Bert Newton, the colourful mainstay of Australian television who graced the nation's screens for more than 50 years, has died aged 83.

Newton held roles at all four major networks but was best known for his long-term association with Channel Nine and his partnership with entertainer Graham Kennedy.

Having started his media career as a teenage radio announcer in Melbourne during the 1950s, Newton's longevity is unmatched.

Newton never officially retired and hosted the Logie Awards as recently as 2018 despite suffering a series of health problems over the past decade.

He had his leg amputated in May 2021 after suffering complications from an infected toe.

Newton is survived by his wife Patti and two children, Lauren and Matthew.

Australia's 'Mr Television'

Born on July 23, 1938, in the then-working class Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North, a young Bert Newton aspired to be a tram driver.

His first memory was of a tram rattling past the family's home in Holden Street, and as a child he would often watch that carriage as it drove past.

But the boy that wanted to announce the stops of the city instead found his voice heard not on the tram speaker, but broadcast across the airwaves of Melbourne radio.

At just age 15, Newton became Australia's youngest professional broadcaster, working at station 3XY.

He landed his first television job with Channel Seven as host of The Late Show in 1957 before becoming Graham Kennedy's straight-man on Channel Nine's In Melbourne Tonight.

The pair arguably pioneered live sketch comedy in Australia and were some of the country's biggest stars of the 60s.

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But it was their time together on the Graham Kennedy Show that cemented the pair's legacy in television.

Kennedy was known as 'The 'King' of television, but he was banned from his kingdom in 1975 for mimicking a crow call that sounded like he was saying "f***".

The cancellation would leave both Kennedy and Newton treading water in a notoriously unforgiving industry.

For Newton, it was talk show host Don Lane who would throw him a lifeline after insisting to Channel Nine brass he was the right man to co-host The Don Lane Show.

"Don was terrific to work with, he really revitalised my career," Newton said.

"He stood up for me, because a couple of the people at Nine said, 'He's quite a good bloke, but he's so identified with the Kennedy era, grab somebody else.'

"Don insisted it be me, and it was a new partnership, and it was a terrific era."

It was Lane who anointed Newton with the title "Moonface" — a nickname he had also been called at school.

Newton's popularity on the show quickly grew as he cultivated the role of sidekick into show-stealer.

He snapped up four Gold Logies in the process — in 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1984.

Speaking to the ABC in 2003, Newton said he did not think there was as much pressure being number two.

"He's got to know what he's going to do and he's also got to know what possibly we have to search for too and make sure that they're coming out OK."

The Don Lane Show wrapped in 1983, and while Lane's career took him to the US, Newton went on to become an Australian icon.

Don Lane died in 2009 aged 75 after a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

On the 10th anniversary of Lane's death, Newton described him as his "TV bestie"

"I miss him terribly. Looking back at the fun we had, literally falling off couches in floods of laughter, mixing it up with showbiz greats like Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jnr and Debbie Reynolds … there will never be another Don Lane,"  Newton told Woman's Day in 2019.

Kennedy, whose television career continued to thrive after his show's cancellation, died in 2013 aged 71 after a long illness.

Newton did not attend Kennedy's funeral in person due to work commitments, instead providing a video message.

'Love of my life' 

As his stardom on television rose, so did the public interest in Newton's love life.

Graeme Blundell, who wrote the 2014 unauthorised biography Bert: The The Story of Australia's Favourite TV Star, said Melbourne media were obsessed with the young, handsome bachelor.

Newton was briefly engaged to fellow TV star Susan-Gaye Anderson in 1962, and had an on-and-off-again relationship with model Joy Fountain.

But it was singer-dancer Patti McGrath who would steal his heart.

Newton realised McGrath was "the One" while she was working overseas, so he flew to America and booked a ticket to the cruise ship she was performing on.

He proposed on Australia Day 1974.

"It was all very romantic as we ran towards each other. I kept saying: 'I can't believe you're really here,'" McGrath told The Australian Women's Weekly after their engagement.

The couple married that November at Melbourne's St Dominic's Church.

Policemen had to clear a path for the bridal party as up to 10,000 fans swarmed outside the chapel.

The couple had two children; Matthew, who was born in 1977, and Lauren, born in 1979.

Their marriage endured both Newton's career in show business as well as his struggles with gambling addiction, which almost bankrupt them in 1993.

They have also stood by Matthew during his own struggles with addiction as well as several allegations of assaulting former girlfriends Brooke Satchwell and Rachael Taylor.

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Patti's Instagram feed is a stream of tributes doting on her children, grandchildren and her long-lasting devotion to "the love of my life", Bert.

Celebrating their wedding anniversary in 2019, she wrote: "It's been a wonderful life together, ups and downs and lots of laughs and happiness. Thank you for choosing me. Love you Mack."

An enduring legacy on screen

Newton's ability to endure in television across the decades meant he was always reaching a new generation of audience.

"He never stopped. Shows failed, there were sometimes disasters, but he just shrugged it off and kept going," biographer Blundell told RN.

Newton briefly hosted his own show on the ABC in the 1970s, but it was at Channel 10 where he would find his new home as host of Good Morning Australia.

For more than a decade, Newton graced the daytime television screen until the program wrapped in 2005.

He hosted a variety of other shows throughout the 90s and 2000s including New Faces, Bert's Family Feud and 20 to 1.

Newton also became synonymous with The Logie Awards, hosting it a total of 20 times and claiming 15 wins, including four Gold Logies.

During the 1979 Logies, Newton unwittingly used the racist slur "I like the boy" while on stage with heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

His final Logies hosting gig in 2018 was also marred by controversy as he joked about Graham Kennedy and Don Lane "mentoring" young talent in their dressing rooms.

Off-screen, Newton found success in a series of musical productions including The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, The Producers, Wicked, The Sound of Music and The Rocky Horror Show.

He was forced to pull out of the 2011 Perth tour of Wicked due to a serious bout of pneumonia. He contracted the illness again in 2017.

Newton underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2012 and had his leg amputated in May 2021 in a "life or death" surgery following a toe infection.

Newton was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for service to the entertainment industry and named Victorian of the Year in 2008.