Barry Humphries
Acting
- Born:
- 1934-02-17
- Died:
- 2023-04-22
- 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
Filmography
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
Barry Humphries at the BBC
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
Parkinson at 50
Show of Titles
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Standing Up for Sunny
Magical Land of Oz
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
A Granny's Guide to the Modern World
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
Blinky Bill the Movie
Brilliant Creatures
The Last Impresario
Jack Irish: Dead Point
Justin and the Knights of Valour
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Kath & Kimderella
A Comedy Roast
Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford
Making Mary and Max
Mary and Max
Salvation
We Are Most Amused
Gaybo Laughs Back
Not Quite Hollywood
Q&A
I'd Do Anything
Who Do You Think You Are?
The Man Inside Dame Edna
Little Britain Down Under
The Dame Edna Treatment
The Graham Norton Show
It Started with Swap Shop
The One Show
Betjeman and Me
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
Da Kath & Kim Code
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
The Tony Danza Show
Parkinson
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
QI
Finding Nemo
Micallef Tonight
Nicholas Nickleby
The Osbournes
Hollywood Squares
Welcome to Woop Woop
Parkinson
Spice World
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Ally McBeal
The View
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
The Leading Man
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Napoleon
Immortal Beloved
The Team: A Season With McLaren
RTL Samstag Nacht
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Selling Hitler
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
Dame Edna's Hollywood
Pebble Mill
Boulevard Bio
An Audience with Jackie Mason
A Night on Mount Edna
Single Voices
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
The Dame Edna Experience
The Marsupials: The Howling III
Les Patterson Saves the World
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
Wogan
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Shock Treatment
The Rocky Horror Treatment
A Toast to Melbourne
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Russell Harty
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The South Bank Show
An Audience with...
The Getting of Wisdom
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Saturday Night Live
The Great MacArthy
Side by Side
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Percy's Progress
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
The Naked Bunyip
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Bedazzled
Omnibus
The Wednesday Play
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Le Bain Vorace (Dial P for Plughole)