Australian TV royalty Patti Newton has candidly shared how her late husband Bert is still influencing her decades-long career.
The 78-year-old, who stars in the musical Mary Poppins, spoke exclusively to Oliver Peterson on Perth’s 6PR about the bittersweet feeling of returning to the stage without her beloved Bert.
“I love a lot of musical theatre and Bert’s done some fabulous shows, he and I did a couple together and musical theatre is something that gets in your blood,” she told 6PR’s Perth Live with Oliver Peterson.
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“When I was offered this role, it wasn’t long after Bert passed and I was very lost and didn’t quite know what I was going to do.”
“Then this came and I thought to myself, ‘I think Bert sent this to me’ because it’s come straight from heaven, it’s a beautiful role.”
In August, Patti was presented with a Walk of Fame star at Adelaide Festival Centre – a move that was quite poignant for the grandmother-of-six.
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Bert himself earned the same accolade in 2001 and Patti told Oliver it meant they would “always be together”.
“I was absolutely thrilled, it was probably for me going to Vietnam many years ago in the ’60s entertaining the troops – and probably the fact that I’m Mrs Bert Newton,” she said.
“Now I think it doesn’t matter what happens, now we’ll always be together on that Walk of Fame and we’ve both got a star there.
“I was really thrilled about that, I thought that was very, very moving for me.”
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Patti says her role in Mary Poppins has also made her feel closer to her late husband in more ways than one.
Bert was an acclaimed stage actor in his own right and Patti is now working with a cast member who shared her own special moment with the TV icon.
“I know now why Bert loved theatre. Since he passed, I’ve heard so many wonderful stories about things that he did for people,” Patti mused.
“He was doing a show called The Producers and one of the girls that’s in Mary Poppins now, Lisa, said she was going off to America and she was going to see if she could see The Producers in America before she came home.
“And the next day there were two tickets on her dressing table, by Bert, front row dress circle.”
The singer and actress said she “loves hearing those stories” since Bert’s passing in October 2021.
Patti plays the ‘bird lady’ in the Mary Poppins stage musical, which is now coming to Perth after a run in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Listen to more on 6PR here.