Tawny Little (née Godin; born September 15, 1956),

Miss America 1976 Miss America 1976, the 49th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1975, and broadcast on NBC. The winner, Tawny Godin, representing New York, later became better known as Tawny Little ...

and

Miss New York The Miss New York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated the Miss New York organization's license ...

1975, is an American television personality.

Early life and education

Godin was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. She was raised in Yonkers, New York and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She became involved with the

pageant to raise tuition for

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a Private school, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,700 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Scien ...

but dropped out after she became Miss America. She later studied at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

.Miss America 1976

Career

Little was a reporter and anchor with three Los Angeles television stations beginning in 1977 with

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

. At KABC-TV, she served as a reporter, ''Eyewitness News'' anchor and co-host with a number of shows such as ''AM Los Angeles'', ''Eye on LA'', ''Hollywood Close-up'' and ''The Love Report''. After leaving KABC in 1992, Little joined

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

as a news anchor for ''Prime 9 News''. Later, from 1995 to 1999, she became a co-anchor with

KCOP-TV KCOP-TV (channel 13), branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet K ...

's ''UPN News 13''. Little also appeared in a few films and television shows including ''

Rocky II ''Rocky II'' is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the direct sequel to ''Rocky'' (1976) and the second installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, ...

'', ''

T.J. Hooker ''T. J. Hooker'' is an American police drama television program starring William Shatner in the title role as a 15-year veteran police sergeant. The series premiered as a mid-season replacement on March 13, 1982, on ABC and ran on the network u ...

'', Hart to Hart and '' Benson''.

Personal life

Gerald Ford meets with Tawny Godin and Miles Little

She was a contestant on ''

The $128,000 Question ''The $128,000 Question'' is an American game show which aired from 1976 to 1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of ''The $64,000 Question'' was produced by Cinelar Associates and distributed by Viacom Enterprises. Originally, Viacom had i ...

'' starring Mike Darow back in 1977 on the subject

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

. On her final win, she won $8,000. She changed her name to Little after marrying her first husband Miles Little, a neurosurgeon in Los Angeles (1977–1981). After her divorce from Little, she married ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy television series created by Gy Waldron that aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985, with a total of seven seasons consisting of List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes, 147 ...

'' star John Schneider (1983–1986). This marriage also ended in divorce. In 1986, Little married Don Corsini, general manager of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV, with whom she had two sons, Joseph John, "J.J.", (born 1987) and Chris (born 1989). She and Corsini divorced in 1999. She then married Los Angeles–based lawyer Rick Welch, with whom she had one son, Cole. They remained married until Welch's death in October 2014.

References

External links

* 1956 births Living people Television anchors from Los Angeles Miss America 1976 delegates Miss America winners Miss New York winners People from Portland, Maine American women television journalists 21st-century American women {{US-pageant-bio-stub