Name
Barry Humphries
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1934-02-17
Deathday
2023-04-22 (89 years old)
Place of Birth
Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia
Biography
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE (17 February 1934 - 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, perhaps best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the Court of St. James's.
He was a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and an accomplished landscape painter. For his delivery of dadaist and absurdist humour to millions, biographer Anne Pender described Humphries in 2010 as not only the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin. Humphries' characters, especially Dame Edna Everage, have brought him international renown, and he had appeared in numerous films, stage productions and television shows. Originally conceived as a dowdy Moonee Ponds housewife who caricatured Australian suburban complacency and insularity, Edna had evolved over four decades to become a satire of stardom, the gaudily dressed, acid-tongued, egomaniacal, internationally feted Housewife Gigastar, Dame Edna Everage. Humphries' other major satirical character creation was the archetypal Australian bloke Barry McKenzie, who originated as the hero of a comic strip about Australians in London (with drawings by Nicholas Garland) which was first published in Private Eye magazine.
The stories about "Bazza" (Humphries' nickname, as well as an Australian term of endearment for the name Barry) gave wide circulation to Australian slang, particularly jokes about drinking and its consequences (much of which was invented by Humphries), and the character went on to feature in two Australian films, in which he was portrayed by Barry Crocker. Humphries' other satirical characters include the "priapic and inebriated cultural attaché" Sir Les Patterson, who has "continued to bring worldwide discredit upon Australian arts and culture, while contributing as much to the Australian vernacular as he has borrowed from it", gentle, grandfatherly "returned gentleman" Sandy Stone, iconoclastic 1960s underground film-maker Martin Agrippa, Paddington socialist academic Neil Singleton, sleazy trade union official Lance Boyle, high-pressure art salesman Morrie O'Connor and failed tycoon Owen Steele.
Humphries died following complications from hip surgery at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney on 22 April 2023.
Known For
7.8
Nemo, an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef ho...
7.381
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit enjoying his quiet life, is swept into an epic quest by Gandalf th...
7.879
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl li...
7.099
A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painfu...
5.289
Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they're accustome...
4.5
A strange race of human-like marsupials appear suddenly in Australia, and a sociologist wh...
5.911
A heart-warming tale about friendship, honor & courage, which sees a young boy become a ma...
6.843
Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life, struggles to save his family an...
5.446
Blinky Bill is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of...
- 2003 Finding Nemo as Bruce (voice)
- 1972 The Adventures of Barry McKenzie as Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
- 1974 Barry McKenzie Holds His Own as Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
- 1998 Welcome to Woop Woop as Blind Wally
- 2009 Mary and Max as Narrator (voice)
- 1981 Shock Treatment as Bert Schnick
- 1994 Immortal Beloved as Clemens Metternich
- 2004 Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball? as Self - Edna Everage
- 1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as Our Guests at Heartland
- 1996 The Leading Man as Humphrey Beal
- 2005 Da Kath & Kim Code as John Monk
- 2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as The Great Goblin
- 1984 Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage as Dame Edna/Les Patterson
- 1967 Bedazzled as Envy
- 2023 Barry Humphries at the BBC as Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
- 1970 The Naked Bunyip as Edna Everage
- 1976 Pleasure at Her Majesty's as Edna Everage
- 1982 The Secret Policeman's Other Ball as Self - Various Roles
- 1974 Percy's Progress as Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
- 1995 Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook as Self
- 2013 Justin and the Knights of Valour as Braulio (voice)
- 2003 Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers as Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
- 2021 Parkinson at 50 as Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
- 1975 Side by Side as Rodney
- 1975 The Great MacArthy as Col Ball-Miller
- 2009 Salvation as Client
- 2014 Jack Irish: Dead Point as Justice Logan
- 1980 An Audience with Dame Edna Everage as Dame Edna
- 1993 Selling Hitler as Rupert Murdoch
- 1988 One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage as Dame Edna Everage
- 1987 Les Patterson Saves the World as Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
- 2023 Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh as Self
- 2019 Dame Edna Rules The Waves as Dame Edna Everidge
