One of Australia’s true television legends Bert Newton has died at the age of 83.
Newton had been in poor health for some years and in March 2021 had one of his legs amputated.
Bert was born in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in 1938. He made his first appearance in radio for 3XY Melbourne in 1952 when he was just 14 years old. In 1954, 3XY put him on air as a junior announcer.
Bert joined GTV-9 in 1959 and began his television career hosting The Bert Newton Show, aimed at teenagers. In 1961 Bert was also working at 9 owned radio 3AK Melbourne where he hosted a two-hour show with another legend, Graham Kennedy.
Kennedy and Newton were life-long friends until Kennedy’s death in 2005.
Bert’s television career included The Don Lane Show (1975), New Faces (1976), Ford Superquiz (1981), Tonight With Bert Newton (1984) and The Bert Newton Show (1989). In 1992 Bert moved to Network Ten and hosted Good Morning Australia until 2005.
After that came ‘Bert’s Family Feud (2006), ’20 to 1’ (2006 to 2011), Millionaire Dollar Wheel of Fortune (2008) and ‘Millionaire Hot Seat’ (2012).
Bert also appeared on stage in The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, Wicked, Annie, The Producers and The Rocky Horror Show.
In 1977, Bert and his wife Patti released ‘The Bert & Patti Family Album’. He also had a chart hit in Australia in 1981 when ‘Bring Back the Spirit of Christmas’ reached no 25.
Bert Newton is survived by wife Patti, children Lauren and Matthew and six grandchildren, Sam, Eva, Lola, Monty, Perla and Alby.
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