Jeanne Little

Jeanne Little
File:Jeanne little may 2008 (cropped).jpg Little in 2008
Born	Jeanne Mitchell (1938-05-11)11 May 1938 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Television personality actress stage performer singer deviser costume designer
Years active	1969–2011
Known for	Appearances on the The Mike Walsh Show, Beauty and the Beast
Spouse(s)	Barry Little (m. 1971–2019) (his death)

Jeanne Mitchell OAM (11 May 1938 – 7 November 2020), professionally known as Jeannie Little, was a Gold Logie-award-winning Australian entertainer and TV personality.

Biography

Little was born in Sydney, Australia. She made her television debut on Network Ten's The Mike Walsh Show in September 1974. Invited on as a guest showcasing designer maternity clothes, Little quickly became a regular, eventually (after a stint at Channel Seven) moving with the Walsh Show to Channel Nine. The Seven Network had attempted two short-lived shows featuring Little's unique talents: Jeanne's Little Show (a variety/chat series) and Cuckoo in the Nest, a situation comedy in which she played a wacky Auntie Mame-type character. As part of The Mike Walsh Show team again, Little wowed and won audiences for the next 15 years.

She was a guest on the Midday with Ray Martin show and her appearance on the BBC's Michael Parkinson variety show so startled London critics she had the London Evening News saying: "What a woman! With her in the house you wouldn't want a TV." Among the overseas guests she appeared with were US actor/comedians Phyllis Diller and George Burns, and British theatre actor Danny La Rue.

In 1976 Little won a Gold Logie for most popular television personality, and subsequently won two other Logies for her work on the Mike Walsh Show. She performed at the Royal Command Bicentennial Concert before the Prince and Princess of Wales. Her stage career took off with Jerry's Girls, in which American director John Frost teamed Little with well known entertainers Marcia Hines, Debra Byrne and Judi Connelli. She then subsequently appeared in Legends with Kerrie Biddell, Toni Lamond, and Nancye Hayes at the Sydney Opera House.

She appeared in theatre since 1978, including Marlene, Little's one-woman tribute to actress and singer Marlene Dietrich, which toured Australia and the US to critical acclaim, followed by More of a Little, which was filled with songs, chat, and anecdotes, as well as A Tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

In the late 1990s, through to the mid-2000s, Little appeared on the panel discussion show Beauty and the Beast, with "beast" Stan Zemanek.

In February 2011, it was announced Little was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which was initially diagnosed in 2009. In August 2014, family members advised that Little's illness had advanced to the stage that she "no longer knows where she is or what's going on around her".

Personal life

Little married interior decorator Barry Little in 1971. Their daughter, Katie Little Poulton, runs her own graphic arts studio One of a Kind with her husband Tim, and is patron of the Jeanne Little Alzheimer's Research Fund, which has been set up in her mother's honour to raise funds for ongoing research into the disease. Katie has written a memoir about her mother titled Catch a Falling Star.

She was diagnosed with rapid-onset Alzheimer's disease in 2009, and was cared for in a Sydney nursing home, where her husband Barry (1929–2019) also resided.

Little died on 7 November 2020 at the age of 82.

Honours

In 2001 Little was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to the community. In the same year she received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

External links

• Jeanne Little at the Internet Movie Database
• Transcript of interview with Jeanne Little on ABC show George Negus Tonight
• Transcript of interview with Jeanne Little on ABC show Talking Heads