Don Lane with fans at Sydney’s Berger Centre. Photo: AJN file

AJN STAFF

AROUND 800 fans packed into the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club today to take part in a public memorial for entertainer Don Lane who died last month of a dementia-related illness, aged 75.

On stage at the League Club, linked to Lane’s beloved Rabbitohs, the star-studded tribute was led by his son PJ, and featured reminiscences from Lane’s A-list friends, including Bert Newton, Rhonda Burchmore, Helen Reddy, Toni Lamond, Tony Pantano and Mike McColl Jones.

Fans had begun gathering at the venue from 6.45am and were admitted free, but were asked to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association of NSW.

Lane’s former wife Jayne Ambrose thanked his supporters for attending and distributed copies of his autobiography.
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PETER KOHN

THE passing of Australian TV icon Don Lane, affectionately known as “the lanky Yank”, sent my memories reeling.

Back to the 1970s and 1980s I travelled, to a time before Google, Twitter and texting, when TV ruled our evenings, and Lane ruled the TV.

The night-time airwaves on Mondays and Thursdays sizzled with his mix of irreverent fun, A-list guests, Bert Newton and that clattering carnie lottery wheel that used to turn up on so many TV variety shows.

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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. Read the full story