Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, radio and television host as well as a personality and actor of theatre, television and film. He was often referred to as "The King of Television" or simply "The King" and called "Gra Gra" (pronounced "gray-gray").
Honoured as an officer of the Order of Australia, he was a six-time recipient of the Gold Logie, including the Logie Hall of Fame award, and won the Star of the Year Award in 1959. He is the most awarded star of Australian television. He was known for his radio and television collaboration's with Bert Newton, including on In Melbourne Tonight and The Graham Kennedy Show.
Early life Childhood and education Kennedy was born in Camden Street, Balaclava, a suburb of Melbourne to Cyril William Kennedy and Mary Austin Kennedy (née Scott). Kennedy's mother, who was 18 years old at the time of his birth,Blundell (2003), p. 9 was employed at a local picture theatre. His father worked variously as an engineer and handyman, mowed lawns and washed cars. In 1939 he joined the RAAF as an air gunner.Blundell (2003), p. 11 Kennedy's first home was a "small, crowded duplex" at 32 Nelson Street, Balaclava. A 20 cm diameter plaque was placed on the property by the City of Port Phillip, coincidentally in the week of Kennedy's death.
When Kennedy was two years old, his parents moved to Carlisle Street, St Kilda, for two years. His parents divorced shortly before World War II and Kennedy was largely raised by his grandparents, "Pop" Kennedy (who had been an electrician at Melbourne's Tivoli, Royal and Bijou theatres) and "Grandma Scott", to whom he remained particularly close until her death. Kennedy later said that he had: often wished his mother and father had never married. 'I wasn't enamoured of either of them [...] they betrayed me [...] divorce is not too much fun for a little nine-year-old [...]Blundell (2003), p. 351 After Kennedy's death, an article in The Bulletin by his friend and colleague John Mangos recorded that: ... he would sometimes talk about the violent arguments between his parents, how he gravitated to his grandmother's bosom, his two uncles ("one fought the Germans, the other fought the Japs") and how one of them took liberties with the boy. Graham never resented him, claiming he equated it with affection.
Kennedy was educated firstly at Euston College (which no longer exists) on the corner of Chapel and Carlisle streets, secondly at Caulfield North Central School (now Caulfield Junior College) and finally at Melbourne High School, South Yarra. In 1977, Kennedy chaired a project to raise funds for improvements at Melbourne High which raised more than $100,000 in its first year.
After school During a school break in 1949, Kennedy worked at his uncle's hairdressing shop at 475 Collins Street, where he met clients who worked in the same building for the Radio Australia shortwave service of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). He accepted a job as a news runner from Collins Street to the ABC studios in Lonsdale Street. Shortly after he joined radio station 3UZ, working in the station's record library.Blundell (2003), p. 28. The MHSOBA obituary records that his report card states "he was employed by Radio Australia (Short-wave Division) at 475 Collins Street Melbourne after leaving school. However, during 4th form at Melbourne High School, he worked as a messenger at the ABC on Wednesday nights from 5 pm to 11 pm."
Radio career
3UZ and "Nicky" Clifford "Nicky" Nicholls Whitta was a Melbourne radio personality. A radio performer since 1932, he presented a housewives' program, as well as "Chatterbox Corner" with his wife Nancy Lee (Kathleen Lindgren). In an era when Australian radio announcers routinely adopted false British accents and a "hard-sell" approach to advertisements, Whitta's authentic Australian voice and irreverent attitude towards his sponsors brought him a large audience. In Nancy Lee's 1979 biography Being a Chum Was Fun she says: "Nicky went on to become the most popular announcer ever on Melbourne radio".
In his foreword to Nancy Lee's book, Kennedy wrote:
About 40 years ago, when I was a snow haired six year old, I can remember being totally captivated by a grown man pretending to be a naughty little boy on 3AW's children session called "Chatterbox Corner". His name was Clifford Whitta, and he was to become the most important man in my life. Years later I was even more fascinated with this man when he conducted a breakfast program and let the boy who played his records actually talk on the air with him.
Nicholls moved from 3KZ to 3UZ (where Kennedy was working), bringing with him his teenage panel operators Alf "Alfie Boy" Thesinger and Russell Archer. However, eighteen-year-olds, Thesinger and Archer were conscripted for National Service. Nancy Lee's book records:
I asked Nicky, "Have you decided on anyone to help you in the session yet?" When I heard the chosen one was to be young Graham, I was surprised. "Oh, no, not Graham! [...] he's a nice boy, but he can't talk." Nick said, "Mum, leave him to me."Lee, Nancy (1979), p. 149.
