Read the complete write-up of Bert Newton net worth, biography, age, height, family, parents, wife, children, cause of death, radio, TV shows, as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Bert Newton was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer and radio, theatre and television personality/presenter. Newton hosted the Logie Awards ceremony on seventeen occasions.
Newton was known for his collaborations opposite Graham Kennedy and Don Lane on their respective variety shows, and appearances with his wife, singer Patti Newton. Their two children were actor Matthew Newton and TV personality Lauren Newton.
He started his career in radio broadcasting, primarily as an announcer before becoming a star and fixture of Australian television since its inception in 1956, and was considered both an industry pioneer, icon and one of the longest-serving television performers in the world.
Bert Newton was known for his association with both the Nine Network and Ten Network, in numerous shows including In Melbourne Tonight, New Faces, Good Morning Australia, 20 to 1 and Bert’s Family Feud.
Early life
| Name | Bert Newton |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| Profession | Media Personality |
| Height | 1.73m |
| Age | 83 years |
Albert Watson Newton, AM, MBE was born on July 23, 1938(age 83 years) in Fitzroy, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. His parents are Joseph “Joe” and Gladys Newton. He had three brothers Tom, Jack and Bob and a sister Alice. He was educated at St Joseph’s Marist Brothers Roman Catholic college. In his early years, he had thoughts of entering the priesthood and remained an active Roman Catholic.
Career
Newton’s first paid radio appearance was as a schoolboy on Melbourne radio station 3XY on 10 June 1952, doing advertisements dressed as a clown with Doug McKenzie, later to become “Zag” in Zig and Zag.
This led to regular appearances on a Saturday morning children’s show, in which he worked with disc jockey Stan Rofe and McKenzie.
In May 1954, 3XY employed him as a junior announcer (aged 15); by 1955 he was presenting Melbourne Speaks, a vox pop program recorded on the streets of Melbourne’s CBD.
After GTV-9 purchased 3AK in April 1961, all GTV-9 personalities were expected to present programs on 3AK. Graham Kennedy and Newton hosted a two-hour morning program.
He began a morning program on 3UZ in 1976. The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd appointed Newton as general manager of 3DB in 1986, which he combined with on-air appearances until 1988.
Television
Bert Newton began his television career in 1957 at Melbourne’s HSV-7, hosting The Late Show. For several years Newton worked with former manager Mason Jarrett whilst trying to find work on numerous television stations.
Newton left HSV-7 and went to GTV-9 in early 1959 to host a daytime television program In Melbourne Today. After appearing in a live commercial on In Melbourne Tonight with his friend Graham Kennedy at Easter 1959, he began to make regular appearances on the show and assumed hosting duties on some episodes. This began a lifelong association with Kennedy.
In 1959–1960 he hosted The Bert Newton Show (later re-titled Hi-Fi Club) on GTV-9, a series aimed at teenagers. In 1960 and 1961, Newton, along with Graham Kennedy, appeared in the national Graham Kennedy’s Channel 9 Show (a one-night-a-week national version of IMT). In January 1962, the show was cancelled and replaced by the similar The Channel 9 Show, hosted by Newton.
Television career
Newton mainly appeared on the Nine Network in these years. Starting in 1975, Don Lane hosted his own variety show, The Don Lane Show, on Channel 9. Newton was cast in the role of sidekick and “barrel boy”. Newton was dubbed “Moonface” on the show, and the nickname stuck. On the show Newton would frequently appear in outlandish costumes, often sending up celebrities.
One of the most memorable events on the show was when Newton set up Demis Roussos and Roussos was sent onto the set while Newton was doing the impersonation. Newton remained on the show until it ended in 1983. He briefly hosted his own program, The Bert Newton Show, recorded in Sydney for the ABC. It was not a success, and he returned to working with Kennedy.
In 1976, Newton replaced long-running compere Frank Wilson on the Nine Network’s amateur talent program New Faces. The show was a success and lasted until 1985. In 1992, Newton hosted another version of New Faces; however, it did not last for long. In 1981, Newton (and wife Patti) presented a quiz show, Ford Superquiz, produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Nine Network.
Tonight With Bert Newton, for the Nine Network, was a short-lived attempt to bring back the spirit of IMT. It aired in 1984. This was done for the Seven Network in 1989 as an attempt to woo some of the audience away from The Midday Show with Ray Martin. This, however, didn’t work and was only on air for that year. It started outlasting one hour with a soapie following it called The Power, The Passion (which was an early role for Julian McMahon) but when that got axed the show was expanded to an hour and a half. From mid-1992 until 2005, Newton appeared on Channel Ten as host of Good Morning Australia
Good Morning Australia
In 1992 Bert Newton moved into daytime television as host of The Morning Show, which soon changed its title to Good Morning Australia (GMA) on Network Ten. The show revived Newton’s celebrity status and was a continuing success for Ten. GMA was a mix of interviews, music, cooking segments featuring Newton’s floor manager Robert Mascara, aka “Belvedere”, doing the popular taste tests and innuendo which was primarily ad-libbed. Much of the screen time was dedicated to infomercials. Unusually for television, the show was broadcast live-to-air on Mondays and Tuesdays but for the rest of the week live-to-tape (recorded complete and aired later).
