His father, Conrad, was a baritone opera singer, who worked with the prominent theatre company of J.C. Williamson's, who became a radio broadcaster and station manager of the ABC, who had served in World War I and was wounded during the Battle of the Somme.[4][5] His mother, Hazel, was an opera singer.[6]
Tony following his elder brother, journalist Michael Charlton,[7] was born in Sydney. and was educated at Scotch College, Perth, where he captained the First XI cricket team.[4][5] After moving to Melbourne, he set his sights on the South Melbourne Cricket Club, but was deterred by the high standard of players already on the team,[5] subsequently turning his attention to radio broadcasting with the encouragement of his father.[5]
Career
Early radio
Charlton began his career at Melbourne radio station 3AW.[1] There he joined veteran presenter Norman Banks for the stations first Australian rules football broadcast, a night match between Essendon and Richmond at the Melbourne Showgrounds in 1952.[6][8] He later joined John Clemenger Advertising to host the London Stores Football Show and The Kia-Ora Sports Parade, broadcast on 3UZ and 3KZ respectively.[1][6][9][10]
Television broadcasting
Charlton moved to Channel 9 to cover the 1956 Summer Olympics. In the same year he presented more than 300 two-minute radio interviews with Melbourne identities, targeted at a national American audience. These broadcasts, commissioned by the Victorian Promotion Committee were aired on the NBC radio program Monitor.[11][12] The following year he joined Channel 7 as a commentator for the first televised Victorian Football League matches.[1] In 1960 he was lured back to Channel 9, where he hosted The Tony Charlton Football Show, a program broadcast on Sunday afternoons in competition with Channel 7's World of Sport.[4][13][14] One of the most memorable interviews on the program was with an emotional Norm Smith, following his sacking as coach of the Melbourne Football Club.[15] He also presented a weekly interview program on Channel 9 over a period of four years.[11][16][17] The program, Interview with Tony Charlton, was broadcast nationally on Sunday nights with the subjects including British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and actor Gregory Peck.[16] In 1967, he broadcast live from Cheviot Beach following the disappearance of prime minister Harold Holt.[15]
Notable televised events that Charlton hosted included the Royal Charity Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at the Sydney Opera House in 1980, a broadcast from Gallipoli for Australia Live in 1988, the VP Day 50th anniversary in 1995 and the Caltex Sports Star of the Year over a period of 30 years.[11][19][20]
Charlton was married to wife Loris.[5] He had three children; Jon, Robyn and Cathy.[22]
In 1969 The Australian Women's Weekly reported that he was training to be a pilot and was the owner of two restaurants.[23]
Tony owned the Flight Deck on Toorak Rd in South Yarra. Theme based restaurant on a Boeing 727 with views of cities from all around the world.
Charlton died on 17 December 2012 at the age of 83 from bowel cancer.[1][5]
In 2003 he was upgraded within the Order of Australia to Member level (AM), "for service to the community through the organisation and promotion of fundraising events to support a range of health, research, rehabilitation and veteran groups in Australia".[26]