DON Lane will be remembered as the original Lanky Yank, a Jewish emigre from New York made good, the charming but voluble TV host and song-and-dance man who entertained a generation of Australians.

"He had sex appeal," fellow TV legend and on-air sidekick Bert Newton said yesterday.

"The last of the vaudevillians," added another, Kamahl.

But the sad truth of his passing yesterday, aged 75, is that Lane's final months were spent in private anguish in Montefiore Nursing Home in Sydney's Randwick, consumed by the insidious disease that is Alzheimer's.

His death, attributed to a dementia-related illness, was announced yesterday by agent Jayne Ambrose, who was briefly his wife 22 years ago but had remained a friend.

She was at his bedside when he died shortly before midday alongside their son, PJ, himself a promising performer and basketballer, and long-term confidante and manager Jennie Jobson.

"We are all devastated," Ambrose told The Australian, acknowledging that this "hideous disease" had forced them to discourage visitors in recent months.

"He was a fabulous father and friend. Australia has lost a great man," she said.

And, the consensus was yesterday, a great entertainer too.

Speaking outside the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, where he is performing in the stage musical Wicked, Newton said Lane was the most generous performer he had worked with.

The pair had joined forces on the hit variety program The Don Lane Show in 1975, with Newton greeting Lane on air with the words "Go home, Yank".

"He didn't mind where the laughs were coming from or who was getting the laughs," an emotional Newton said.

Kamahl, a regular guest on The Don Lane Show, was at the cardiologist yesterday when he heard the news.

"He took up where Graham Kennedy left off," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, he is the last of the vaudevillians. He was multi-talented and multi-faceted. He could tell a great joke, dance, sing and host a show so successfully."

Such sheer versatility was also recognised by Channel Nine boss David Gyngell, who described Lane yesterday as one of the country's finest "all-round" entertainers.

"Don Lane was a stalwart of the industry and a great mate to so many of us here at Nine," Gyngell said.

Born Morton Donald Isaacson in New York, Lane left New York for Australia in 1965 and initially built his career as a Las Vegas-style showman. His rendition of Ya Got Trouble from The Music Man would become his signature.

But it was on the burgeoning medium of television that Lane made his name -- after an almost accidental start.

Invited to fill in for six weeks as a host of Nine's Tonight Show in 1965, he became permanent a month later.

In all he would win 15 Logies, and courted controversy too, employing then barrister Marcus Einfeld to successfully defend a charge of importing marijuana.

As host of The Don Lane Show, Lane would become Australia's highest paid performer, interviewing the likes of prime ministers Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke, and international stars Liza Minnelli, Dean Martin and boxer Muhammad Ali.

The executive producer for six of those years was Peter Faiman, who went on to direct Crocodile Dundee and stayed in close contact with Lane in his final years.

Faiman said he loved Lane's street sense. "He was tremendously fatalistic, tremendously supportive of other people, subjugated his ego for other people, and was an avid entertainer who deeply touched the people he worked with."

Away from television, Lane's passion for rugby league -- and the South Sydney Rabbitohs -- was also legendary.

Invited to address the players after a dismal first half, he famously smashed a $4000 gold watch by throwing it against a wall in disgust.

Lane's son PJ, a promising entertainer and sportsman who surrendered a basketball career in the US and Europe to move home to be close to his father, was too distraught to comment yesterday. He was to perform in a charity concert in Melbourne last night but withdrew after his father's death.

Lane will be farewelled in a Jewish ceremony this morning at Macquarie Park, attended only by his closest family and friends, with PJ expected to announce a more public memorial service next month.

Additional reporting: Lanai Vasek