Sigley, 82, passed away on Sunday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, surrounded by his wife Glenys and four children Matthew, Guy, David and Emma.Close friend Denis Walter said one of Melbourne’s “great characters” had been lost.“The west will be feeling very sad,” he said.“We knew it was going to come one day and we had such fond memories.“We’ve lost one of our great characters. I met him in the 70s and he was one of the people who really believed in me. “I was lucky enough pre-Covid to visit one or two times a year.“Even though he couldn’t speak that well he flirted with my wife Annette with his eyes. He had no interest in me whatsoever.“It was a very difficult time and we felt privileged to be there with Glenys.“He was in very good care, the cheekiness in his eyes was still there. To see someone so gregarious unable to put his thoughts into words was sad. “He used to be scared to sleep, it was one of those funny little things that he’d say, ‘I don’t like going to sleep in case I don’t wake up’.“When we did concert tours together he had this insecurity about him that it wouldn’t be a good show. It was the same script every time and we used to argue all the time.“I was like the fourth son. We panned each other for hours and one day he got sick of it and went and sat at the other end of the house and (his sons) Matt, Guy and David, we all just sat there giggling.”TV icon Bert Newton also paid tribute.“Ernie and I started out together as young boys. He was one of a kind, had a fabulous career and our love goes out to his family, he’ll be sadly missed.”Singing star Normie Rowe knew Sigley well and described his death as “the passing of an era”.“Ernie was a long time part of the landscape of the Australian entertainment industry and for a whole generation or two that lived with him on television,” he said.“He was such a fun person. He wasn’t the Saturday matinee idol sort of person, he had a good face for radio, but he never forgot that he was so well connected with the general public. He didn’t look like he was from the posh side of tracks and that’s one of the things that always made him successful.”Entertainment reporter Peter Ford said Sigley held a unique position in the Australian entertainment industry.“His knockabout larrikin style was unique. Very few performers can get away with no research and no rehearsal yet still deliver something special. Ernie did.”Broadcaster and Countdown star Gavin Wood worked with Sigley on Channel 9’s short-lived Ernie Sigley Show.“Ernie was a great ringmaster,” Wood said. “He was absolutely incredible. Cheeky, too. He made you keep your wits about you, and he challenged you. He was a good bloke.”Radio and TV broadcaster John Blackman also paid tribute to his friend. “Vale Ernie Sigley, radio and television star. Ernie Sigley has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Condolences to Glenys and family.”A Channel 9 spokesperson said: “Today we have lost ‘the little Aussie battler’ Erin Sigley and our heartfelt sympathy goes to his family and friends. Ernie entertained millions of Australians. He was an Australian TV pioneer, who began his career in SA and at Nine a man who brightened our lives and brought laughter into our homes, we remember him fondly.”LITTLE LEGEND ERNIE SIGLEY PASSES AWAYBeloved broadcaster, singer and “little Aussie battler” Ernie Sigley has died.Sigley, 82, passed away on Sunday with his family, wife Glenys, and four children, Matthew, Guy, David, and Emma, by his side.Sigley battled Alzheimer’s disease for five years, and had been in residential care for most of that time. David Sigley, who is a Uniting Church minister, told the ABC last year: “He doesn’t know my name, but the love that me and him have will never go. It’s an important thing to remember and hold on to. One thing that gives me joy is that he gave so many people joy.”Ernest William Sigley – better known as “Ernie” – was born in Footscray, on September 2, 1938.In a career spanning six decades, Sigley’s talent and knowledge made him one of Australia’s most accomplished and award-winning entertainers. A television host, radio presenter and singer, Ernie’s diminutive stature, working-class roots and larrikin laugh often saw him referred to as the “little Aussie battler”.His entertainment career began in 1952 as a turntable operator at Melbourne radio station 3DB. Five years later, at the age of 19, he made his television debut hosting Teenage Mailbag on Channel 7 in Melbourne. Sigley also worked at the BBC and Radio Luxembourg.In 1964, Sigley travelled to London to interview The Beatles, but missed them by a day. When he caught up with the band in Adelaide, John Lennon sniped: “Hey Paul, this is the bloody idiot that flew all the way from Australia to interview us”. He hosted the The Ernie Sigley Show from 1974 to 1976, starting a long-term working partnership with performer Denise Drysdale. But his famous temper resulted in Kerry Packer sacking Sigley from the prime time show. Sigley’s “crime” was making a disparaging remark about cricket.Later, Sigley and Drysdale co-hosted the variety TV show, In Melbourne Today.They also had a chart-topping pop hit with the song, Hey Paula. In a 2019 interview, Drysdale recalled her bittersweet visit to a dear friend.“When I went to see him I sung the whole of Hey Paula, and he stood there and looked at me and got emotional,” Drysdale told the Starts At 60 website.“Then he gave me a big hug, so there was some recognition at that stage, but then I sat on the chair and he said, ‘God, you remind me of somebody’.”Drysdale told the Herald Sun in 2018: “(Sigley) had the most amazing brain. He knew so much about people whether they were an artist, a politician, a sportsman. He could recall the most extraordinary things and he never forgot.”She also said their chemistry together was a natural fit.“You can’t manufacture what we had together, we just flourished and he was very generous,” Drysdale said. “As long as they (the audience) were laughing he did not care who got the laugh.”Sigley returned to radio in 1996, helming 3AW’s top-rating afternoon radio program until his retirement in 2008.Sigley won 21 Logie Awards, and took home a Gold Logie in 1975. The award was presented to him by one of his idols, John Wayne.As a son of the west, Sigley was a diehard supporter of the Western Bulldogs. Sadly, the staunch Footscray fan didn’t attend the Doggies win over the Sydney Swans at the 2016 AFL grand final. By then, illness had started to take hold.“While he would love to have been at the MCG to watch his beloved Western Bulldogs make history, Ernie had to settle for the live television broadcast,” his family said.Ernie and Glenys, nee Glenys O’Brien, a former TV personality, were married for 47 years.Their son Matthew was a member of Australian indie pop-rock band The Earthmen, and played keyboards for Australian bands The Fauves and Drop City.On Sunday, Ernie’s family requested privacy, but also referred media to support the fight for a cure for dementia by visiting fightdementia.org.au
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