Susie Elelman ‘THE BERT ONLY I KNEW'

MR TELEVISION’S RIGHT-HAND WOMAN TELLS ALL ON HER FRIEND

- Jenny Brown

The first thing Susie Elelman noticed, sitting beside TV icon Bert Newton for the first time, was the sheer size and scope of that famous ‘Moonface’. It didn’t take too long, however, for her to realise there was good reason for Bert’s head being built to an epic scale.

“Physically, it was absolutely enormous,” Susie laughingly recalls of their initial on-air meeting on Melbourne Cup Day in 1989. “We all know Bert was called Moonface forever – but even so, in person, his head came as a surprise!

Now I know it had to be that huge to hold his incredible brain,” Susie explains to New Idea, revealing Bert’s mind was extraordinary.

“He was also one of the most generous performers you could ever hope to work with. He was so quick-witted – he would have the crew in stitches, just doing things on the spur of the moment. But even if he set you up for a joke, he would never make you look stupid. I just marvelled every day at his incredible genius.”

For eight and a half years, as roving reporter and sidekick on Bert’s show, Good Morning Australia, Susie was able to get close to the legendary entertainer, his devoted wife Patti and their children.

They spent so much onair time together that on one memorable occasion, Bert actually called out Susie’s name in his sleep. “The following morning, Patti asked him what on earth was going on,” chuckles the former model, who says much like herself, Bert was bold – but never cold.