Dawn Lake

Dawn Alice Lake (20 January 1927 – 1 January 2006) was an Australian television comedian, singer, entertainer and actor, whose career spanned more than four decades. Bert Newton described her as "our greatest comedienne - Australia's Lucille Ball". She was particularly associated in show business with her husband Bobby Limb.

Life

Dawn Lake was born to a Balmain working-class family, the youngest of four children. She married entertainer Bobby Limb in 1953 and they had one daughter, Debbie, born in 1955.

She was married to Limb for 46 years, though the marriage had its ups and downs, including a separation for a year in 1973. She lost her brother, David, to suicide in 1965. Bobby Limb died in 1999, after which she withdrew from performing life.

Career

She started her career as a singer in a local dance hall when she was 21, and soon after was contracted to Joe Taylor's Celebrity Club circuit. She met Bobby Limb at this time. After their marriage in 1953, they went to the UK where she had won a contract to sing with the BBC Show Band. Their careers went well in England over the next four years, with Lake appearing frequently as a guest on the Cyril Stapleton radio show, and with the couple appearing at the London Palladium and on the Moss Empire circuit. On their return to Australia in 1957 she appeared on the Tivoli circuit, and sang on 2UE and ABC radio stations, frequently with Bobby Limb's band.