Don Lane, US-born entertainer who rose to TV stardom in Australia, has died

Australian TV star Don Lane dies

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.

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 kept increasingly out of the public eye in recent years.

Lane’s manager Jayne Ambrose said the entertainer died in a hospice in Sydney on Thursday morning from a dementia-related illness.

Lane was born in New York as Morton Donald Isaacson. He 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 and was hired as stand-in host for the Nine Network’s “Tonight Show.”

He was handed a full-time gig in 1975 and “The Don Lane Show” became a ratings winner, a mixture of cabaret acts, interviews, comedy skits and a song from the tall host to close each show.

Lane stood out as an American appearing on Australian television, which at the time was dominated by British-centric programming. 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, Lane would return to the United States and perform as club singer in Las Vegas.

Lane’s career surged again in the 1990s when he became the host of a weekly broadcast of NFL games, offering enthusiastic explanations of plays and rules to an Australian audience steeped in cricket and rugby.

Lane won more than 15 Logie Awards — Australia’s version of the Emmys — and was inducted in the Australian Logies Hall of Fame in 2003.

“Don Lane was a stalwart of the industry and a great mate to so many of us here at Nine,” said David Gyngell, chief executive of the network where Lane built his career.

Nine said it will broadcast a best-of tribute show nationally on Thursday. A funeral will he held Friday.