Eunice “Dawn” Elsie Little Sky, an actress, Disney artist and respected Lakota cultural educator whose screen credits included Gunsmoke, Gypsy and The Apple Dumpling Gang, has died. She was 95.
Little Sky died October 24, 2025, at Monument Health Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota, her family announced.
A groundbreaking figure both on and off camera, Little Sky built a rich, varied career in Hollywood before returning home to South Dakota to teach, mentor and preserve Lakota art and tradition.
Born April 17, 1930, in Fort Yates, North Dakota, Little Sky grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation before attending Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas. It was there she met fellow performer Eddie Little Sky, who called her “The Ava Gardner of Fort Yates.” The two married in Roswell, New Mexico, while traveling the rodeo circuit — a story her family says she loved retelling throughout her life.
The couple eventually moved to California, where she became the first Native American artist to color animation cels at Walt Disney Studios. She also worked in Frontierland at Disneyland before beginning her screen career.
Dawn and Eddie Little Sky appeared together in several classic series, including Gunsmoke, Have Gun — Will Travel, Daniel Boone and The Magical World of Disney. Her film credits include Chief Crazy Horse, Cimarron, Ten Who Dared, Duel at Diablo, Journey Through Rosebud, The Apple Dumpling Gang and Billy Two Hats.
She also appeared in Rawhide and had a role in the 1962 film Gypsy starring Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell. In a 2022 interview with Brent Stevens, she recalled that her career once took her as far as Israel.
Her husband Eddie Little Sky — one of the first Native men to portray Native roles on film and TV — appeared in A Man Called Horse, Little Big Man, and multiple episodes of Gilligan’s Island, where he spoke Lakota on camera. He died in 1997.
In the late 1970s, Dawn and Eddie moved back to South Dakota, where she became director of a cultural center in Eagle Butte. In the early 1980s, she began teaching art and culture at Little Wound School, where generations of students remembered her as their favorite teacher. She also served for years as the dance club sponsor and designed powwow regalia for her children.
She was a champion Women’s Traditional dancer and in 2005 received South Dakota’s prestigious Indian Living Treasure Award.
Her obituary describes her as a devoted mother, auntie, and grandmother who rarely missed a powwow, cheering for each of her grandchildren as they danced. She was known to many simply as “Grandma Dawn,” a title earned through her warmth, humor and generosity.
“Dawn lived an extraordinary life and left a positive impact on all who had the honor to interact with her,” her family said. “Her life was full of so many adventures and unforgettable experiences, and she was the best storyteller with the most amazing sense of humor!”
Little Sky is survived by her children Tojan Norma Rendon, Prairie Rose Little Sky-White and John “Chepa” Little Sky; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; extended family members; and a wide circle of former students, colleagues and community members.
She was preceded in death by her husband Eddie, several children and grandchildren, and her brothers and sisters.
Wake services were held November 1 at the Rockyford School New Gym, with funeral services on November 2 and burial at the Little’s Family Cemetery in Oglala, South Dakota.
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