"If 10,000 frankfurters,
10,000 buns and 10 gallons of mustard can mean the
start of a beautiful picnic then Rich Little -
through his unique talents - has changed it all into
a magnificent banquet by inviting more than forty of
the best known personalities of our time to assist
him in this slightly irreverent, but warmly
affectionate, tribute to the great Frank Sinatra ...
... Everyone has their own memories of Frank
Sinatra. To the world at large, he was a matchless
interpreter of the popular song. To film buffs, he
was a fine and often sensitive actor. To the media,
he was an irksome hell raiser whose escapades made
him an easy target for the tabloids and the scandal
sheets. But to Rich Little, who knew him for many
years and performed with him on numerous occasions,
he was ... Well, why not let Rich tell it?" -- Ken
Barnes
RICH LITTLE COMPLETE
U.S. Presidents: John
F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald
Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton,
both George Bushes...Rich Little has an impression
of each of them.
Infamous for his
skewing of political figures, Little has charmed,
amused, annoyed, and lampooned politicians from here
to his native Canada. He entertaine d
at the Reagan inaugurals and spent much of 2003
touring the United States with his show The
Presidents.
A master mimic of
over 200 voices, Little continues to impress in
Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Reno, Hawaii, Chicago, New
York, and London.
A professed classic
movie buff, he's particularly fond of doing Alan
Ladd (his hero as a kid) and others who are no
longer generally remembered, but Little has also
latched on to Baby Boomer-friendly characters like
Edith Bunker, Kermit the Frog, Robin Leach, and Dr.
Ruth Westheimer, just to name a few.
Some of his favorite
current stars are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester
Stallone, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood.
"They're easy to do," he says. "They are larger than
life."
Little says,"an
impression is what you think a person sounds like.
It could be an exaggeration or a cartoon. It's your
impression. I think of an impersonation as more of
an exact copy. Knowing the person personally is not
important; it's knowing the speech patterns and
mannerisms [in order] to imitate the person the way
the public sees him." It took him seven years to
perfect Frank Sinatra, but only several minutes to
mimic Dr. Ruth.
The son of a doctor
in Ottawa, Canada, Rich started his "career" at the
age of 12 when he answered back to his teachers in
their own voices. Observing the teachers in action
was infinitely more fun than paying attention to
classwork. To get dates, he'd find out the girl's
favorite actor, then call her up imitating that
actor's voice. Then when Rich showed up, he'd say,
"Sorry, Cary can't make it."
Rich's first
appearances were in a small club in Canada. "I got
booked into this place in Quebec, and when I started
my act, I discovered that no one in the audience
understood English. It was strictly a
French-speaking audience." He figured he was dead
until an inspiration hit him. "I did walks . . .
Jack Benny's walk, Bob Hope's walk, John Wayne's
walk. They all walk the same in French as in
English," he recalls.
While working as a
disc jockey and talk show host, for one April Fools
Day marathon he had "Jimmy Durante" emcee the
morning show; "James Mason" was a rock 'n' roll
deejay; and "Elvis Presley" hosted an afternoon
program. Like the infamous 1939 broadcast of "War of
the Worlds," 500 autograph-hungry Elvis-believing
fans besieged the station, thinking the King was
really there.
While still in his
early 20's, Little was "discovered" in the United
States. His friend, singer Mel Torme, then on the
musical team of CBS' The Judy Garland Show, asked
him to make a tape. Instead of the usual
impressions, he did Fred MacMurray, Dana Andrews,
James Mason and Van Heflin,"the kinds of people
nobody did." Garland thought it was "great" and
Little was signed for the show.
Appearances on TV
variety shows starring Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason,
Glen Campbell, and Dean Martin followed, as well as
on such series as Laugh-In, The John Davidson Summer
Show, and The Julie Andrews Show. Little had his own
variety show in the 70's. He also was an early guest
host on that TV staple, The Tonight Show, hosting 12
times. He was the star of the TV show KopyKats. Rich
Little became a household name sitting in one of the
Hollywood Squares and has also appeared on the Oak
Ridge Boys Variety Special.
He was named "Comedy
Star of the Year" by the American Guild of Variety
Artists. The perpetrator of nine comedy albums and
three HBO comedy specials, Rich Little's Christmas
Carol with "W.C. Fields" as Scrooge, "Humphrey
Bogart" as one of the ghosts and "Paul Lynde" as Bob
Cratchit won an Emmy, among other awards.
His latest appearance
on HBO was as Johnny Carson in the movie The Late
Shift, which dealt with the race to succeed Carson
on The Tonight Show. Little has appeared on the
daytime soaps The Young and the Restless and Santa
Barbara. He has made dramatic guest shots on Fantasy
Island, Chips, Murder She Wrote, Hawaii Five-O,
MacGyver, Police Woman, and Mannix.
In a GQ fashion
spread, Little was pictured as Richard Nixon, Jack
Nicholson, Cary Grant, George Burns, Ronald Reagan
and Humphrey Bogart. In an Oscar pre-cast of ABC's
Primetime (with Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson) he
spoofed classic movies, proposing how they would end
with different casts, starring Little as "Bette
Midler" as Scarlett O'Hara and "Arnold
Schwarzenegger" as Hamlet.
Little's expert
impressions have also been used seriously, as when
he stepped in for stars who were unable to do their
own redubbings on soundtracks. David Niven's vocal
cords were gone due to illness in his last film,
Curse of the Pink Panther. Peter Sellers himself was
gone by the end of The Trail of the Pink Panther.
Little provided both voices for these films. The TV
series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer needed
voice-over narrations on three shows, but star
Stacey Keach was unable to finish them. Rich Little
was called in to finish the job. He also did Gene
Kelly for a Christmas special when Kelly lost his
voice.
His greatest fear? A
sore throat. "Other people get a cold, and they just
get a cold. I get a cold and John Wayne gets a cold,
Orson Welles gets a cold, Nixon gets a cold, Truman
Capote gets a cold. No correction, Truman gets the
sniffles. I get a cold and it's all over."
Over the years Rich
Little has been active with children's charities and
he was co-host of the Canadian division of the
Children's Miracle Network. He was inducted into the
Miami Children's Hospital International Pediatrics
Hall of Fame for his tireless efforts in fundraising
on behalf of children. In June of 1998 Rich Little
added his star to the Canadian Walk of Fame to go
along with his current star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame.
Though still a
Canadian citizen, Rich lives in Las Vegas with his
wife Marie. He has two daughters, who ride horses
and cheerlead full-time. (And, oh yeah, don't forget
about the two cats!) |
