Michael Hayden Walsh , is a former Australian radio and television presenter, currently focussed on owning and operating live theatres. His current career includes theatre production in London and Australia.
Early life
Walsh completed his education at Xavier College in Melbourne, before studying Pharmacy and Arts at Melbourne University where he was heavily involved in student theatre revues.
Television and radio career
Prior to starring on television Walsh was a disc jockey, on 1260 3SR Shepparton and 3XY Melbourne, and a "Good Guy" on Sydney commercial radio station 2SM. He was the host of The Mike Walsh Show from 1973 until 1985. The enormously popular program won 24 Logies and Walsh the Gold Logie. The program is also renowned for introducing fellow Gold Logie winning personality Jeanne Little in 1974. The Mike Walsh Show became so popular in the midday time slot that eventually it seemed a good idea to move it to a night time format to try to reinvigorate night time variety. The idea was to keep the midday show going but with a new host, and transfer the popularity of the Mike Walsh Show to the night time slot. There was much speculation about who the host of the new midday show would be and it became the ‘water cooler’ conversation around Australia. The day came when Mike Walsh would announce who the new midday host would be. On his midday show Mike said “there was only one choice for the new host and frankly if he had said no, we wouldn’t have gone to night time. The host of the midday show for next year will be….Ray Martin.” The announcement was greeted with rapturous applause and cheering. Ray Martin was already a very popular 60 Minutes reporter. The Midday Show with Ray Martin ran for 13 years. The nighttime show with Mike Walsh was a failure and was cancelled after a few weeks. He returned to television for a 12-week stint chat and music show on the ABC in 1987. He has the distinction of being the entertainer to win a Gold Logie and Sammy award in the same year. He has 24 Logies, seven Sammys in total.
Theatre
He was the Executive Producer of two highly successful musical Nunsense and Anything Goes in Australia. From 2006 Walsh has spent time in Sydney and London producing theatre shows across Australia and on London's West End. This included:
In 1977 he purchased Richmond's Regent Theatre, in 1982 built a twin cinema complex in Penrith then purchased two other cinemas and the Avalon. He has been the owner of Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne since 2000, and funded and oversaw its restoration. Walsh also owns the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, a 1935 art deco six-cinema complex in Cremorne, Sydney which he restored at a cost of $2.5 million, and which features a 1925 Wurlitzer orchestral pipe organ. From 1996 he has financed the Mike Walsh Fellowships for young performers to hone their skills overseas and in Australia. From 2006 onwards he has provided a $50,000 each year for the fellowships. By 2015 this has added up to over $700,000 to more than 90 Fellows.
