AAP


Australian television icon Bert Newton is recovering in intensive care after undergoing a successful quadruple heart bypass operation.


The five-and-a-half-hour surgery went "according to plan", Melbourne's Epworth Hospital has confirmed.


"Bert Newton's heart surgery has been completed. His surgeon said everything proceeded according to plan and he is very happy with how things went," Epworth said in a statement.


"Bert is now resting comfortably in intensive care (ICU).


"We are keeping a close eye on him in the ICU."


Newton, 74, went under the knife at 6am (AEDT) on Saturday.


The television and stage veteran had a heart scare earlier this year in Singapore, where he was performing eight shows a week in the musical Wicked.


He spent a week in hospital. Doctors cleared a blockage in his heart.


Newton began his showbiz career as a 15-year-old junior announcer on Melbourne radio station 3XY and began his long-term association with the Nine network in 1959 when he hosted In Melbourne Today.


He soon made regular appearances on In Melbourne Tonight as he struck up a partnership with Graham Kennedy and has been a fixture on Australian television and stage ever since.


He has four gold Logies and was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame in 1988.