Australian TV icon Bert Newton will be farewelled at a state funeral in Melbourne.
The veteran performer, whose long career spanned television, stage and radio, died while undergoing palliative care at a private clinic in Melbourne.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who described Newton as an “icon, a larrikin and a born entertainer”, said details of the state funeral would be shared in coming days.
“We have never known TV without Bert – he was there from the beginning,” Mr Andrews said.
“From black and white to colour – as TV changed, Bert endured.
“But above all his achievements, he was a family man and his greatest partnership was with his wife of almost 50 years, Patti. Our thoughts and prayers are with her, their children and their grandchildren.”
Tributes are pouring in for the entertainer, who earlier this year underwent surgery to amputate part of his leg below the knee after an infection in his toe became life-threatening.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there would never be another person like Bert Newton.
“Four Gold Logies, hosting the Logies on 20 occasions and entertaining Australians for over half a century,” Mr Morrison said.
“There was a familiarity that connected us to Bert, but it also connected us to each other. We could laugh together. That was his gift.
“Bert could give and take a joke. He could laugh at himself, I’m sure that’s what made Australians warm to him as much as we did.”
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