This annual awards ceremony to celebrate Australian television was first held in 1959 as the TV Week Star Awards. From 1960 onwards, it has officially been known as the TV Week Logie Awards. The inaugural Star of The Year winner Graham Kennedy suggested the epithet as a tribute to the Scottish television inventor John Logie Baird, and the name stuck.
Awards are presented in twenty categories, representing both public (“most popular”) and industry-voted (“most outstanding”) prizes.
The Gold Logie is the most prestigious award and the Australian television industry’s highest honour. It is awarded to the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television for the previous year.
‘The Logies’ is also a TV show in its own right. As a result, the show has historically relied on the razzle-dazzle of big-name imported guests to draw in viewers.
Bert Newton hosted the awards 19 times and appeared as a presenter on many more occasions. He also won four Gold Logies himself.
Later in his career, Bert would reliably turn up to present one of the big awards and freestyle for a bit.
In 1979, during a notable appearance with Muhammad Ali as co-presenter, Newton commented, “I like the boy!” (in reference to a series of TV advertisements Bert had recently done).
Ali became upset at the comment, as the term “boy” carried negative racial connotations for many black Americans, although Newton was oblivious to this use of the term and claimed this was not his intention.
After realising his faux pas, Newton quickly apologised to Ali on stage.
Gold Logie winners (1959 – 1999)
1959 – Graham Kennedy/Panda Lisner 1960 – Graham Kennedy 1961 – Bob Dyer 1962 – Lorrae Desmond/Tommy Hanlon Jr 1963 – Michael Charlton 1964 – Bobby Limb 1965 – Jimmy Hannan 1966 – Gordon Chater 1967 – Graham Kennedy/Hazel Phillips 1968 – Brian Henderson 1969 – Graham Kennedy 1970 – Barry Crocker/Maggie Tabberer 1971 – Gerard Kennedy/Maggie Tabberer 1972 – Gerard Kennedy 1973 – Tony Barber 1974 – Graham Kennedy/Pat McDonald 1975 – Ernie Sigley/Denise Drysdale 1976 – Norman Gunston/Denise Drysdale 1977 – Don Lane/Jeanne Little 1978 – Graham Kennedy 1979 – Bert Newton 1980 – Mike Walsh 1981 – Bert Newton 1982 – Bert Newton 1983 – Daryl Somers 1984 – Bert Newton 1985 – Rowena Wallace 1986 – Daryl Somers 1987 – Ray Martin 1988 – Kylie Minogue 1989 – Daryl Somers 1990 – Craig McLachlan 1991 – Steve Vizard 1992 – Jana Wendt 1993 – Ray Martin 1994 – Ray Martin 1995 – Ray Martin 1996 – Ray Martin 1997 – Lisa McCune 1998 – Lisa McCune 1999 – Lisa McCune
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