Skip to content

Television.AU

The History of Australian Television

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this website features names and images of people who have died.

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Timeline
    • 1950-1959
    • 1960-1969
    • 1970-1979
    • 1980-1989
    • 1990-1999
    • 2000-2009
    • 2010-2019
    • 2020-2029
  • Classic TV Guides
  • Obituaries
  • Flashbacks
  • Feature Articles
    • Aggregation
    • Bert Newton
    • Cop Shows
    • Game Shows
    • Home And Away
    • Neighbours
    • Network Ten
      • We’ll Put You In The Picture
      • Come Across To Ten
      • Ten Turns 50
    • Number 96
    • SBS
    • Soaps: The First 40 Years
      • The First Decade
      • ’70s soap steams up
      • ’80s soapie conquers the world
      • Surf’s up for ’90s TV
    • Top 40 TV
    • TV’s Hall of Shame
    • TV Week
      • Gallery: TV Week covers
      • The Logies
  • TV AT 60
    • The Top 60 begins…
    • The Top 60 Part II
    • The Top 60 Part III
    • The Top 60: Part IV
    • The Top 60: Part V
    • The Top 60 Part VI
    • TCN9 Australia’s first channel
    • HSV7 First in Melbourne
    • Opening Night of ABC
    • ABC begins in Melbourne
    • ATN7 switches on in Sydney
    • Viewing’s fine on GTV9
    • In Melbourne Tonight
    • The first TV Week Awards
    • Operation Kangaroo
    • TV comes to Brisbane
    • TV comes to Adelaide
    • TV comes to Perth
    • TV comes to Hobart
    • Four Corners
    • TV comes to regional Victoria
    • TV comes to regional NSW
    • TV comes to regional Queensland
    • This Is It! ATV0 begins
    • Homicide
    • TEN Spells Magic
  • Week-By-Week
  • TV That Wasn’t
    • 26 Hill Street
    • Homicide Squad
    • Pretty Petrol
    • The Paradise School
    • The Wicked City
  • Search
    • Tags
  • About
    • Contact
    • Site Updates
    • Links
Light/Dark Button
  • Home
  • 2022
  • June
  • TV Week Logie Awards: 50 years ago

TV Week Logie Awards: 50 years ago

17 June 2022 4 min read

Division 4 star Gerard Kennedy won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 14th annual TV Week Logie Awards.

The awards were held at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Hotel on 18 February 1972 and hosted by Bert Newton. The Nine Network telecast was shown live to Sydney and Melbourne and for the first time to Brisbane and Adelaide.

The Gold Logie win was Kennedy’s second, having also won the award the previous year. He also took home the Logie for Best Actor for the second year running. Division 4 won the Logie for Best Australian Drama, while fellow Crawford production Matlock Police won the Logie for Best New Drama.

Despite having a separate Gold Logie award for Most Popular Female Personality for the past two years, TV Week on this occasion decided not to award a Gold Logie to a female, citing the lack of female representation on national television. However, following the inaugural Best Actor category in the previous year, the judging panel created a new category of Best Actress, won by Division 4 star Pat Smith.

The judging panel also created a new category for Best Compere, won by Logies and Australia’s New Faces host Bert Newton.

Johnny Farnham

Pop star Johnny Farnham won his fourth Logie for Best Teenage Personality, and the 0-10 Network‘s Young Talent Time won Best Australian Musical/Variety Show. Young Talent Time cast member Jamie Redfern became the youngest person to date to win a Logie by taking out the Best New Talent award. At the time of the Logies presentation, Redfern was in the US on tour with Liberace, who discovered Redfern when visiting Australia for the TV Week King Of Pop Awards a few months earlier.

Johnny Young

The Seven Network sitcom The Group, the comedy around a group of young adults sharing a flat, won Best Australian Comedy. Although the series had been cancelled after only one season, the award judges saw promise in it sparking a renewed interest in situation comedy. The show’s producers, Don Cash and Bill Harmon, went on to later success with Number 96.

The Coca-Cola Export Corporation’s “Fancy Nancy” series of commercials for its Fanta soft drink won the Logie for Best Commercial. The commercials, which follow the adventures of Fancy Nancy as she travels in her search for more soft drink for her party, featured a mix of live action and psychadelic animation. The theme for the commercials was sung by Johnny Farnham, while the character of Fancy Nancy was played by 15-year-old Anne Lambert, who went on to a successful acting career.


YouTube: alpesh shah

The category for Best Overseas Show was split up into two awards — one for British shows (won by The Persuaders) and one for American (won by The Mod Squad).

Dead Men Running

Award judges also gave out six special awards: Best Individual Acting Performance (won by Jack Fegan for his guest role in Division 4), Outstanding Creative Effort (won by ABC‘s six-part series Dead Men Running), Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism (Dateline ’71‘s report on the pitfalls of pyramid selling), Best Scriptwriter (Tony Morphett, for his work on ABC’s Dynasty) and Best News Coverage (ABC’s reporting of the battle between police and anti-apartheid demonstrators at the Victoria-Springbok Rugby match at Melbourne’s Olympic Park).

Special overseas guests at the 1972 Logies included Roger Moore (The Saint, The Persuaders), Juliet Mills (Nanny And The Professor), Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch), Rock Hudson (McMillan And Wife) and Kenneth Connor (from the British Carry On films). Hawaii Five-0 star Jack Lord was scheduled to attend the Logies as well as appear at upcoming telethons in Sydney and Melbourne, but was a late withdrawal due to illness just prior to his scheduled departure from Honolulu.

