Kathryn Morton Godfrey[1] (c. 1915 – February 4, 1981) was an American talk show host on radio and television and sister of entertainer Arthur Godfrey.[2] She was also known professionally as Kathy Morton.[3] Her first name is sometimes seen spelled Katherine.[4]
Early years
A native of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey,[4] where the family lived in a store,[5] Godfrey was the second-youngest of five children[6] born to Arthur Hanbury Godfrey and Kathryn Morton Godfrey.[7] Her father was an itinerant reporter; her mother played piano in a movie theater and painted china for sale.[5] She attended Hasbrouck Heights High School.[6]
At age 18 she was a hostess at a Schrafft's restaurant in New York and dreamed of being a dining-room hostess on cruise ships.[5]
Career
At age 16, Godfrey began broadcasting at a small radio station in New Jersey. Her career was interrupted in 1931 when she contracted polio and had to spend a year in a hospital. When she recovered sufficiently, she took classes to prepare herself for a return to radio. She had her own program in Rochester, Minnesota, followed by stints on KRDO in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and on KPHO in Phoenix, Arizona.[1] While in Phoenix, she also broadcast on KPHO-TV, at one point having three programs on the two stations.[8]
Godfrey moved to ABC-TV in 1953 to become host of Up for Adoption, which debuted on 20 stations on January 16, 1954.[9] On July 26 of that year, she began a five-minute news program on WPIX television in New York.[10] Also in 1954, she was host of On Your Way, a quiz program on ABC-TV on which she interviewed people who had an urgent need for money to go somewhere. Contestants who answered questions correctly received the money that they needed.[11]Newspaper Enterprise Association columnist Dick Kleiner described the program as "a poor show", the format of which once changed twice in three weeks.[3] Godfrey herself later referred to the show as "the worst."[12]
In 1955, Godfrey was host of The Kathy Godfrey Show, a weekly 25-minute variety program on CBS Radio.[13] That program ended on May 19, 1956, replaced by This Is Kathy Godfrey, a daily interview program, beginning on May 21, 1956, also on CBS.[14] Aimed at busy housewives, the show's guests included Ilka Chase, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and the postmaster of New York City.[15]
Godfrey moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1957 and was host of the news-talk program Connecticut Life[4] and Children's Talent Show on WHCT-TV.[16] In the early 1960s, she was host of Let's Face It on WTXL radio in West Springfield, Massachusetts.[17]
In 1962, G. P. Putnam's Sons published Genius in the Family, a book by Godfrey and her sister, Jean Godfrey. A reviewer for The Arizona Republic described the book as "a delightful account of Godfrey family life" that focuses primarily on the authors' mother.[7]
Personal life
Godfrey married Dr. Robert Ripley, a pediatrician in 1937.[1] At the time of her death, she was married to Thomas J. McCann.[4]
Death
On February 4, 1981, Godfrey died in a Miami hospital after suffering a heart attack. She was 66.[2]