Denise Drysdale
Encyclopedia
Denise Anne Christina Drysdale, (born 5 December 1948) is an Australian television personality and comedian. She is often affectionately called Ding-Dong.
when she was three and a half, where her parents ran the Fountain Inn Hotel. They were to live there for about eleven years, during which time Drysdale attended Kilbride Ladies Convent, South Melbourne
.
By the age of six, Drysdale had won many dancing competitions.
At about ten years of age, she began her television career with GTV9 in Melbourne, working in the junior ballet on the Tarax Show
. This wasn't to last, as she was later sacked when her development didn't match what was considered acceptable.
Photographed at the time by a Channel Nine
photographer, Drysdale went on to win the annual Girl of the Year Award with Everybody's in 1964.
At age seventeen, Drysdale joined the new show Kommotion as a go-go girl
, becoming Melbourne's first go-go dancer.
Despite not having previously sung professionally, Drysdale was invited to tour Australia with Ray Brown & The Whispers
. She was then offered a recording contract and appeared in 26 episodes of the ABC's Dig We Must.
for three weeks in late 1967, along with Patti Newton
, the Strangers
, and Doug Owen. In 1969, she went to the Far East to entertain American troops.
In 1974, she became Ernie Sigley
's barrel girl on The Ernie Sigley Show. It was here she gained the nickname Ding-Dong.
In 1975, Drysdale won the TV Week Gold Logie for the Most Popular Female Personality on Australian TV. She won her second Gold Logie the following year. In the same period, she also won consecutive Silver Logies.
Over the years, Drysdale has appeared regularly on numerous television shows including: The Norman Gunston Show, Celebrity Squares, Young Talent Time
, Countdown
, Division 4
, Homicide and Bellbird
. Drysdale has also worked in regional television in Victoria including guest appearances on BTV-6 Ballarat and hosting a morning magazine show on GLV-8
in the 1980s.
In 2005, Channel 9 chose Denise as one of the most 50 important people on television for the last 50 years.
As an actress, she has appeared in the movies, The Last of The Knucklemen
, Snap Shot
and Blowing Hot and Cold.
While onstage, she has appeared in many plays and musicals including: Salad Days, Grease
, The Barry Crocker Show, Two Gentlemen of Verona
, and Hello, Dolly!
in 1994.
She also spent two years in Sydney doing Weekend Magazine and Beauty and the Beast.
In 1989, Drysdale again teamed up with Ernie Sigley
to host In Melbourne Today, and in 1991 began a Sydney version of the show In Sydney Today. The two programs later merged to a single program: Ernie And Denise.
In 1998, Drysdale joined the Seven Network
to present her own show for the first time, simply called Denise.
In 2000, she celebrated 40 years in television. She has remained working in the Australian television
industry, often onscreen since including stints with Ernie Sigley and Daryl Somers
on Hey Hey It's Saturday
. Lately her work has centered on Pay TV
with station TV1
.
In 2008, Drysdale released an album entitled What A Wonderful World. The album contains a remake of the single Hey Paula. Originally a duet with Ernie Sigley
, the new version features Mark Trevorrow
. On 7 October 2009 she made an appearance in the second of the Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion specials.
In 2010, Network Ten
announced Drysdale as host of the new morning show The Circle
alongside Yumi Stynes
, Chrissie Swan
and Gorgi Coghlan
.
Drysdale also does regular guest talks around the country.
.
In January 2008, Drysdale was awarded the 'Australia Day Citizen of the Year' award by Baw Baw Shire
.
Drysdale was the last crowned Moomba Monarch
(popularly called Queen of Moomba) in 1998, before controversy reigned with the 1999 proposed Monarchs, Zig and Zag
, being disgraced and dethroned; subsequently the Melbourne festival was declared a 'Republic'.
Childhood
Born in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, Denise Drysdale and her family moved to Port MelbournePort Melbourne, Victoria
Port Melbourne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km southwest of Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government areas are the cities of Port Phillip and Melbourne. At the 2006 Census, Port Melbourne had a population of 13,293....
when she was three and a half, where her parents ran the Fountain Inn Hotel. They were to live there for about eleven years, during which time Drysdale attended Kilbride Ladies Convent, South Melbourne
South Melbourne, Victoria
South Melbourne is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Port Phillip and Melbourne...
.
Career beginnings
Drysdale's career began soon after the move to Port Melbourne."During that time it was the 6 o'clock swillSix o'clock swillThe six o'clock swill was an Australian and New Zealand slang term for the last-minute rush to buy drinks at a hotel bar before it closed. During a significant part of the 20th century, most Australian and New Zealand hotels shut their public bars at 6 p.m. A culture developed of heavy drinking...
