3 months ago
16
Australian performer Toni Lamond, a trailblazer of vaudeville, musical theatre and cabaret, has died aged 93.
Lamond’s career, which spanned more than eight decades and began when she was aged 10 and singing on the radio, earned her many accolades, among them an Order of Australia for Service to the entertainment industry and lifetime achievement awards from the Green Room Awards Association, the Sydney Theatre Awards and the Sydney Glugs.
Toni Lamond at home in Sydney in 2012.Credit: Lee Besford
Her first stage performance was at Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. She went on to star in numerous Australian productions of musicals including Oliver!, Cabaret, My Fair Lady and Annie Get Your Gun.
Lamond also became a regular face on Australian screens throughout the 1960s and ’70s, with appearances on The Bert Newton Show, The Mike Walsh Show, Good Morning Australia and The Graham Kennedy Show. She became the first woman in the world to host a nighttime chat show when she guest hosted an episode of Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight in 1961.
Her career took her to the United Kingdom, Los Angeles and New York, where she appeared on television and in stage shows. She made her debut on the New York stage, aged 63, in a production of Cabaret.
Lamond as Nancy in a 1967 production of Oliver!Credit: Hugh Fisher
Born in Sydney in 1932 into showbiz royalty, Lamond’s father was a comedian and her mother a staple on the opera scene. Her maternal grandmother, aunt and stepfather, Max Reddy, were all entertainers. Her half-sister was singer and actor Helen Reddy.
In 1954, Lamond married fellow performer Frank Sheldon. Tragically, Sheldon died by suicide shortly after their separation in 1966. Fuelled by grief, Lamond left Melbourne for Sydney shortly after his death, telling this masthead in 2012, “it was too painful to be around the places we had been”.
“Years later I read a book that said it is the wrong thing to do,” she said.
“You should stay where you are so the people around you can help you grieve.”
Lamond with son Tony, then aged 13, in 1969.Credit: Fairfax
Lamond’s son, Tony Sheldon, is an actor, singer and writer, best known for his role as Bernadette in the original stage production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. On Saturday evening, he shared a series of photos of his mother on Instagram stories to commemorate her life.
The pair toured together in the mid-1980s with Madonna and Child, written by Sheldon – the first of many creative collaborations.
Entertainment reporter Peter Ford paid tribute to Lamond on X, writing, “What a life and career! A list of TV, stage and movie credits as long as your arm – both here and overseas.”
Most Viewed in Culture
Loading