Nicky became a father-figure, personal friend and mentor to Kennedy, and the two built an extraordinary on-air rapport. Kennedy wrote: Being straight man to one of the greatest entertainers of our time was not all that easy. We were not always chums. He would spend weeks not talking to me (except on air) for something I had unknowingly said or done. Once he even suspended me from the programme for some trivial matter. [...] I worked with him until his sudden death in 1956. I never stopped being a fan. I did not realise then that I had been prepared for another career on another electrical medium: the most potent communication device of the century.Lee, Nancy (1979), foreword by GK. Elided text: "'But it was more than worthwhile putting up with his various moods and it must be remembered that he in turn was putting up with a very gauche seventeen year old. And of course, he taught me so much: how to use radio not just be on it. He took me under his wing and became a surrogate father. I spend many happy times with him and his family at his house in Ivanhoe. They were very special occasions for me. I baby sat for him and Kathy a few times.'
Nicky died on 8 September 1956.
Other radio By May 1957, Kennedy was appearing on television, but also presented a 3AK morning radio program with Bert Newton in 1961–1962, which later originated from a studio built at Kennedy's home in Olivers Hill, Frankston.
In 1970, he worked at 3XY; from June to December 1975 he appeared on a 3LO drivetime program with Richard Combe; from September to November 1976 was on 3DB with Dennis Scanlan; in 1977 he returned to DB to cover the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II live from London.
RS Playhouse Kennedy recorded eight 30-minute radio comedies for the ABC under the title Graham Kennedy's RS Playhouse. Written by Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler (who together wrote the television programs Kingswood Country and The Naked Vicar Show), the shows were broadcast between 11 August and 23 September 1979.
Sattler and his wife (actress Noeline Brown) were two of Kennedy's closest friends.
2Day FM In 1980, Kennedy became a 10% shareholder in Sydney radio station 2Day FM, and from 24 May 1981 he presented a computer-edited, three-hour Sunday morning program of music and comedy.Blundell (2003), pp. 350–351
Television career Kennedy's first television appearance was in March 1957, representing 3UZ on a GTV-9 Red Cross telethon. Viewing his performance on the monitors, GTV-9's general manager Colin Bednall and producer Norman Spencer "turned to one another without exchanging a word and shook hands.""'When a full face of Kennedy alone came on the monitor, Spencer and I turned to one another without exchanging a word and shook hands. At the time, we were in desperate need of talent. At a glance, you could see that this boy on camera, with his cheap haircut and popping eyes, had gone to endless pains rehearsing his act and also had outstanding ability. When we talked to Kennedy he made no attempt at playing hard to get. He was busting to get into television.'"
In Melbourne Tonight
Bednall and Spencer defied both the GTV-9 boardroom and the first sponsor (Philips) by choosing Kennedy, who began on a salary of £30 for five one-hour evening shows per week to be called In Melbourne Tonight (or IMT) which began on 6 May 1957 (A$213 per hour in 2022 terms). Thus, the 23-year-old Kennedy began a career of which he later said that he was "terrified for forty years".Stone (2000), p.93 "'I was terrified for forty years is what I can tell you about my career', he says now, confirming the stories told of him having to steel his nerves before almost every performance. 'Well, out of the thousands of television shows and radio shows, once or twice I was quite comfortable, but mostly I was frightened.'" The show's theme song, "Gee, But You're Swell", was written by Abel Baer and Thomas Tobias in 1936.
Kennedy was not GTV-9's first choice – they had planned to use either 3UZ personality John McMahon or 3DB's Dick Cranbourne. Despite later reports that the program's name had been intended to be The Late Show, and that rival station HSV-7 beat GTV-9 to the title by one week, contemporary press reports from several weeks before the show's debut list the title as "In Melbourne Tonight". The program became extremely popular, although Kennedy had his detractors. Kennedy was quoted as saying: Many women write to tell me that although their husbands may not like me, they do. It appears from the mail that the women have the say on what the household is watching. And we do remember that it is the women who do the buying of products that we advertise. Bearing that in mind we try and design our commercials for them.Blundell (2003), p. 216
IMT was devised as a copy of the American Tonight Show format, with the host presiding over sketches, introducing star artists and reading advertisements live. His colleague Bert Newton records in his autobiography:
(Norman) Spencer was the mastermind of IMT; don't let anyone forget that. Nothing happened on IMT that Norm did not approve personally [...] Norman Spencer chose Graham Kennedy as compère; Norm kept his eye on the show from day to day; he pushed the buttons from the control room which put the TV shots into viewers' homes at night; he added the talent around Graham and he set up the organisation.
Spencer wielded other influence, too. According to Hugh Stuckey, a writer on the show, the producer placed Kennedy with a series of attractive young women to displace rumours of Kennedy's homosexuality. This was an era in which homosexuality was, well, horrifying. So every now and again Kennedy had to be seen about in case any viewers thought him the other persuasion. [...] It was cleverly manipulated – the station had the media at its disposal. It was all to give Graham a good old hetero image though he always seemed very unsexual.Blundell (2003), p. 161