, and Mum didn't want her little girl seeing all that drinking, so she sent me to dancing, to May Downs. May Downs was an amazing woman. She taught us 150% is what you gave in any performance, or don't bother. And of course, that's got me into strife over the years."
By the age of six, Drysdale had won many dancing competitions.
At about ten years of age, she began her television career with GTV9 in Melbourne, working in the junior ballet on the Tarax Show
Tarax Show
The Tarax Show was an early Australian children's TV program on GTV-9 in Melbourne running from 1957 to 1969.Denzil Howson, who was Assistant Programme Manager at GTV9, was asked by Normal Spencer to develop a daily children's programme. A pilot of the show was kinescope recorded onto film...
. This wasn't to last, as she was later sacked when her development didn't match what was considered acceptable.
"We'd been there about a year and a bit, and on the holidays I had put on weight, but not much, and as you know, if you put someone in a nice tutu, they don't have bosoms – they have very flat chests. Pete Smith always said, "You grew boobs, they had to get rid of you." They couldn't do it today. And I've suffered to this day. I still stand on the scales six times a day to check whether I've put on half a pound or a pound."
Photographed at the time by a Channel Nine
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
photographer, Drysdale went on to win the annual Girl of the Year Award with Everybody's in 1964.
At age seventeen, Drysdale joined the new show Kommotion as a go-go girl
Go-Go dancing
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at a discotheque. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s when women at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City began to get up on tables and dance the twist...
, becoming Melbourne's first go-go dancer.
Despite not having previously sung professionally, Drysdale was invited to tour Australia with Ray Brown & The Whispers
Ray Brown & The Whispers
. For other uses of Whispers, see Whispers page.Ray Brown & The Whispers were a highly successful Australian rock band from 1964 to 1967...
. She was then offered a recording contract and appeared in 26 episodes of the ABC's Dig We Must.
Career
Drysdale's popularity led to an invitation to perform for the troops in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
for three weeks in late 1967, along with Patti Newton
Patti Newton
Patti Newton is a Melbourne-born Australian entertainer and radio and television presenter.-Career:...
, the Strangers
The Strangers (band)
The Strangers was a Melbourne based Australian band that existed from 1961 to 1975. The band started out playing instrumental songs in a style similar to The Shadows with influences from Cliff Richard. The original lineup included Peter Robinson , Graeme Thompson , Laurie Arthur and Fred Weiland...
, and Doug Owen. In 1969, she went to the Far East to entertain American troops.
In 1974, she became Ernie Sigley
Ernie Sigley
Ernest William "Ernie" Sigley is an enduring Australian entertainment personality known for his square-rimmed spectacles, the gap between his front teeth and his slapstick approach to comedy.-Radio career:...
's barrel girl on The Ernie Sigley Show. It was here she gained the nickname Ding-Dong.
In 1975, Drysdale won the TV Week Gold Logie for the Most Popular Female Personality on Australian TV. She won her second Gold Logie the following year. In the same period, she also won consecutive Silver Logies.
Over the years, Drysdale has appeared regularly on numerous television shows including: The Norman Gunston Show, Celebrity Squares, Young Talent Time
Young Talent Time
Young Talent Time is an Australian television variety program screened on Network Ten, running from 1971 until 1988. The series features a core group of young performers in the vein of The Mickey Mouse Club, and a weekly junior talent quest. The "Young Talent Team" regularly performed popular...
, Countdown
Countdown (TV series)
Countdown was a long-running popular weekly Australian music television show broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 8 November 1974 until 19 July 1987. It was created by Executive Producer Michael Shrimpton, producer/director Robbie Weekes and record producer and music journalist...
, Division 4
Division 4
Division 4 was an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 300 episodes....
, Homicide and Bellbird
Bellbird (TV series)
Bellbird was an Australian soap opera set in a small Victorian rural township. The series was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at its Ripponlea TV studios in Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria. The series was produced between 28 August 1967 and December 1977...
. Drysdale has also worked in regional television in Victoria including guest appearances on BTV-6 Ballarat and hosting a morning magazine show on GLV-8
GLV-8
GLV and BCV, better known collectively as Southern Cross Ten Victoria, are television stations in regional Victoria, Australia.-Early years:...
in the 1980s.
In 2005, Channel 9 chose Denise as one of the most 50 important people on television for the last 50 years.
As an actress, she has appeared in the movies, The Last of The Knucklemen
The Last of the Knucklemen
The Last of the Knucklemen is a 1979 Australian film directed by Tim Burstall. The story involves a gang of rough miners. Tom turns up at the mine looking for a place to hide...
