Loved and pilloried with equal fervor by the general public and the media throughout the many phases of her career, Kathie Lee Gifford was a singer and nightclub entertainer who rose to prominence in the late 1980s as the co-host of “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee” (WABC/syndicated, 1983- ). Her upbeat personality and frequent references to her husband, NFL star-turned-broadcaster Frank Gifford, and their two children, Cassidy and Cody, earned her the admiration of countless daytime television viewers – but more than a few brickbats from pundits and comics who found her stories and attitude