In an interview with Sofie Formica on 4BC, Pete Smith talks about the farewell for Bert and the letters from his children that he read out at the state service this morning.
Today Australia said goodbye to legendary TV icon and entertainer Bert Newton, who died on October 30 after a long battle against multiple health problems, aged 83.
A state funeral service was held this morning to honour Bert’s life, both professionally and personally, with his wife Patti, daughter Lauren and grandchildren in attendance. His son Matthew was unable to attend due to logistical issues with travel from his home in New York.
Bert’s longtime friend and voiceover man Pete Smith also attended the service, and had the honour of reading out letters from both of Bert’s children.
Pete joined radio show Afternoons with Sofie Formica on 4BC immediately after the service, to talk about his address at the funeral and relationship with one of Australia’s greatest television legends.
On the touching and personal tribute this morning, Pete said:
“It couldn’t have been better. Of course, it came from the heart. It came direct from the family. It was, you know, very much Patti controlling and arranging the whole thing.
“In 70 years of being in front of the microphone and in the camera, you can imagine how many people worked with Bert either on camera or behind the scenes and they all felt as though they were part of his family, really. And so they were, it doesn’t matter how far back you go.”
Sofie asked Pete about the letters he read out at the service from Matthew and Lauren, with Pete saying he was touched to do so. He said:
“It was beyond an honour to be able to convey the thoughts of the kids.”
In the letter from Matthew that was shared by Pete, Matthew wrote:
“One final conversation a few days before we lost him was different from the usual, and we both knew it. The change was never directly stated, but we eschewed the stories and the laughs and just how much we love each other.
“During that wonderful chat, my mother was pottering around in the background, adding her two cents every now and again, and doing lovely things for Dad, as usual. At one point, she took something into another room, and the second she left, Dad leaned into the phone camera and whispered, ‘I think she’s poisoning my food, Matthew’.”
Sofie talked about her encounters with Bert and the kindness he displayed with her, as well as with everyone else who’s shared stories about him since his death. Agreeing that Bert’s fame was never too high to warrant an authentic and kind interaction with people, Pete said:
“Whether you were on camera, in front of an audience, or privately with him, one-on-one, he made you feel as though nobody else counted at that time.
“It added to everybody’s performance, that performed with him, knowing that. They never felt threatened – the people like the Graham Kennedy’s, the Don Lane’s – never felt threatened. They realised just what a bonus he was.”
On what he thinks he will miss most about Bert, Pete said:
“I’ll miss the laughs. Definitely, the laughs. He could turn really even the most somber occasion into a load of laughs. And that’s how he’d like us to leave today, as sad as the situation is and the heavens are opened up here in Melbourne. But he’d want us to go out laughing, for sure, with the happy memories of the time spent with Bert.”
You can listen to Pete’s interview with Sofie on Afternoons with Sofie Formica, below.
