It's a big year full of anniversaries for Tom Burlinson who is one of Australia's most popular and successful actors and all-round entertainers.
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Can you believe that this year marks the 40th anniversary of his movie Phar Lap in which he played the the much-loved trainer Tommy Woodcock? It's also 25 years since Tom created his Frank Sinatra show.
And last year marked the 40th anniversary of another big movie, The Man From Snowy River in which he played the man.
Tom's career in show business spans more than 45 years.
"It's definitely more than 45 years because I was in theatre and television before being cast in the title role in the feature film The Man from Snowy River and I graduated from NIDA in 1976," he said.
A succession of lead roles in other Australian and international films soon followed throughout the 1980s.
In 1997 Tom hosted the TV series Animal Hospital for the Nine Network. He then appeared in concert at Taronga Zoo in A Tribute to Frank Sinatra.
This prompted Tom to create Frank - A Life in Song, under its original title of Frank - The Sinatra Story in Song.
The initial two week booking at the Seymour Centre in June 1998 was extended to five weeks and successful seasons in Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Brisbane and Perth were followed by sell-out returns at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney and the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne.
"It was meant to be a celebration of the great man's life," Tom said. "But, sadly, Frank died two weeks before we opened and it became a memorial.
"We didn't know how the show would go but tickets sales went off. Everyone wanted to see it."
The success of Frank led to Tom being kept busy performing in concert at a variety of venues for charities, corporations and other organisations around the country throughout 1999 and 2000.
He reworked the show for the 2001 Adelaide Cabaret Festival and another return engagement at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, playing to sell-out houses.
In 1991 he was cast by Tina Sinatra to sing the voice of her father as a young man in the Warner Bros mini series Sinatra.
This led to a whole new development in Tom's career - initially in stage musicals and eventually to the creation of his own show Frank - A Life in Song, a celebration of the music and career of Frank Sinatra in 1998.
"I heard that Tina was casting for the the voice of the younger Frank for the series and I was encouraged by a friend to apply which I did via video," Tom said.
"I've always loved Frank Sinatra and grew up listening to him with my parents in the late 1950s. We had one of his records that had a young Frank wearing his famous hat.
"My parents told me that as a toddler I would point to the album cover and ask them to play 'the man with the hat'.
"So, I wrote my first ever song and called it The Man With the Hat. I got on to the Midday Show with Ray Martin and performed it. I was as nervous as a cat singing on live TV - I'd never done it before.
"I included the song on my audition tape and sent it to Tina Sinatra's production company and scored an invitation to go to Los Angeles. I sang some of Frank's earlier songs and Tina was in tears.
"At that stage, I'd never sung professionally and Americans reckoned that Harry Connick Jnr would get the role. He didn't. I did and the Americans were saying: 'The guy on the horse can sing?'
"Yes he could sing and when you see Philip Casnoff singing, he is lip syncing me."
"If it wasn't for Tina, I don't know where my career would have taken me."
For the next several years this show was performed all around Australia as well as in Toronto, Canada, and at Wynn Resort, Las Vegas, in 2007.
Tom was thrilled to be cast in the role of Leo Bloom in the Mel Brooks' musical The Producers, which played for more than 500 performances in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney during 2004 and 2005.
From 2007 to 2009 Tom appeared as a judge in the hit TV show for the Seven Network Australia's Got Talent.
In 2010 Tom created a new music show celebrating the greats of vocal swing called Now We're Swingin'!. This was seen in cities and regional centres in every state and territory in the country.
During this time Tom was cast by director Simon Wincer in his feature film The Cup, filmed in and around Melbourne. It was released in 2011.
From the end of 2015 Tom helped to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra by performing the classic live album Sinatra at the Sands at major venues around Australia.
In 2017 he co-starred with Melinda Schneider in the live show Young at Heart at prestigious concert halls in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
The following year saw the creation of Swing That Music, which played at The State Theatre, Sydney, and the Concert Hall Queensland Performing Arts Centre with Emma Pask, Ed Wilson and The Sydney All Star Big Band.
After returning to the stage in Sydney and Brisbane in 2019 as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago, Tom created a new live show based on the Great American Song Book, called Swingin' the Great Standards, which he performed with a 20-piece orchestra on the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.
"What an amazing journey," Tom said.
Therese Murray
Wordsmith. Senior journalist. Editor. I have a proven track record in helping people and communities solve their problems. My career is all about telling stories.
Wordsmith. Senior journalist. Editor. I have a proven track record in helping people and communities solve their problems. My career is all about telling stories.
