When Norman Gunston campaigned for Gold Logie, TV Week didn’t want to give it to him
Campaigning for Gold stems all the way back to 1976, when Norman Gunston caused a major upset.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Logies
This week I was reminded of the fact that when ABC last won the Gold Logie (Norman Gunston in 1976), Garry McDonald had actively campaigned for it -and TV Week was torn over whether to award it to him.
In 2012Â Garry McDonald told TV Tonight, “I totally campaigned! I had the Logie voting page on the screen and my name was in every category. Best Documentary Norman Gunston. Best Female Artist Norman Gunston. And that’s how people sent it in!
“They tried not to give it to me apparently, but (TV Week’s) Frank Crook said ‘You have to give it to him.’
“They said ‘He campaigned, and it’s not a real character!’ But Frank said, ‘You’ve got to. Look how many votes he got!’
“So they gave it to me, and then I asked (female Gold Logie winner) Denise Drysdale if she had to sleep with anyone to get where you are tonight -and I don’t mean the bus driver.
“There was terrible drama about that!”
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One Response
David I was thinking the same thing earlier this week after all the noise regarding Tom Gleeson. Let’s remind ourselves it was a character (Norman Gunston) which won the award and not a real person. I really wish Garry would reprise the character for a limited series run as I’d like to see Norman navigate modern technology and social media.