Anne Wills, starting on Channel 9 Adelaide, holds Australian TV record for most Logie popularity awards

Anne Wills with her many Logie popularity awards and (inset) singing with sister Susan in performances that included a concert tour of South Vietnam during the war.

Anne (“Willsy”) Wills holds the record for the most Australian Logies award wins, with 19 for most popular South Australian female personality (1968-92) and one as producer of Clapperboard.

Born in Victoria, Wills grew up on Ocean Island near Nauru. A year after her family moved to Adelaide in 1963, Wills had been picked by NWS Channel 9 executives during a Telethon Quest to be the station’s first weather girl.

Next steps were being chosen by Ernie Sigley as the hostess on his early version of Wheel of Fortune and then joining the on lineup on Sigley’s Adelaide Tonight (1967-73) and becoming its co star two nights a week.

When Sigley travelled overseas in 1970, Wills became the first female in South Australia to host Adelaide Tonight.

Wills and sister Susan entertained the troops in Vietnam during the war as The Wills Sisters. They visited almost every American and Australian base in South Vietnam.

As well as appearing on national television programs such as In Melbourne Tonight, The Bert Newton Show, Beauty and the Beast and Good Morning Australia, Wills has presented and appeared on many Adelaide-based TV programs.

Her Movie Scene new movie release show ran for 17 years between 1981 and 1998. She regularly attended the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Her other movie shows were Clapperboard (1980) and  Close Up with Willsy (1998.

She was also the weather presenter for SAS7 Seven Nightly News  and had a regular weekly afternoon segment on Adelaide AM station 5AA, featuring celebrity gossip.