the Arts Centre presents
Leading Ladies
A Creative Development Initiative

Interview | Biography

Toni Lamond


Simon Plant and Toni Lamond
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, May 2003

Toni Lamond was born in Sydney in 1932. The daughter of soubrette Stella Lamond and comedian Joe Lawman, and later stepdaughter of comedian Max Reddy, Toni was surrounded by a show business family. Her career began at the age of 10, singing on radio and touring with her parents’ variety shows. After a long illness kept her from school, Toni began working as a full-time entertainer, gaining experience with many of Australia’s most talented vaudevillians on the Tivoli circuit.

Toni gained attention in 1952 when she featured as the leading lady and ‘feed’ to visiting English comedian Tommy Trinder in the Tommy Trinder Show. In 1954 she married fellow Tivoli performer and dancer Frank Sheldon, and together they formed a variety act. In the following year came the birth of their son Tony Sheldon, who has carried on the family tradition of show business.

Toni was an early star of Australian television, appearing on TCN-9, Sydney in 1956 -the first year of television in this country. Her singing and comedic skills were highlighted on the now legendary In Melbourne Tonight, hosted by Graham Kennedy. She became a well-loved regular on the show for over eight years and Frank Sheldon worked as one of the producers. Toni went on to host the program two nights a week, making history as the first woman to compere an evening television variety show. Her work on television was rewarded with two Logie Awards.

During this period, Toni also moved into musical theatre. In 1957 she was cast as the female lead of Babe in The Pajama Game. This highly successful and groundbreaking musical was the first since the Second World War to feature Australian performers in lead roles. Toni went on to star in other musicals including the title role in Wildcat (1963), Nancy in Oliver! (1966) and Rose in Gypsy (1975).

Following the death of her husband in 1966, Toni returned to performing in clubs. In 1976, at the suggestion of her half-sister, singer Helen Reddy, Toni went to live in Los Angeles where she worked for the next 14 years. Her theatre credits during this time include productions of Mame, Oliver!, Annie, Cabaret, Hello, Dolly!, Nunsense, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sherlock’s Last Case and 42^nd Street. On American television she featured in shows such as Starsky and Hutch, The Bob Newhart Show, Eight Is Enough, Three’s Company, Punky Brewster, Murder She Wrote, Love Boat and Days of Our Lives.

In 1985 Toni toured Australia in Madonna and Child, a play written by and starring her son. She returned to Australia in 1989 for the role of Maggie Jones in 42^nd Street and subsequently settled here again. Since then Toni’s stage work has included Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance (1994), Follies in Concert (1993) for the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Mrs Pierce in My Fair Lady (1996) in Brisbane, and Madame de le Grande Bouche, the Wardrobe, in the Sydney production of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1996).

Toni has also been cast in the Australian films Running from the Guns (1986), How Wonderful (1990) and Spotswood (1991). Among her numerous recordings are Still A Gypsy (1999) and Moonlight Saving Time (2000) with Bob Bertles.

In 1990 Toni’s initial autobiography, First Half, was published. This was followed in 2002 by Still A Gypsy, in which she wrote of her years in the United States. Toni has also toured her own one-woman cabaret shows throughout Australia and the United States.

Toni Lamond received a Mo Award and Variety Club Award in 1990. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal and in 2003 became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).