Denise Drysdale’s exciting new career. ‘It’s been a wild ride!’
From a very young age, this vivacious gal knew she was destined for the spotlight.
Irrepressible comedy queen Denise Drysdale first realised she had a funny bone when, as a six-year-old, she broke down the lunchroom door at Melbourne’s St Joseph’s primary school and was unceremoniously expelled.
“It was raining, I was trying to get in. Other kids may have shuddered in fear and shame, but I just laughed. I’ve always seen the funny side of things because I’m a ratbag at heart,” says Denise, flashing her famous smile.
Looking back at her stellar showbiz career, Denise feels blessed the phone continues to ring with work offers.
“Next year marks 75 years since I took my first dance lesson. I was three-and-a-half years old,” shares the double Gold Logie winner in an exclusive chat with Woman’s Day at her Gold Coast home.
“When I accept a job, I hang up the phone and happily yell, ‘Yessss!’ I just love working. Sitting at home for too long bores me to tears.”
For Denise, a future showbiz career wasn’t on her parents’ mind when they enrolled her as a tot in dance classes.
“They’d just bought a pub in South Melbourne, and wanted to shield me from the rowdy drunks. I was sent to May Downs Dancing School and loved it.”
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Denise’s love for performing started with ballet and tap lessons, before she moved across to singing.
Soon enough, she was entering dance competitions and scoring roles in pantomimes.
“I was nine when I made my TV debut, singing and dancing on Happy Hammond’s The Happy Show. That was 1957,” recalls Denise, 77.
“Then came The Tarax Show on Nine, where I landed a gig as one of their 10 dancers.”
The seasoned performer recalls getting her first laugh when Frank Sinatra came to Melbourne’s Festival Hall. “I was hired to appear on stage with comedian Stan Freberg, saying, ‘Sing All Of Me, Mr Sinatra.’
“The audience thought I’d mistaken Stan for Frank. It brought the house down.
“I was so excited to join the senior ballet at Nine, but was fired when I was 16 for being overweight. That’s showbiz!”
Reflecting on pivotal points early on in her career, Denise thinks back to 1965, when she became Melbourne’s first go-go dancer at the Ress Oriental Hotel – a gig that led to her role on music TV show, Kommotion.
“Spots singing on The Go!! Show followed, before going to Vietnam in 1967 to entertain the troops with entertainer Patti McGrath, who later married Bert Newton,” she says.
‘EXCITING’ CHAPTER
It was during a sabbatical in London in 1970 that Denise first met Ernie Sigley, who’d go on to become her long-time friend and performing partner, until his death in 2021.
“I was with Patti and we ran into Ernie, so we all went for a drink,” Denise recalls.
“Back in Melbourne, I appeared on an array of Crawfords police shows like Homicide and Division 4. I was thinking of giving up showbiz and doing charity work.
“Then, in 1974 I did some comedy spots on The Ernie Sigley Show. We hit it off and I became his barrel girl. It was Ernie who nicknamed me Ding Dong, and thank God he did because whatever he named me would have stuck!
“Ernie and I had a great dynamic, and we did it all, from hosting TV and radio shows to working the clubs.
“He had a wicked wit and didn’t care who got the laughs as long as the audience was having a good time.”
DREAM DUO
Denise and Ernie enjoyed many career triumphs together, a highlight for both came in 1975 when they received their Gold Logies from Hollywood movie star John Wayne.
She lists meeting the late Robin Williams after one of his live shows as another pinnacle moment, adding, “He was an absolute comedy genius. Yet, in person, he seemed so vulnerable and insecure.”
Throughout her career, Denise has ridden the inevitable ups and downs with humour and a smile.
“Proving you couldn’t kill us off as a duo, Ernie was dumped from his night show in 1976 after criticising Kerry Packer’s [World Series] night cricket. Then, in the late ’80s, we were back together [on Nine] with our own morning show.
“In 1989, I was asked to take over from Jacki MacDonald as co-host on Hey Hey It’s Saturday. I was elated. Barely a year later I was let go.”
TV insiders say Denise was too funny and had become too popular, resulting in her dismissal.
“Just when you think it’s all over, the phone rings and I’m offered a regular gig on Frankie J Holden’s night show. Then I get my own Denise show on Seven. All the while I’m busy doing club shows, then in 2010 along comes The Circle… It’s been a wild ride, and I certainly feel very lucky. So many people have the talent and never get that break.”
Not one to sit idle – even past the typical retirement age! – the opportunities continued after her time on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2024, albeit in a slightly different venture.
“The Orientique boutique people came a-calling, so I’m now modelling their beautiful clothes and spruiking their outfits in fun ads on social media, and I love it,” she says.
“I never imagined I’d still be working in my late 70s… at this rate I’ll be carted off stage in a pine box!”
