Julie Ellen "Tawny" Kitaen ( ; August 5, 1961 – May 7, 2021) was an American actress. She began her career as a television actress, appearing in the television films Malibu (1983) and California Girls (1985). She also starred in the comedies The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak and Bachelor Party (both 1984), and the horror film Witchboard (1986).
Kitaen garnered widespread recognition for her appearances in a number of music videos, including Ratt's "Back for More" (1984) and Whitesnake's "Still of the Night", "Is This Love" and "Here I Go Again" (all 1987).
In the 2000s, Kitaen began appearing on reality television series, including The Surreal Life (2006) and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (2008), the latter of which documented Kitaen's issues with substance abuse.
Early life
Julie Ellen Kitaen was born in San Diego, California, on August 5, 1961. She was the eldest of three children born to Linda Kitaen (née Taylor), a housewife and one-time beauty pageant participant, and Terry Kitaen, an employee of a neon sign company. Kitaen's mother was of Irish and Scottish descent, while her father was of Russian-Jewish heritage. Kitaen was raised in her father's Jewish faith.
She began using the nickname "Tawny" at the age of 12 on her own initiative. As a child, she struggled with dyslexia, which led to her dropping out of Mission Bay High School. At the age of 14, with backstage passes after a Peter Frampton concert at Balboa Stadium, she witnessed the VIP treatment afforded Frampton's girlfriend Penny and aspired to attain it for herself.
Career
Kitaen modeled and appeared in television commercials for Jack LaLanne's European Health Spas in the early 1980s. In a January 2021 Instagram post a few months before her death, she claimed the experience inspired her to become an actress.
Kitaen appeared on the cover of Ratt's debut EP Ratt (1983) and the band's debut Atlantic studio album Out of the Cellar (1984). She was dating the band's guitarist Robbin Crosby at the time.
Kitaen began her acting career in 1983 with a minor role in the television movie Malibu. In 1984, she starred as the title character of the erotic adventure movie The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak, also called Gwendoline. and starring roles in Witchboard (1986), White Hot (1988), and Dead Tides (1996). She appeared on Seinfeld as Jerry's girlfriend in the 1991 episode "The Nose Job." She appeared in 19 episodes of the TV series The New WKRP in Cincinnati from 1991 to 1993 as nighttime DJ Mona Loveland, who has a show called Mona Til Midnight. She also had recurring parts in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and co-hosted America's Funniest People from 1992 to 1994. She appeared in the Season 4 Episode 12 of Botched, requesting that her breast implants be removed.
She married Whitesnake singer David Coverdale in 1989; they divorced in 1991.
Kitaen was married to baseball player Chuck Finley from 1997 to 2002, with whom she had two daughters, Wynter and Raine. In 2002 she was charged with domestic violence for an incident involving Finley; in a plea bargain, she agreed to enter a spousal battery counseling program and avoid contact with Finley. In December 2006, Kitaen entered a six-month rehabilitation program in exchange for the dismissal of a felony drug-possession charge.
On September 26, 2009, Kitaen was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) in Newport Beach, California. The following July, she pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI and was sentenced to two days in jail, ordered to attend a first-offender alcohol program and required to perform 64 hours of community service.
On July 22, 2019, Kitaen was again arrested for DUI in Newport Beach. She was formally charged with a misdemeanor related to the arrest on October 22 of that year. Kitaen's death was confirmed to The New York Times by her daughter Wynter Finley, who told the paper that the cause of death was not immediately known. Police reported that nothing at the scene indicated alcohol or drugs as a factor in the death. The Orange County coroner's office declared it a "residential death", without further details.
In October 2021, the Orange County coroner's office announced Kitaen's official cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, a common type of heart disease. Other contributing factors to her death included mild coronary atherosclerosis and drug ingestion, including mirtazapine, alprazolam, acetaminophen, pregabalin, and hydrocodone.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1984
|The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak
|Gwendoline
|
|-
|1986
|Witchboard
|Linda Brewster
|
|-
|2011
|Here We Go Again
|Herself
|Short film
|-
|2014
|After Midnight
|Rikki
|
|-
|2015
|Come Simi
|Dee Dee
|
|-
|1983
|Malibu
|Mahoney's girlfriend
|TV film
|-
|1987
|Glory Years
|Melinda Murphy
|TV film
<!-- |-
|1991
|Shades of L.A.
|Linda Makowski
|Episodes: "Line of Fire: Parts 1 & 2" -->
|-
|1991
|Veronica Clare
|
|Guest appearance<!-- Episodes: "The Boxing Story", "Slow Violence" -->
|-
|1991
|Seinfeld
|Isabel
|Episode: "The Nose Job"
|-
|1992–1996
|Eek! The Cat
|Annabelle (voice)
|Main role (39 episodes)
|-
|1994
|Married... with Children
|Dominique
|Episode: "Shoeway to Heaven"
|-
|2017
|Botched
| Herself
| Episode: "Boob Trains and Big Butts"