope it can be a blessing to everyone. It truly is a sweet very little e-book,’ Gifford explained to Folks, while also sharing how she believes humanity has taken a significant change for the even worse.

‘People come to feel hopeless correct now. They feel terribly hopeless. They are concerned. I’ve by no means viewed so a lot dread in my lifestyle,’ she claimed of the state of the globe.

‘When I was rising up, what was scarce was cruelty,’ Gifford added. ‘And it just broke your heart and you would sob at these tales on the news about cruelty. Now, what is rare are stories about kindness. You can find cruelty every other minute. We’ve obtained every thing improper now. We’ve received to get it back again to what’s really important.’ 

Her new self-support e-book is a stick to-up to the New York Times bestseller It is really Under no circumstances As well Late: Make The Following Act Of Your Everyday living The Ideal Act Of Your Life (2020). 

About the many years Gifford has launched seven other biographical novels, two cookbooks, three Christian faith novels and 6 kid’s textbooks.

She is greatest identified for co-internet hosting the daytime communicate present Reside! With Regis And Kathie Lee (1985–2000) along with Regis Philbin, and as co-host of NBC’s Right now show (2008–2019) with Hoda Kotb.