Aussie entertainer Jeanne Little dies aged 82
Lisa Wilkinson has paid tribute to beloved Australian entertainer Jeanne Little who died at the age of 82 over the weekend.
Wilkinson worked with Little on panel show Beauty and the Beast in the 90s,
“She was such a sweetheart,” Wilkinson said about Little on The Sunday Project. “She was a gorgeous woman. She was gracious. She was kind to somebody who was brand new to television.
“She was best known as being able to take a whole stack of green garbage bags and turn them into amazing fashion.”
Wilkinson continued to say that Little was the same person on and off screen, saying, “That was one of the many things we loved about her”.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Little’s daughter Katie took to Facebook to report her passing on Saturday night.
This is a huge shock – but I’m so grateful,” she’s reported to have written. “Love you all my friends.”
Little made her television debut on The Mike Walsh Show in 1974, and two years later won the Gold Logie for most popular television personality. Starring roles on the stage and small screen followed, and by the 1990s, she was a regular, lively panel member on the talk show Beauty and the Beast, known for her outrageous costumes and hilarious personality.
She was diagnosed with rapid-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2009 and was being cared for in the same Sydney nursing home as her husband Barry, who died last year.