Samuel Johnson’s heartbreaking Logies speech

ACTORS mostly thank their agents, cast, crew and mums when they win their first Logie. Samuel Johnson did something else.

WHEN Samuel Johnson won his first ever Logie award this evening, he did something out of the ordinary.

Rather than thanking his manager, his director, or his fellow cast members, Johnson (who won best actor for portraying Molly Meldrum in the telemovie Molly) eschewed the traditional approach to instead bring attention to a cause close to his heart.

“My sister is succumbing finally to the perils of cancer after a three decade long tussle and rather than rolling over, she’s going out blazing with an attempted world record for the longest line of coins, absurdly,” said an emotional Johnson as he clutched his award.

“She’s putting together a row of coins in the shape of a love heart, hopefully the biggest love heart this country has ever seen, made of 5 cent pieces from cancer families all around the country, with the entire proceeds going directly to scientists and researchers, no skimming, no add anybody. It is only $2.90 for 1 metre of 5 cent coins. It is being laid in 12 days.”

Choking back tears he said: “On behalf of my beautiful sister Connie, who I dedicate this award to, I would like to urge any family watching affected by cancer or not to join us in our quest to keep our families safe from the terrors of cancer.

“Love your sister.org or Love Your Sister on Facebook. I love you, Connie, I love you.”

An earlier picture of actor Samuel Johnson and his sister Connie Johnson, who has breast cancer.

Johnson established the charity in the wake of his sister’s diagnosis with terminal breast cancer at the age of 33. She is now 40.

Last year Johnson revealed he was retiring from his 25-year acting career to concentrate on raising $10 million for the charity.

But when news.com.au asked Johnson about his biggest career regret following his Logies win, he said “Retiring ... well, at this stage anyway. It’s like retiring the year you win the Brownlow.”

Regardless, he says he will stick to his guns.

“Yeah I have to, totally. I’ve made a promise to 380,000 Australians and I swore that I’d stick with them until we raised this $10 million and we’re nearly at $5 million so I’m hoping that I can bring it home really quick and get back to work. But as long as it takes. It took us seven years to make it halfway so by that maths I’ll be away for another seven years.”

“When I said I’d unicycle around the country I f***ing did it. It’s pretty simple. I mean what I say.”

Two weeks ago Connie made the announcment that she was going to cease her breast cancer treatment.

“I thought maybe it was time to consider stopping treatment,” Connie, 40, told the Canberra Times.

Over the years, Connie’s treatment has included a double mastectomy, as well as chemotherapy and radiation. She also underwent various treatments for bone cancer aged 11, and a tumour in her womb at 22.

“So that’s 10 to 11 years of cancer treatment in a 40-year lifespan and I guess my organs are just saying, ‘No more. No more’,” she said.

Connie was filmed with friends and family watching the Logies on an iPhone (as her TV broke today):

Johnson’s speech - which apparently lead to the Love Your Sister website crashing - echoed Carrie Bickmore’s acceptance speech in 2015, when she wore a blue beanie and used her time on stage to raise awareness for brain cancer, the disease that took the life of her husband Greg Lange.

Her plea went viral with #beaniesforbraincancer trending on Twitter shortly after.

Carrie Bickmore wears a blue beanie as she is presented with her Gold Logie at the 57th Logie Awards.

Johnson’s Logies win follows a little controversy following his nomination for best actor.

In December, the 38-year-old actor’s two sisters appear to have “tricked” him into going offline for the weekend, in a bid to secretly post a call-out for Logies votes via the Love Your Sister Facebook page.

It may have been well-intended but Johnson was clearly unimpressed by the scheme at the time.

In a lengthy Facebook post, he explained that while he didn’t want to appear like an “ungrateful swine”, he was upset that the campaign had shifted focus from their fundraising efforts for Connie.

“I had very solid reasons for not mentioning the Logie thing to you guys and I’m wishing I had have explained it to my sisters better before I went on a ‘fishing trip’ with my best mate who I thought would never dog me,” Johnson wrote in December 2016.

“We share our family in the hope that it will encourage other mums to be proactive about their health ... But most importantly, we try to encourage action by taking action ourselves.

“A whopping 12,498 villagers have reached for their wallets in the last two weeks (volume that we’ve never come close to before) to help Connie’s Big Heart Project — her world record attempt to assemble the longest line of coins in the shape of a big love heart, this coming Valentine’s Day.

“So, right in the middle of the hectickest (sic), most successful period Love Your Sister has EVER experienced my two bonehead sisters decided to shift ALL of that momentum towards TV Week. So that we can win a shiny trophy. Are you starting to see it from my perspective yet?”

Samuel Johnson climbs into the crowd to meet fans at the 59th Annual Logie Awards. Picture: Getty

“I can hear you now. ‘But a Logie will inspire more actions!’ Well yes, if you win. If we don’t win, it’s a hell of a lot of wasted actions. That’s my point. That’s why I didn’t yell and scream about getting your vote in the first place. Of course I want a Logie. Desperately, if I’m honest. It would open so many more doors for us. But the numbers don’t add up. We’re up against PR machines, ya know?

“So what’s my solution? All I feel I can really do is encourage anyone who hasn’t already to purchase a metre ($2.90) for Connie’s Big Heart Project? We’re on our way to busting the mint, breaking a world record, raising a mint for cancer research and fulfilling the dreams of a sick mum. That seems most important to me.

“But if you’re going to insist on helping me out too, let’s at least leave this Gold Logie nonsense alone, shall we? We just don’t have the numbers and we want Carrie to win that one anyway. If Carrie took out the Gold and I got up for the Silver, then that’d be pretty spesh. So if you must, I’ll take your vote, but only after you’ve seriously considered the merits of the two ‘actions’. One helps cures cancer, the other one inflates my already oversized ego. The choice is clear.”