Patti Newton on honouring Bert at the Logies
Ahead of the return of the Logies tomorrow night, Patti Newton shares some of her favourite photos of her late husband, Bert Newton, the king of entertainment, and reveals the great loss of his ‘huge presence’ at the awards.
Stellar
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Bert Newton was the master of live entertainment, known for his career-defining roles alongside some of Australia’s biggest screen legends, but it was his partnership with wife Patti that was ultimately Australian television’s greatest double-act. As she anxiously prepares to honour her late husband at tonight’s Logie Awards, she reflects on Bert’s generosity, the loss of his “huge presence” and why TV’s night of nights was such a huge part of his life.
Patti Newton feels husband Bert’s presence around her every day – in the photos from their 51 years together that line her home, in the chair where he watched his favourite old movies every day, and for Bert’s lookalike grandson, Monty, 6, he’s also there in the moon, looking down at them at night.
“People will probably think I’ve gone a bit bonkers, but I still talk to him a lot,” Newton says of her husband, who passed away last October, at the age of 83.
“I still feel like he’s watching over me, that he’s part of me and part of the things that are happening in our lives.”
The couple’s 14-year-old grandson Sam landing the role of the narrator in the school musical of Beauty And The Beast also sparked conflicting emotions because Bert had himself toured Australia with the stage production.
“I felt sad watching [Sam in the show] because I knew Bert would’ve loved it. But I also felt, isn’t this lovely? That it’s still part of Bert that he’s doing Beauty And The Beast.”
The entertainer’s “huge presence” will be felt more than ever when his wife of almost 47 years gathers her courage to present the inaugural Bert Newton Award for Best Presenter at tonight’s Logie Awards.
It’s a fitting honour for the man who’s synonymous with the TV awards and who inspired generations of presenters.
He was the master of live television, as at ease interviewing a Hollywood legend as he was helping Big Kev flog his cleaning products during advertising slots on his long-running show Good Morning Australia.
“I think he would love to be part of the ongoing Logies because they were such a big part of his life. And he loved them,” Newton reflects of the ceremony, at which Bert was as well known for presenting as he was for winning statues.
“He didn’t use his Logies as doorstops as some people do; he treasured them. Even though a few of them are missing, they were given to people and very good causes – but with the promise never to tell anyone until he was gone because he knew I’d have killed him,” she tells Stellar with a laugh.
While the singer and actor is no stranger to an audience herself, Newton is understandably anxious about tonight’s performance.
As well as fearing she’ll become overwhelmed by emotion, the 77-year-old is also recovering from a nasty bout of vertigo that saw her hospitalised for eight days. The doctors believe it was brought on by stress and grief.
“[Our daughter] Lauren has said to me, ‘Dad will help you get through it, and you’ll be fine,’” she reveals.
“It’s an important tribute to him. I need to be able to handle it. Because if it had been me – not that I would have had the same accolades given to me – he would have done it for me.”
Bert prided himself on being the best “second banana” in the business, first to legendary comedian Graham Kennedy on variety show In Melbourne Tonight (or IMT), and later to American-born talk-show host and singer Don Lane.
But his partnership with Patti that was the greatest double-act of Australian TV. Bert was his wife’s greatest champion. And equally, Newton was his staunchest supporter.
It wasn’t always perfect, though, and Newton jokingly remarks, “I hate people who say, ‘We’ve never had a cross word.’ Well, we did, we had world wars.”
While she was a major star in her own right, once they married in 1974, Newton says “there was no question that I’d want to stay home to look after Bert and the children that we were going to have.
“But the thing that he did for me was he always included me in things. And he always made me feel part of what he was doing. So I never felt that I had given anything up.”
Bert won four Gold Logies, compered the show 20 times and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998. Poignantly, he also presented Patti with her first Logie in 1967.
Never one to rely on an autocue, he flourished on the Logies stage, creating numerous memorable moments, including that infamous exchange with boxer Muhammad Ali at the 1979 awards (Newton responded to an Ali joke by saying “I like the boy”, a term that has negative racial connotations for many black Americans).
“[Bert] loved it when things would go wrong, when someone would come up [on stage] with a few too many drinks or would think they were going to the toilet and end up coming up on stage,” Newton says with a laugh.
“And if somebody was too emotional about it or lost for words, he would love that because he always could step in with a funny line or he’d always make it work.”
A generous performer, he didn’t care who got the laugh – only that the audience was enjoying themselves. And he was equally giving of his time off the stage, mentoring up-and-coming stars.
After his death, many stories emerged of his behind-the-scenes kindnesses, including that he secretly gifted a Gold Logie to a man dying of AIDS, and took over running a suburban milk bar one weekend after there was a sudden death in the shopkeeper’s family.
Newton has plenty of her own examples of Bert’s generosity, like the time he came upon a little boy crying in the street after falling off his bike.
The TV legend ferried him home to his parents, where he learnt the youngster was battling leukaemia. Bert went on to keep in touch with the boy until his death, regularly phoning to give the child encouragement.
He also regularly treated the Marist Brothers from his former boarding school to theatre tickets, even splashing out on plane tickets when the productions were interstate.
“I keep wanting to say he was very Catholic, and he was,” Newton says. “‘Do unto others what you want others [to] do unto you’ he felt was a very good way to go through life.”
Bert’s biggest supporters through his final years were his much-adored family, and his six grandchildren – all of whom, Newton quips, have inherited the performer’s sizable head – were his greatest pride and joy.
Even at his lowest ebb, she says he would rally when he heard that his grandchildren were visiting.
“Within an instant, he’d be smiling and joking. He’d be awake and telling them things. That was how he wanted it,” Newton adds, smiling at the memory.
And now those grandchildren (Sam and Monty along with Eva, 13, Lola, 10, Perla, 3, and almost-two-year-old Alby) are bringing the same comfort to Newton as she comes to terms with her grief.
She draws some reassurance from the outpouring of love for her husband and in seeing his name live on at the Logies, but still wishes she could have “one last cuddle and hold his hand one last time.
“He was the love of my life, and he was such a good man,” she adds. “He was very special.”
Originally published as Patti Newton on honouring Bert at the Logies
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