, Snap Shot
Snap shot
Snap shot can refer to:*a shot that is aimed and fired very quickly at a target that appears suddenly and for a very short period of time....
and Blowing Hot and Cold.
While onstage, she has appeared in many plays and musicals including: Salad Days, Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
, The Barry Crocker Show, Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
, and Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
in 1994.
She also spent two years in Sydney doing Weekend Magazine and Beauty and the Beast.
In 1989, Drysdale again teamed up with Ernie Sigley
Ernie Sigley
Ernest William "Ernie" Sigley is an enduring Australian entertainment personality known for his square-rimmed spectacles, the gap between his front teeth and his slapstick approach to comedy.-Radio career:...
to host In Melbourne Today, and in 1991 began a Sydney version of the show In Sydney Today. The two programs later merged to a single program: Ernie And Denise.
In 1998, Drysdale joined the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
to present her own show for the first time, simply called Denise.
In 2000, she celebrated 40 years in television. She has remained working in the Australian television
Australian television
Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with stations 3DB and 3UZ using the Radiovision system by Gilbert Miles and Donal McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Brisbane in 1934....
industry, often onscreen since including stints with Ernie Sigley and Daryl Somers
Daryl Somers
Daryl Paul Somers OAM , is an Australian television personality. The son of a dairy farmer and a cabaret singer, Somers rose to national fame as the host of the long-running comedy-variety program Hey Hey It's Saturday.-Early life:Somers, who has an Irish Catholic heritage, was educated at...
on Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...
. Lately her work has centered on Pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
with station TV1
TV1
TV1 may refer to:* TV1 , Australian cable and satellite television channel* TV One , New Zealand television network* TV1 , defunct Estonian television channel* TV1 , Lithuanian television channel...
.
In 2008, Drysdale released an album entitled What A Wonderful World. The album contains a remake of the single Hey Paula. Originally a duet with Ernie Sigley
Ernie Sigley
Ernest William "Ernie" Sigley is an enduring Australian entertainment personality known for his square-rimmed spectacles, the gap between his front teeth and his slapstick approach to comedy.-Radio career:...
, the new version features Mark Trevorrow
Mark Trevorrow
Mark Trevorrow , is an Australian comedian, television host and media personality.He has developed the flamboyant alter ego "Bob Downe" - a cheesy, safari-suit-wearing lounge singer with dazzling teeth, and host of the fictional regional daytime TV show Good Morning Murwillumbah...
. On 7 October 2009 she made an appearance in the second of the Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion specials.
In 2010, Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
announced Drysdale as host of the new morning show The Circle
The Circle (TV program)
-Music from The Circle:Music from The Circle is a compilation album featuring 38 songs chosen by the hosts of The Circle. The album includes a special song recorded by hosts Denise Drysdale, Chrissie Swan, Yumi Stynes and Gorgi Coghlan titled "Circle Song"...
alongside Yumi Stynes
Yumi Stynes
Yumi Tasma Stynes is a television presenter for an Australian morning show The Circle and television channel Max.-Early life:...
, Chrissie Swan
Chrissie Swan
Chrissie Swan is an Australian radio and television personality. In 2003, she gained fame in her country as the runner-up of Big Brother Australia on Network Ten...
and Gorgi Coghlan
Gorgi Coghlan
Gorgi Coghlan is an Australian television presenter, best known as co-host of Network Ten's morning show The Circle.-Personal Life:...
.
Drysdale also does regular guest talks around the country.
Popularity
Drysdale has won two Gold Logie awards for Most Popular Female personality on Australian televisionAustralian television
Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with stations 3DB and 3UZ using the Radiovision system by Gilbert Miles and Donal McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Brisbane in 1934....
.
In January 2008, Drysdale was awarded the 'Australia Day Citizen of the Year' award by Baw Baw Shire
Baw Baw Shire
The Shire of Baw Baw is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is about 100 km east of Melbourne in the West Gippsland region. It has an area of 4,031 square kilometres, and in 2006 had a population of 37,179....
.
Drysdale was the last crowned Moomba Monarch
Moomba
Moomba is Australia's largest free community festival and one of the longest running festivals in Australia. Held annually in the city of Melbourne, Australia, Moomba is celebrated during the Labour Day long weekend , and has been celebrated since 1955...
(popularly called Queen of Moomba) in 1998, before controversy reigned with the 1999 proposed Monarchs, Zig and Zag
Zig and Zag (Australian performers)
Zig and Zag – in real life Jack Perry and Doug McKenzie – were a clown duo who appeared on Australian television from 1956 to 1969 in Melbourne, beginning with Peters Fun Fair...
, being disgraced and dethroned; subsequently the Melbourne festival was declared a 'Republic'.