Barry Humphries
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
Hollywood Squares
Finding Nemo
Bruce (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Great Goblin
Omnibus
Sir Les Patterson
Omnibus
Self
Ally McBeal
Claire Otoms
Immortal Beloved
Clemens Metternich
The Wednesday Play
The Osbournes
Self
A Toast to Melbourne
RTL Samstag Nacht
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Richard Deane
Nicholas Nickleby
Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
The Rocky Horror Treatment
(archive footage)
An Audience with Jackie Mason
Making Mary and Max
Self
Who Do You Think You Are?
Self
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
Contestant (Dame Edna Everage)
The Dame Edna Experience
Mary and Max
Narrator (voice)
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Charlie / Dame Edna
Napoleon
Kangaroo (voice)
Bedazzled
Envy
Russell Harty
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
Dame Edna Everage
A Night on Mount Edna
Dame Edna Everage
Kath & Kimderella
Dame Edna Everage
Salvation
Client
The Man Inside Dame Edna
Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Spice World
Kevin McMaxford
Not Quite Hollywood
Self
I'd Do Anything
Himself - Judge
The Naked Bunyip
Edna Everage
Show of Titles
"Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
The Great MacArthy
Col Ball-Miller
Justin and the Knights of Valour
Braulio (voice)
Les Patterson Saves the World
Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Our Guests at Heartland
Barry Humphries at the BBC
Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
The Team: A Season With McLaren
Dame Edna Everage
Percy's Progress
Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
Blinky Bill the Movie
Wombo (voice)
A Comedy Roast
Jack Irish: Dead Point
Justice Logan
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
Betjeman and Me
Howling III: The Marsupials
Academy Award Presenter
Side by Side
Rodney
Shock Treatment
Bert Schnick
Parkinson at 50
Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
The Dame Edna Treatment
Magical Land of Oz
Narrator (voice)
Standing Up for Sunny
Barry Humphries
The Leading Man
Humphrey Beal
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
A Granny's Guide to the Modern World
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
Self
Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford
Welcome to Woop Woop
Blind Wally
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Les Patterson
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Mr. Wainwright
We Are Most Amused
Self
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
Self (Archive)
Brilliant Creatures
Self
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
Les Patterson/Dame Edna
A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna/Sir Les Patterson
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
Les Patterson
Dame Edna's Hollywood
Dame Edna Everage
Selling Hitler
Rupert Murdoch
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Edna Everage
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
Dame Edna
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Self - Various Roles
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
Self - Edna Everage
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Da Kath & Kim Code
John Monk
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
Self
Little Britain Down Under
Dame Edna Everage
The Getting of Wisdom
Rev. Strachey
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Self
Gaybo Laughs Back
Dame Edna
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
Self/Dame Edna
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
Self
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
Self
It Started with Swap Shop
Self
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Dame Edna Everage
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Dame Edna Everidge
The Graham Norton Show
Self
Saturday Night Live
Dame Edna Everage
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Dame Edna
The One Show
Self
The One Show
Dame Edna Everage
The View
Self
QI
Self
QI
Self - Panellist (archive footage)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Dame Edna Everage
Wogan
Self
Q&A
Self - Panellist
Parkinson
Dame Edna Everage
The Tony Danza Show
Dame Edna
An Audience with...
Dame Edna Everage
An Audience with...
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
The South Bank Show
Self
Pebble Mill
Self
Boulevard Bio
Dame Edna
Micallef Tonight
Self