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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Barry Humphries, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
all 106
Movies 63
TV Shows 43
self 31
Writer 6
Voice 6
Creator 1

Barry Humphries at the BBC (2023)

Parkinson at 50 (2021)

Show of Titles (2021)

Dame Edna Rules The Waves (2019)

Standing Up for Sunny (2019)

Magical Land of Oz (2019)

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)

Dragged (2016)

Blinky Bill the Movie (2015)

Jack Irish: Dead Point (2014)

Justin and the Knights of Valour (2013)

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off (2013)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Kath & Kimderella (2012)

Billy T Te Movie (2011)

Mary and Max (2009)

Salvation (2009)

Q&A (2008)

I'd Do Anything (2008)

Little Britain Down Under (2007)

The One Show (2006)

Da Kath & Kim Code (2005)

the Secret Policeman's Ball? (2004)

The Tony Danza Show (2004)

Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers (2003)

QI (2003)

Finding Nemo (2003)

Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2002)

Welcome to Woop Woop (1998)

Parkinson (1998)

Spice World (1997)

Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills (1997)

Ally McBeal (1997)

The Leading Man (1996)

Napoleon (1995)

Drag-Attack (1995)

Immortal Beloved (1994)

The Team: A Season With McLaren (1993)

Selling Hitler (1993)

Joan Rivers: Abroad in London (1992)

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)

Dame Edna's Hollywood (1991)

One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage (1988)

Howling III: The Marsupials (1987)

Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna (1986)

Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage (1984)

Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1984)

Wogan (1982)

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982)

Shock Treatment (1981)

The Rocky Horror Treatment (1981)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

An Audience with... (1978)

The Getting of Wisdom (1977)

Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976)

Saturday Night Live (1975)

The Great MacArthy (1975)

Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974)

Percy's Progress (1974)

The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972)

Parkinson (1971)

The Naked Bunyip (1970)

The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968)

Omnibus (1967)

Not Only... But Also (1964)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

I'd Do Anything
Gallery


Information
Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1934-02-17
Deathday
2023-04-22 (89 years old)
Birth Place
Kew, Australia
Relationships
Diane Millstead (1979 - 1989), Brenda Wright (1955 - 1957), Rosalind Tong (1959 - 1970), Elizabeth Spender (1990 - 2023)
Children
Oscar Humphries
Citizenships
Australia
Also Known As
Dame Edna Everage, John Barry Humphries, Edna Everage, Les Patterson, Barry McKenzie, Sandy Stone, Bazza McKenzie
Awards
PEN/Ackerley Prize, Australian National Living Treasure, James Joyce Award, James Joyce Awards, Centenary Medal, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Officer of the Order of Australia, Companion of the Order of Australia, Sydney Theatre Awards, Theatre World Special Award
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