Rhonda Burchmore celebrates four decades in the entertainment industry
With her trademark red hair, long legs and rich voice Rhonda Burchmore, says she has no plans to slow down as she celebrates four decades in the Aussie entertainment industry.
Fiona Byrne
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After 40 years in the Australian entertainment industry Rhonda Burchmore is determined that the show will go on.
Burchmore, 60, this year marks four decades as the country’s favourite showgirl.
“I kind of pinch myself that it has been 40 years,” Burchmore said.
“When I was young I used to think of 40 as 150, but it really has gone so quickly.
“If health is on my side I think I will be still doing it for the next 20 years, God willing.”
With her trademark red hair, long legs and rich voice Burchmore has starred in stage shows including Sugar Babies on London’s West End with Mickey Rooney, Hot Shoe Shuffle with David Atkins, and in the Australian premiere season of the ABBA musical, Mamma Mia.
She was a stalwart of Jeanne Pratt’s The Production Company and found a new fan base by appearing on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
Burchmore was also a favourite in the golden era of Australian television variety shows.
“Don Lane gave me my first break into night time television on his show,” Burchmore said.
“He kind of took me under his wing and he and Bert (Newton) were always so generous to me.
“Mike Walsh gave me my first break on daytime television on The Mike Walsh Show and was always so charming. You never used to audition for those shows, you were just miraculously phoned or contacted and told we want you on the show.
“I would alternate between The Mike Walsh Show during the day and then The Don Lane Show at night. We had amazing sets, an 18-piece big band, backing dancers and singers, I was really, really lucky.
“Then you had Hey, Hey It’s Saturday with Daryl Somers, Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton and then Midday with Ray Martin.
“It was an extraordinary amount of exposure and I am very blessed to have been part of that great era of variety as we knew it here in Australia, because there is nothing like it anymore.”
Burchmore is showcasing her career in a YouTube series called Rhonda’s Rewind.
Burchmore put her longevity down to being willing to have a go at almost anything.
“I strongly believe entertaining is in my blood. I did digress to be a schoolteacher for a little while, but returned to my main love,” she said.
“I have put my toe in so many areas; film, TV, musical theatre, cabaret.
“I said yes to I’m A Celebrity after I was up for a television show and they said, ‘Oh no, we can’t see anything but this glamorous, sequined, long-legged, red carpet person,’ and I though, “You know what, once and for all I am going to dispel this myth and show that is not all I am.’
“Mind you I had no idea I was going to be in for those horrific food trials. I was a bit like Linda Blair out of The Exorcist with the food trials. I found a strength I never knew I had by doing that show.”
Like so many in the entertainment business, Burchmore’s 2020 diary has been wiped out by COVID-19.
“I am one of the most resilient, optimistic people in the business and forever the pollyanna about seeing the good in everyone and trying to make a dull situation happy, but this is getting to me,” she said.
“I feel for so many people who are doing it tough and trying to work out what the future looks like in entertainment.
“But it is going to take more than COVID to stop me.
“I’ll just start afresh in 2021, but I fear for the art and the spirit of so many people and how they are getting through this.”