Renowned Australian entertainer Bert Newton will be honoured by Melbourne's east end theatre district tonight in memory of his contribution to the city's performing arts community.
At 7.30pm on Thursday, November 11, some of Melbourne's most famous theatres will dim their lights for one minute as a tribute to Newton. The dimming of the lights is a tradition reserved only for those who've gone above and beyond in contributing to the theatre industry, with participating venues (such as the Princess, Regent, Athenaeum and Comedy theatres) unanimous in their decision to grant this honour to Newton.
Born in Fitzroy in 1938, Bert Newton entered the entertainment industry at the age of 15 working for radio station 3XY which was based out of the Princess Theatre. During his career Newton was also part of the great revival of Melbourne's theatre industry, and has performed most of the city's major theatres in productions of Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, The Producers, Annie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wicked.
CEO for the Marriner Group, Jason Marriner, said: "Bert made an enormous contribution to the theatre, and we should be forever grateful that so many of his iconic performances were on the stages of Melbourne’s east end theatres.”
A state funeral service for Bert Newton AM MBE will be held at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne on Friday, November 12 and will be live-streamed.