Graham Kennedy

Born in Melbourne in 1934 Graham Kennedy remains an icon in Australian TV, an accolade earned from his hosting of the long-running In Melbourne Tonight (1957) or IMT on Channel Nine. With his sidekick Bert Newton and aided and abetted by a range of brillant comedians including Joff Allen and a young Patti McGrath, now Bert Newton's wife, Kennedy pioneered live sketch comedy in Australia and kept IMT alive into the 1970s with his irreverent and often close to the mark humour and his famous anti-ads, genuine "live-read" commercials that Kennedy would turn into attacks on the sponsors or the product or both. After IMT was cancelled he started making movies and then returned to TV with Blankety Blanks (1977), a truly funny game show where the cast was the star and the contestants mere bystanders. As Kennedy aged he appeared less and less on the screen and his last major appearance was as a late night newsreader on the Nine Network. In recent years his health had been uncertain following a stroke, and he passed away on 25 May 2005, resulting in complications from pneumonia. He was 71.