Jeanne Little (born Jeanne Mitchell; 11 May 1938) is a Gold
Logie-award winning Australian entertainer and TV personality. Little was born
in Sydney. Little made her television debut on Network Ten's Mike Walsh Show in
September 1974. Invited on as a guest showcasing designer maternity clothes,
she 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 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 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 has appeared with are Phyllis Diller, George Burns and Danny La Rue. In
1976 Little won the Gold Logie for most popular television personality and has
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 where American director John Frost
teamed Jeanne with Marcia Hines, Debra Byrne and Judi Connelli. Then came
Legends with Kerrie Biddell, Toni Lamond and Nancye Hayes at the Sydney Opera
House. Marlene, Little's one woman
tribute to Marlene Dietrich toured Australia and the US to critical acclaim, followed
by More of a Little, which was filled with songs and chat. In the late 90s
through to the mid-2000s Little appeared on the panel discussion show Beauty
and the Beast. Here to download is as far as I know the only single she
released in 1976 “Dahling Are You Paying Attention” b/w “Oceana Roll” (2079
095) for Polydor Records. The single was produced by Silver Studs Lance
Reynolds with Reynolds co-writing the A Side. In February 2011, it was announced
Little was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, first diagnosed in 2009 and is
being cared for in a nursing home. 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".
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
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