THE LOGIE AWARDS 1970

When Peter Wyngarde Captivated Australia at the 1970 Logie Awards

The awards ceremony took place on Friday, 20 March 1970, at the Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne, with Bert Newton serving as the host. The event was broadcast live via the Nine Network in Sydney and Melbourne, and was relayed to CTC7 in Canberra.

Crocker received the Gold Logie for Best Male Personality one year after transitioning from the 0-10 Network’s Say It With Music to host Nine’s Sound Of Music. The latter program also secured the Logie for Best Australian Musical/Variety Show.

Having previously worked as a model, Tabberer established a national profile as a panellist on Beauty And The Beast before launching her own afternoon program, Maggie, on the Seven Network. Her Gold Logie win for Best Female Personality followed a two-year period during which the judges had opted not to award a Gold Logie in the female category.

The Nine Network drama series Division 4 was named Best Australian Drama. Debuting in 1969, the series ended Homicide’s five-year winning streak in that category.

Pop star Johnny Farnham won Best Australian Teenage Personality for the second consecutive year. The 20-year-old artist was also beginning to transition into television; only months after this achievement, he secured a presenting role on the school holiday series Good Morning Melbourne.

The ABC series Chequerboard was awarded the Logie for Best Australian Documentary Series. The program distinguished itself by removing the emphasis from the interviewer, instead allowing subjects to recount their stories in their own words. It was a pioneer in incorporating “fly-on-the-wall” perspectives, capturing subjects during their daily activities—a filming technique that was groundbreaking at the time, although it has since become commonplace.

Jeff Phillips, a former New Faces contestant who later hosted the ABC program Sounds Like Us, received the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent.

Steve Raymond, a journalist with Sydney’s TEN10, won Best News Reporting for two significant scoops during 1969. The first was an exclusive interview with English singer-actress Marianne Faithfull, who was recovering from a drug overdose in a Sydney hospital. This interview was sold internationally and published in full on the front page of a London newspaper. Raymond’s second major report focused on the funeral of seven teenagers killed in a high-speed car crash in the remote NSW town of Warren; this coverage earned him the praise of NSW Premier Robert Askin.

The Logie for Best Commercial was awarded to Coca-Cola. The advertisement utilised a unique filming process that depicted dancers and surfers as silhouettes and light outlines against a dark background. Filmed at Palm Beach in Sydney, with a soundtrack by Doug Parkinson and choreography by Ronne Arnold, the commercial anchored a saturation campaign by the soft drink manufacturer. A colour version of the advertisement was also produced for cinema screenings, subsequently winning the Silver Lion Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the best soft drink commercial.

In addition to the publicly voted categories, the TV Week Logie Awards judges presented six special awards. These were granted to transport magnate and ATV0 owner Reg Ansett for staging a record-breaking boxing title fight; producer Hector Crawford for his successful programs, including Homicide, Division 4, and Showcase; the children’s program Here’s Humphrey; compere Bert Newton for his hosting of special events; the ABC documentary Dig A Million, Make A Million, which reported on growing international interest in Australia’s mining boom; and the Apollo 11 crew for providing the “TV Greatest Moment” via the Moon landing.

Among the state-based awards, GTV9 presenters Mike Preston and Rosemary Margan were named Best Male and Female Personalities in Victoria for the second consecutive year. Additionally, Melbourne Tonight was voted Best Show in Victoria for the ninth time. In New South Wales, Don Lane again secured the award for Best Male Personality, and his Tonight show was once more named Best Show in NSW. Rosemary Eather, host of Ten’s Good Morning!, received the award for Best Female Personality in NSW.

In South Australia, Ernie Sigley, Anne Wills, and Adelaide Tonight were again recipients of the state awards. Joy Chambers repeated her success as Best Female Personality in Queensland, while Lindsay Edwards and Caroline Schmitt maintained their titles in Tasmania for another year.

Western Australia had not been represented at the Logies since 1964. With the reinstatement of the state-based categories, TVW7 presenters Garry Meadows and Trina Brown won the Best Personality awards for Western Australia. The award for Best Show was granted to the ABC’s Today Tonight, the local iteration of the national This Day Tonight.

Peter was amongst the special guests who presented the awards. Others included Robert Young (Marcus Welby MD), Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible) and Penny Plummer, Australia’s 1968 Miss World.

Peggy Lipton, starring in the US series Mod Squad—which won the Logie for Best Overseas Show—was scheduled to appear as a special guest but was forced to cancel due to illness. She eventually appeared on the Logies stage over two decades later, in 1991.