AJN STAFF

JEWISH entertainer and Australian TV icon Don Lane has died after a long battle with illness. He was 75.

Diagnosed with dementia in 2005, Lane had been living in a Sydney nursing home up before his death on Thursday.

Lane was best known for his long-running variety show The Don Lane Show, which ran for 13 years between 1970 and 1983 and netted the performer 10 Logie awards. He attracted some of the biggest stars of the time, including David Bowie, Sammy Davis Junior and comic pioneer Phyllis Diller.

After being discovered by Nine Network producer John Collins at the Copacabana Nightclub in Hawaii where he was a performer and singer, Lane went on to work alongside Australian comedy royalty in Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton.

Lane met Newton for the first time on the first episode of  The Don Lane Show and the pair became great friends and one of the best-loved double acts in Australian TV history.

Born in New York in 1933, Lane became a nightclub performer in the 1950s and appeared briefly on the Ed Sullivan Show. He was drafted to the US army, where he did two tours entertaining troops.

Lane moved back to the US briefly in the late 1980s, before returning to Australia and signing a contract with Ten. He went on to host broadcasts of several NFL Superbowls and other American sports for the ABC.

In 1968 Lane was charged with importing marijuana into Australia and was prisoned. but later found innocent of the crime.