National Awards:

Gold Logie — Best Personalty: Gerard Kennedy

Best Actor: Gerard Kennedy
Best Actress: Pat Smith

Best Teenage Personality: Johnny Farnham

Best Musical/Variety Show: Young Talent Time

Best Australian Drama: Division 4
Best New Drama: Matlock Police

Matlock Police stars Grigor Taylor, Michael Pate and Paul Cronin

Best Australian Comedy: The Group

George Wallace Memorial Logie For Best New Talent: Jamie Redfern

Best Commercial: “Fancy Nancy” (Fanta)

Best Overseas Show (UK): The Persuaders
Best Overseas Show (US): The Mod Squad

Special Award — Best Scriptwriter: Tony Morphett
Special Award — Best Individual Acting Performance: Jack Fegan
Special Award — Outstanding Creative Effort: Dead Men Running
Special Award — Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism: Dateline ’71
Special Award — Best News Coverage: Springbok Rugby Match, ABC News

Rock Hudson, Mary Hardy, Roger Moore

State-based awards (Best Male Personality, Best Female Personality, Best Show):

NSW: Bob Rogers, Penny Spence, The Bob Rogers Show
VIC: Frank Wilson, Mary Hardy, Penthouse Club
QLD: Ron Cadee, Dina Heslop, I’ve Got A Secret
SA: Ernie Sigley, Anne Wills, Adelaide Tonight
WA: Jeff Newman, Jenny Clemesha, Stars Of The Future
TAS: Graeme Smith, Sue Gray, Smith’s Weekly

Ernie Sigley, Bert Newton

Source: TV Week, 26 February 1972, 4 March 1972

The 62nd annual TV Week Logie Awards, Sunday 19 June, 7.30pm, Nine/WIN and 9Now.

Tags: Adelaide Tonight Australia's New Faces Dateline 71 Dead Men Running Division 4 Dynasty I've Got A Secret Matlock Police Number 96 Smith's Weekly Stars Of The Future The Bob Rogers Show The Group The Penthouse Club TV Week King Of Pop Awards TV Week Logie Awards Young Talent Time

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

Obituary: Tommy Dysart

tommydysart_0002
Next Next post:

TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago

tvweek_240597_0001

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related News

seven_2025

WIN to drop Seven in regional SA and NSW

16 June 2025 1
logies_2025

TV Week Logie Awards — Nominations

16 June 2025
iainfinlay_0002

Obituary: Iain Finlay

10 May 2025
Get new posts by email:
Powered by follow.it
  • RSS Feed
  • Mastodon
  • Bluesky
  • X
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • WIN to drop Seven in regional SA and NSW
  • TV Week Logie Awards — Nominations
  • Obituary: Iain Finlay
  • Seven takes hold of SCA TV assets
  • TV That Wasn’t: The Paradise School
  • Obituary: Gerard Kennedy
  • Obituary: Peter Waltham
  • Seven signs Commonwealth Games deal
  • Obituary: Richard Zachariah
  • Obituary: Paul Karo

Top Tags

60 Minutes ABC A Country Practice A Current Affair All Saints Australia's Funniest Home Video Show Beyond 2000 Blue Heelers Burke's Backyard Cop Shop Digital TV Division 4 E Street Fast Forward Four Corners Getaway GP Hey Dad Hey Hey It's Saturday Home And Away Homicide In Melbourne Tonight Midday Neighbours Network Ten Nine Network Nine News Number 96 Obituary Olympic Games Prisoner Sale Of The Century SBS Seven Network Seven News Southern Cross Ten News The Flying Doctors The Great Outdoors The Restless Years The Sullivans The Young Doctors Today TV Week Logie Awards WIN

Recent Comments

  • lisa coote on WIN to drop Seven in regional SA and NSW
  • Andrew B on TV At 60: Viewing’s fine on GTV9
  • Andrew Jones on Obituary: Peter Flett
  • Glenn cairns on TV At 60: Viewing’s fine on GTV9
  • Anthony Taylor on 50 years of BTQ7, ABQ2
  • Philip Carter on Obituary: Les Dayman
  • Elaine McNeill on Back to Bellbird
  • Glen Tilley on Prime7 Albury turns 50
  • Andrew B on TV That Wasn’t: The Paradise School
  • Nigel on TV That Wasn’t: The Paradise School
June 2022
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« May   Jul »

You may have missed

seven_2025

WIN to drop Seven in regional SA and NSW

16 June 2025 1
logies_2025

TV Week Logie Awards — Nominations

16 June 2025
iainfinlay_0002

Obituary: Iain Finlay

10 May 2025
7_2025

Seven takes hold of SCA TV assets

6 May 2025
theparadiseschool

TV That Wasn’t: The Paradise School

4 May 2025 2
gerardkennedy_0004

Obituary: Gerard Kennedy

25 April 2025
  • 1950-1959
  • 1960-1969
  • 1970-1979
  • 1980-1989
  • 1990-1999
  • 2000-2009
  • 2010-2019
  • 2020-2029
  • Obituaries
  • Week-By-Week
Copyright © 2025 All rights reserved. | ChromeNews by AF themes.