Toni Lamond AM (born as Patricia Lamond Lawman; 29 March 1932), is an Australian vaudevillian, cabaret performer, singer, actress, dancer, comedian, writer and television and radio personality/presenter. She has had a successful career spanning some 80 years, both locally and internationally, including in the United Kingdom and United States^[1]

Lamond, whose comes from a family involved in the performing arts, started her career as a child actor vaudeville/variety entertainment at only ten and was the first woman in the world to host a midday show. The second was her younger half-sister Helen Reddy^[2]

Alongside her showbiz contemporaries Jill Perryman and Nancye Hayes, Lamond has been called one of the three grand dames of Australian musical theatre, and in her prime a talent that could rival Doris Day.^[3]

She joined the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with Trisha Crowe, Michael Falzon, Amanda Harrison, Lucy Maunder, Andy Conaghan, and others to record I Dreamed A Dream: The Hit Songs of Broadway for ABC Classics, released on 21 June 2013.^[12] Lamond sang "Send in the Clowns" from Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

• Toni Lamond, other than working with the Tivoli Theatre circuit, Brennan-Fuller Vaudeville Circuit and J.C Williamson's and has been a staple of touring mainstream theatre since 1951

Her theatre credits can be found on the link below, which also includes links to the theatre roles of her showbiz parents (Joe Lawson: main page^[13] and (Stella Lamond: main ^[14]

Toni Lamond theatre credits: link ^[15] Sources: Austage, IBDB

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FILM

TELEVISION

Actors Equity president Simon Burke says: "Toni is a truly legendary Australian performer whose phenomenal career has spanned vaudeville, musical theatre, television, and cabaret. She is also a wonderful human being who has given back to her community, to her colleagues, and to her industry in every way she can."^[21]

Lamond has a significant pedigree within the Australian performing arts. She is the daughter of Stella Lamond (Homicide and Bellbird) and Joe Lawman, both vaudeville entertainers. Her parents divorced when she was seven and Stella remarried Max Reddy (Homicide), whilst Lawman married soubrette Joy Robbins.^[13]

Therefore through her step-father she is a half-sister to the late singer Helen Reddy, whom she raised as a surrogate mother while their parents were performing.^[22]

Her son is actor and writer Tony Sheldon

She married performer Frank Sheldon in 1954, but in 1966 shortly after a separation, he killed himself.

An addiction to prescription drugs followed, and she was a patient at Chelmsford Private Hospital, where she underwent deep sleep therapy.^[23] She overcame and publicly discussed the issue in an episode of The Mike Walsh Show, becoming one of the first Australian media personalities to do so.