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DON LANE |
Don Lane, 75; American became Australian TV star
SYDNEY - Don Lane, an American song-and-dance man who became an enduring television celebrity in Australia known as The Lanky Yank, died Thursday. He was 75.
Mr. Lane was one of the best-known figures on Australian television for almost two decades until, in 1983, he retired the “Tonight Show’’-style program that bore his name. He had increasingly kept out of the public eye in recent years.
The entertainer died Thursday in Sydney.
Mr. Lane was an aspiring night club entertainer in the United States - his biggest claim to fame was an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show - when he first came to Australia in the 1960s.
He was handed a full-time gig in 1975, and “The Don Lane Show’’ became a ratings winner. His self-effacing humor and his show’s ability to draw A-list celebrities, when they visited, endeared him to Australian audiences.
In between seasons, Mr. Lane returned to the United States and perform as a singer in Las Vegas.
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