Canadian-American impersonator comedian, nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” well known during the television variety-show heydays of the late ’60s and ’70s, doing famous satirizations of Richard Nixon, Clark Gable, John Wayne and a host of others. His voice and character impressions sharply satirized political, theatrical and current news figures, which sometimes annoyed – but always entertained – audiences.
Little started as a disk jockey, then became a radio talk-show host. He did improvisations at various events and quickly became one of the top nightclub performers in his native Canada. His TV appearances included his U.S. debut in 1964 on the “Judy Garland Show.” A “Rich Little Special” on 3 September 1975 led to “The Rich Little Show,” 1975-1976. His credits also include “A Christmas Carol,” 1979, and “You Asked For It,” 1981-1983.
He was married to the former Jeanne Worden from 1971-1989, and they had one daughter, Bria. Little had a brief relationship with Lalette Cottrell, of Delaware; the couple had a daughter together, Lyndsay (born 1988).
Little was engaged to magician Melinda Saxe, but she broke off the three-year relationship in 1991, saying she had discovered that he had secretly videotaped them having sex in 1988. Saxe sued Little for defamation, invasion of privacy, and inflicting emotional distress, claiming he had secretly videotaped their sexual encounters in 1988 and had joked about their relationship on stage. Little claimed the videotaping was consensual. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court.
He married his stage partner Jeannette Markey on 29 October 1994 and that marriage lasted two years, ending in a bitter divorce. He was married to Marie Marotta from 2003 until her death in 2010 of a deliberate overdose of sleeping pills after years of suffering from migraines and chronic pain. He married his fourth wife, Catherine Brown, a former reality show contestant, in a private ceremony in 2012; they divorced in October later that year.
Little lives in Las Vegas, and gives hundreds of performances in clubs and concert dates throughout the year. In 2010, Little became a naturalized American citizen. In 2017, Little released his memoir, Little By Little: People I Have Known And Been.
Link to Wikipedia biography