In October 2005, Network Ten announced that the program would be cancelled at the end of the year after a 14-year run. Although Newton was offered ongoing employment at Network Ten, he stated that he would return to the Nine Network in 2006.
After finishing on Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia in late 2005, Newton returned to the Nine Network in early 2006. In 2006, Newton returned to the Nine Network and hosted Bert’s Family Feud, a revised version of Family Feud in 2006 and until cancelled on 8 May 2007.
From 2006 until 2011, Newton hosted 20 to 1 taking over from Bud Tingwell. In 2007, Newton hosted the retrospective program What a Year with comedian Julia Zemiro, replacing previous hosts Mike Munro and Megan Gale which took a light-hearted look at significant events from a chosen year in history.
In 2008, Newton appeared as a celebrity contestant alongside TV Personality and Former Temptation hostess Livinia Nixon and Swimmer Dawn Fraser. He won the main game and wins $3,235 (including a Plasma TV) For his charity International Diabetes Institute.
On 14 August 2012, Newton appeared as a celebrity contestant on Millionaire Hot Seat and won $5,000 for charity Sids & Kids. He reputedly received a yearly salary of A$800,000 from Nine during this era.
Stage roles
Bert Newton’s stage appearances included Professor Marvel/the Wizard of Oz in The Wizard of Oz, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, Franz Liebkind in The Producers and Max in The Sound of Music.
In October 2008, it was announced that Newton would be taking over the role of The Wizard in the Melbourne production of the musical Wicked, after the sudden death of Rob Guest. He played his first performance on 12 November 2008. The production closed on 9 August 2009 and transferred to Sydney from 12 September 2009.
Bert Newton continued to play the role on the national tour, which began in January 2011, opposite Lucy Durack as Glinda, Jemma Rix as Elphaba, David Harris as Fiyero and Maggie Kirkpatrick as Madame Morrible. In 2011 he was part of the Australian cast performing Wicked in Singapore. Altogether, Newton had a three-year run in this show.
In July 2012 Bert Newton jo ined the Melbourne cast of Annie for a few weeks, taking over the role of President Roosevelt from Alan Jones. In March 2013 it was announced that Newton would be returning to the stage in producer John Frost’s production of Grease The Musical which commenced in August 2013. Newton played disc jockey, Vince Fontaine. Newton played the narrator in the 2015 Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show.
Honours and awards
Bert Newton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1979, for his service to the performing arts.
On 12 June 2006 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia “for service to the entertainment industry as a presenter, actor, comedian, and through support for a range of medical research and charitable organisations”. Newton was the first Melbourne-born King of Moomba in 1978.
In 1997 Newton was the subject of a This Is Your Life tribute. His wife Patti was honoured with her own tribute in 2001.
The Best of Bert Newton was aired in 2002. Channel Nine Salutes Bert Newton was broadcast in early 2004, depicting the career of Newton from his earliest days.
In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal. Show business awards include a Mo Award (1997), a Television Society of Australia award (1981 and 1983), three Penguin Citations and three Pater (Professional Excellence in Television and Radio Arts and Sciences) awards for radio. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of television in Australia, Channel 9 ran a show titled 50 Years, 50 Stars, where they looked back at the Top 50 stars of Australian television. Bert Newton was listed as the No. 1 Australian TV star of the past 50 years.
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On 1 July 2008, Newton was named Victorian of the Year. On 23 July 2008, Channel 9 marked Newton’s 70th birthday with a star-studded one-hour special of This Is Your Life hosted by Mike Munro. In 2018, he was honoured by Australia Post in a series of stamps issued called the Australian Legends series, which features stars from Australian television
Wife
Bert Newton is married to his longtime girlfriend Patti McGrath, they had their wedding in 1974. However. in 1974, Newton married his wife Patti McGrath who he worked with on television. The Newtons had two children, son Matthew Newton and daughter Lauren Newton. Matthew Newton is an actor who has appeared in a number of Australian films and television dramas. Lauren Newton married swimmer, Matt Welsh.
Health and Cause of death
In November 2012, Newton underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery having been admitted to the hospital twice in the twelve months prior. Having suffered a bout of pneumonia, Newton was admitted to Epworth Hospital several times in March and April 2017. Newton suffered from a toe infection he acquired in late 2020. One of his legs was amputated below the knee in May 2021. Newton died on 30 October 2021. He was 83 years old.
Bert Newton net worth
How much is Bert Newton worth? Bert Newton net worth is estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income was from his career as a media personality. Newton successful career has earned him some luxurious and some fancy cars. He was one of the influential media personalities in Australia. However, in 1993, a gambling problem led Newton to near bankruptcy and a $1 million debt. In 2020, Newton was the subject of an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? which focused primarily on his father and maternal grandparents. The episode first aired on 26 May 2020.