- 1997 Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills as Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
- 2008 We Are Most Amused as Self
- 1990 An Audience with Jackie Mason
- 2006 Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’ as Self
- 2015 Blinky Bill the Movie as Wombo (voice)
- 1977 The Getting of Wisdom as Rev. Strachey
- 1986 An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna as Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
- 2002 Nicholas Nickleby as Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
- 2016 Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches as Self
- 1997 Spice World as Kevin McMaxford
- 2016 Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie as Charlie / Dame Edna
- 1981 A Toast to Melbourne
- 2015 Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show as Self
- 1992 Joan Rivers: Abroad in London as Dame Edna Everage
- 2019 Standing Up for Sunny as Barry Humphries
- 1984 A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage as Dame Edna/Sir Les Patterson
- 2008 Not Quite Hollywood as Self
- 1968 The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom as Mr. Wainwright
- 1984 Dr. Fischer of Geneva as Richard Deane
- 2012 Kath & Kimderella as Dame Edna Everage
- 1995 Napoleon as Kangaroo (voice)
- 1987 The Marsupials: The Howling III as Academy Award Presenter
- 2009 Making Mary and Max as Self
- 2006 It Started with Swap Shop as Self
- 1981 The Rocky Horror Treatment as (archive footage)
- 2021 Show of Titles as "Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
- 2007 Little Britain Down Under as Dame Edna Everage
- 1996 Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant as Les Patterson
- 2008 The Man Inside Dame Edna as Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
- 2023 Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs as Self (Archive)
- 1997 Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway as Les Patterson/Dame Edna
- 1991 A Late Lunch With Sir Les as Les Patterson
- 1988 Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch as Self/Dame Edna
- 2008 Gaybo Laughs Back as Dame Edna
- 1984 Royal Variety Performance 1984
- 1990 A Night on Mount Edna as Dame Edna Everage
- 2014 The Last Impresario as Self
- 1954 Le Bain Vorace (Dial P for Plughole)
- 2004 The Tony Danza Show ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna
- 1997 Ally McBeal ( 12 episodes ) as Claire Otoms
- 2006 The One Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 QI ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1997 The View ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1978 The South Bank Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1992 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ( 2 episodes )
- 2007 The Dame Edna Treatment ( 6 episodes )
- 1993 Late Night with Conan O'Brien ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna
- 1964 The Wednesday Play ( 1 episode )
- 1992 Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch ( 12 episodes ) as Dame Edna
- 1991 Pebble Mill ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1987 The Dame Edna Experience ( 13 episodes )
- 1980 Russell Harty ( 1 episode )
- 2006 Betjeman and Me ( 1 episode )
- 2010 Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford ( 1 episode )
- 2010 A Comedy Roast ( 1 episode )
- 1975 Saturday Night Live ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 1992 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ( 5 episodes ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 2014 Brilliant Creatures ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2008 I'd Do Anything ( 22 episodes ) as Himself - Judge
- 1991 Dame Edna's Hollywood ( 3 episodes ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 2008 Who Do You Think You Are? ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2006 The One Show ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 2007 The Graham Norton Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1978 An Audience with... ( 2 episodes ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 1978 An Audience with... ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
- 1998 Hollywood Squares ( 5 episodes ) as Self - Panelist
- 1982 Wogan ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1962 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 2016 A Granny's Guide to the Modern World ( 3 episodes )
- 2013 The Great Comic Relief Bake Off ( 1 episode ) as Contestant (Dame Edna Everage)
- 2003 Micallef Tonight ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2019 Magical Land of Oz ( 3 episodes ) as Narrator (voice)
- 1993 RTL Samstag Nacht ( 1 episode )
- 2008 Q&A ( 1 episode ) as Self - Panellist
- 1998 Parkinson ( 3 episodes ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 1993 The Team: A Season With McLaren ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna Everage
- 1962 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1967 Omnibus ( 1 episode ) as Sir Les Patterson
- 1967 Omnibus ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1991 Boulevard Bio ( 1 episode ) as Dame Edna
- 2002 The Osbournes ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 QI ( 1 episode ) as Self - Panellist (archive footage)
- 1979 Friday Night, Saturday Morning ( 1 episode )
- 1990 Single Voices ( 1 episode ) as Sandy Stone
