Vale: Frank Crook

Veteran journalist and broadcaster Frank Crook, a former editor of TV Week, has died aged 81.

The Age reports he died from a heart attack in St Vincent’s Hospital.

Crook had been a journalist at The Sun & Mirror papers and 2GB broadcaster and editor of TV Week in the early 1970s.

During that time he brought out big name international stars for the Logie Awards including John Wayne, Michael Caine, Glenn Ford and Michael Cole.

“I left him alone and he was on the grog all day, turned up drunk, tipped the waiter $20, which was a lot of money in 1973, to keep the grog flowing and then said shit on air,”  Crook once told news.com.au. “But it was the best thing that happened to the Logies because it got us on to the front page.”

As TelevisionAU recalls Crook also championed Australian TV, once saying of Laugh-In clone Ready When You Are CB, 

“There are times when a person feels like sitting down and having a good cry about Australian television. One day, if we all live long enough, we may see a dead-set, sure-fire, gold-plated original Australian show. Until that day comes, we have to sit, slack-jawed, through ‘specials’ like Ready When You Are CB. Mr Chris Beard, the eminent expatriate writer, did most of the pencilling for the show and it would seem he brought over much of the material rejected by Laugh-In.”

When I was a kid growing up in Melbourne I used to spend a fortune buying interstate newspapers.(hard copies then and yes a sad admission) Certain bylines always struck me as fascinating & their work usually reflected that. Frank and Jim Oram always stood out in Sydney.

— Peter Ford (@mrpford) May 9, 2020

Frank Crook was a great journalist and a top bloke who was always up for a drink and a laugh. A true gentleman who will be missed by his many friends.

— Janine Perrett (@PerrettReport) May 9, 2020