Showbiz commentator Peter Ford has honoured a promise to Bert Newton to wait until his death to reveal what may be his one of his life’s most generous gestures.
Ford revealed the legendary entertainer, who died aged 83 on Saturday, gifted his prized Gold Logie to a dying fan.
Revealing the touching story after three decades of secrecy at Newton’s request, Ford told how Newton went above and beyond for one of his friends who was dying from AIDs in a Melbourne hospital.
SEE THE INTERVIEW IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
Ford said he had written to a number of celebrities asking them to sign a card and return it to him for the friend to see.
But Newton was the only one who didn’t respond.
“Within a week, all these celebrities had signed cards and sent them back, cheering up my friend enormously – but Bert didn’t,” Ford said.
“Five days later, I went to the hospital and there was a buzz in the air. The person on the desk said, ‘You’re not going to believe it – Bert Newton was just here’.
“He’s gone around to every single person on the AIDs ward, sat at their bedside, told them stories and made them laugh’.”
But it was what was sitting on his bedside table that really made his friend’s day.
“I went into my friend, who was suddenly energised ... I looked across to the bedside table and on that bedside table Bert had actually left him one of his Gold Logies, a complete stranger he left that to,” he said.
Ford said he called the Good Morning Australia host to thank him for the extraordinary gesture but was asked to not tell anyone until he had died.
“(He said) ‘Don’t report that until after I’ve carked it, because I’ve probably broken some Logie law by giving one of them away’,” Ford said.
Newton won four Gold Logies in his career and died away after a long battle with ill health, but remained positive until the end.
“It was one complication after another – a few weeks ago they were going to amputate the second leg, but they didn’t end up doing it,” Ford said.
“He just wanted to get home – up until 7 o’clock Saturday night, he was still talking about getting better and getting home.”
A State funeral will be held in Victoria in the coming days.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMisQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5wZXJ0aG5vdy5jb20uYXUvZW50ZXJ0YWlubWVudC9jb25maWRlbnRpYWwvYmVydC1uZXd0b24tZGVhdGgtcGV0ZXItZm9yZC1yZXZlYWxzLTMwLXllYXItc2VjcmV0LXRoYXQtbmV3dG9uLWdpZnRlZC1oaXMtZ29sZC1sb2dpZS10by1keWluZy1haWRzLXBhdGllbnQtbmctYjg4MjA1OTE1M3rSAQA?oc=5
2021-11-01 03:08:00Z
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