Tommy Hanlon Jr.
Tommy Hanlon Jr | |
---|---|
Born | Tommy Gene Thomason 14 August 1923 Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States |
Died | 9 October 2003 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | (aged 80)
Occupation(s) | TV Host, Circus ringmaster |
Years active | 1927–2001 |
Spouse(s) | Jean Gregory, Muriel |
Children | Tommy Hanlon Thomason, April Thomason |
Parent(s) | Homer Emmons Thomason, Ruth Dorothy Manning |
Tommy Hanlon Jr (14 August 1923 – 9 October 2003) was an American-born Australian Gold Logie-award winning media personality, notable for his early television appearances as host of It Could Be You (Australian game show)
Professional career
Born Tommy Gene Thomason in Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1923 to vaudeville performers Homer Emmons Thomason (Tommy Hanlon) and Ruth Dorothy Manning. He appeared in his mother and father's act at age 4. He later took the stage name Tommy Hanlon Jr since his father's stage name was Tommy Hanlon. He first appeared on his own as a magician as a teenager and was an entertainer in show business for the rest of his life. After two years with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in Los Angeles in the 1940s, and appearing on stage alongside W.C. Fields, he came to Australia in 1959, first as a club act, then appearing on television.[1]
Hanlon became a major TV celebrity in Australia in the early 1960s, especially as host of the popular daytime program It Could Be You on the Nine Network, operarating out of the GTV-9 studios in Melbourne. The program was a mixture of game show, human interest and humour. It featured tearful reunions of long separated families or friends. He typically closed each program sitting on a stool with a social commentary presented as a Letter from Mom.
After GTV-9 purchased radio station 3AK in April 1961, all GTV-9 personalities were expected to present programs on 3AK. Hanlon hosted a Saturday morning show with Jack Little as his sidekick.
He won two Logie awards, including the Gold Logie in 1962, opposite Australian entertainer (Lorrae Desmond) and becoming one of the highest paid entertainers in Australia.[2][3]
Circus career
In 1967 he bought into Ashton's Circus.[4] In the 1970s he hosted talent show Pot of Gold, with resident judge Bernard King who mocked most entrants mercilessly, to the consternation of the more kind-hearted Hanlon.
Hanlon quit television in 1978 and toured Australia as ringmaster of Silvers Circus until 2001. He was honoured in an episode of This is Your Life filmed in August 2003.
Personal life
Hanlon died from a stroke in Melbourne on 9 October 2003. He was predeceased by his wife, Muriel (whom he always called Murphy), and survived by his daughter April Bell from that marriage and her son Jeff Almond. He was also survived by his first wife, Jean Gregory; his son by that marriage, Tommy Hanlon Thomason; three grandchildren by and two great-grand children.
Citizenship
Despite his love for Australia, he never relinquished his United States citizenship.
References
- ^ Obituary at MilesAgo.com
- ^ TV Week 1962 Logie Awards
- ^ TV Week 1963 Logie Awards
- ^ Obituary at MilesAgo.com
External links
- Use dmy dates from June 2013
- 1923 births
- 2003 deaths
- Australian male comedians
- Australian magicians
- Australian male television actors
- Australian television personalities
- People from Parkersburg, West Virginia
- Ringmasters
- Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia)
- Gold Logie winners
- American emigrants to Australia