Toni LamondAM (born as Patricia Lamond Lawman; 29 March 1932), is an Australian vaudevillian, cabaret performer, singer, actress, dancer, comedian, writer and television and radio personality/presenter. She has had a successful career spanning some 80 years, both locally and internationally, including in the United Kingdom and United States[1]
Lamond, whose comes from a family involved in the performing arts, started her career as a child actor vaudeville/variety entertainment at only ten and was the first woman in the world to host a midday show. The second was her younger half-sister Helen Reddy[2]
Alongside her showbiz contemporaries Jill Perryman and Nancye Hayes, Lamond has been called one of the three grand dames of Australian musical theatre, and in her prime a talent that could rival Doris Day.[3]
Biography
Early life
Lamond was born in Sydney, Australia in 1932, as Patricia Lamond Lawman. She learned to tap dance at 8 and began her professional career at the age of 10 when she sang on the radio while touring with her vaudevillian parents in variety shows, which included her actress and comedian mother Stella Lamond (1909-1973), a popular actress who worked at the Tivoli Theatre and the Brennan-Fuller Vaudeville Circuit and J.C. Williamson's[4] and her actor father Joe Lawman.[5]
Theatre and variety
Lamond was given the nickname "Lolly-Legs" by entertainer, Noel Ferrier , who stated she had the second best legs in the industry when she featured on In Melbourne Tonight[2]
Her first stage performances were at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney.[5] Her first performances as a leading lady were with English comedian Tommy Trinder in The Tommy Trinder Show in 1952.[6]
Lamond was a regular in a number of 1970s television shows, such as Number 96 in a controversial black mass storyline and Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight.[2] She later compèred her own IMT, becoming the first woman in the world to compère a variety television show.[7]
Lamond travelled to the United Kingdom, where in a similar vein to entertainer Lorrae Desmond, she appeared in the British night club and cabaret, circuit and on BBC-TV and BBC Radio. She also recorded two singles for record label; Philips in London.[7]
In April–May 2008, she appeared in an autobiographical one-woman show, Times of My Life (co-written with her son Tony Sheldon), at the Seymour Centre in Sydney.[10]
Publications
Lamond has written several autobiographical books, including First Half (1990), Along the Way (2002), and Still a Gypsy (2007). The first book went to the top of the bestseller list in eight days.[11]
Toni Lamond, other than working with the Tivoli Theatre circuit, Brennan-Fuller Vaudeville Circuit and J.C Williamson's and has been a staple of touring mainstream theatre since 1951
Her theatre credits can be found on the link below, which also includes links to the theatre roles of her showbiz parents (Joe Lawson: main page[13] and (Stella Lamond: main [14]
Toni Lamond theatre credits: link [15]
Sources: Austage, IBDB
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Order of Australia (AM) for Service to the Entertainment Industry and service to the community through fundraising, including the Guide Dog Association of NSW and Canberra[16]
Actors Equity president Simon Burke says: "Toni is a truly legendary Australian performer whose phenomenal career has spanned vaudeville, musical theatre, television, and cabaret. She is also a wonderful human being who has given back to her community, to her colleagues, and to her industry in every way she can."[21]
Showbusiness family
Lamond has a significant pedigree within the Australian performing arts. She is the daughter of Stella Lamond (Homicide and Bellbird) and Joe Lawman, both vaudeville entertainers. Her parents divorced when she was seven and Stella remarried Max Reddy (Homicide), whilst Lawman married soubrette Joy Robbins.[13]
Therefore through her step-father she is a half-sister to the late singer Helen Reddy, whom she raised as a surrogate mother while their parents were performing.[22]
She married performer Frank Sheldon in 1954, but in 1966 shortly after a separation, he killed himself.
An addiction to prescription drugs followed, and she was a patient at Chelmsford Private Hospital, where she underwent deep sleep therapy.[23] She overcame and publicly discussed the issue in an episode of The Mike Walsh Show, becoming one of the first Australian media personalities to do so.
