Australian theatre legend Toni Lamond dies, age 93

Industry stalwarts have paid tribute to Australian performer Toni Lamond, a trailblazer of vaudeville, musical theatre and cabaret, who 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’s breadth of talent was as singular as her ability to command a stage just with her presence,” says playwright and music critic John Shand.

“Although best known for her work in musical theatre and television, in 2000 she even detoured into making a convincing jazz album co-led by saxophonist Bob Bertles (the late husband of her dear friend Nancy Hayes), Moonlight Saving Time. Her vivacity sparkled through all she did, including just being a talking head on TV.”

“She was absolutely phenomenal,” says entertainment publicist and producer Michelle Guthrie.

“For someone like me who has dedicated my life to musical theatre, she has always been there, she’s always been someone to look up to. She had so many firsts … it’s just going to be really weird that she’s not here.”

Australian writer, director and producer David Mitchell recalls being a young boy and seeing Lamond in a production of Oliver! They later became friends, and he wrote the musical Better Known as Bee, for her.

“I liked her so much. She was just a luminous performer and a wonderful, wonderful person,” he says.

“It was very sad that in the last few years of her life, she was incapacitated with a back injury that she sustained when she was doing Beauty and the Beast. Her mobility, wasn’t good, but she still kept on performing.”

“She was doing the Sydney Cabaret Festival, sitting down in a giant cane chair, presiding over the whole thing. And her voice stayed absolutely fantastic right until her last performance.”

Theatre performer and TV personality Todd McKenney shared a clip on Instagram of him and Lamond from This Is Your Life, writing:

“I owe her so much of my career success. To say Toni was just a mentor of mine would be a gross understatement. Back when I was starting out in theatre, in the musical 42nd Street, she took me under her wing and taught me how to connect with an audience and how to deliver a gag! She gave me the confidence to be myself on stage and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

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.

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’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 also 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.”

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