Barry Humphries
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Feb 17, 1934
- Died
- Apr 22, 2023 (aged 89)
- Place of birth
- Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia
- Credits
- 112
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
Finding Nemo
2003Movie
Bruce (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012Movie
The Great Goblin
Mary and Max
2009Movie
Narrator (voice)
Saturday Night Live
1975TV
Dame Edna Everage
Spice World
1997Movie
Kevin McMaxford
Ally McBeal
1997TV
Claire Otoms
Filmography
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
2023Movie
Self
Barry Humphries at the BBC
2023Movie
Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
2023Movie
Self (Archive)
Parkinson at 50
2021Movie
Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
Show of Titles
2021Movie
"Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
2019Movie
Dame Edna Everidge
Standing Up for Sunny
2019Movie
Barry Humphries
Magical Land of Oz
2019TV
Narrator (voice)
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
2016Movie
Self
A Granny's Guide to the Modern World
2016TV
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
2016Movie
Charlie / Dame Edna
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
2015Movie
Self
Blinky Bill the Movie
2015Movie
Wombo (voice)
Brilliant Creatures
2014TV
Self
The Last Impresario
2014Movie
Self
Jack Irish: Dead Point
2014Movie
Justice Logan
Justin and the Knights of Valour
2013Movie
Braulio (voice)
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
2013TV
Contestant (Dame Edna Everage)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012Movie
The Great Goblin
Kath & Kimderella
2012Movie
Dame Edna Everage
A Comedy Roast
2010TV
Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford
2010TV
Making Mary and Max
2009Movie
Self
Mary and Max
2009Movie
Narrator (voice)
Salvation
2009Movie
Client
We Are Most Amused
2008Movie
Self
Gaybo Laughs Back
2008Movie
Dame Edna
Not Quite Hollywood
2008Movie
Self
Q&A
2008TV
Self - Panellist
I'd Do Anything
2008TV
Himself - Judge
Who Do You Think You Are?
2008TV
Self
The Man Inside Dame Edna
2008Movie
Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Little Britain Down Under
2007Movie
Dame Edna Everage
The Dame Edna Treatment
2007TV
The Graham Norton Show
2007TV
Self
It Started with Swap Shop
2006Movie
Self
The One Show
2006TV
Self, Dame Edna Everage
Betjeman and Me
2006TV
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
2006Movie
Self
Da Kath & Kim Code
2005Movie
John Monk
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
2004Movie
Self - Edna Everage
The Tony Danza Show
2004TV
Dame Edna
Parkinson
2004TV
Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
2003Movie
Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
QI
2003TV
Self, Self - Panellist (archive footage)
Finding Nemo
2003Movie
Bruce (voice)
Micallef Tonight
2003TV
Self
Nicholas Nickleby
2002Movie
Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
The Osbournes
2002TV
Self
Hollywood Squares
1998TV
Self - Panelist
Welcome to Woop Woop
1998Movie
Blind Wally
Parkinson
1998TV
Dame Edna Everage
Spice World
1997Movie
Kevin McMaxford
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
1997Movie
Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
Ally McBeal
1997TV
Claire Otoms
The View
1997TV
Self
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
1997Movie
Les Patterson/Dame Edna
The Leading Man
1996Movie
Humphrey Beal
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
1996Movie
Les Patterson
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
1995Movie
Self
Napoleon
1995Movie
Kangaroo (voice)
Immortal Beloved
1994Movie
Clemens Metternich
The Team: A Season With McLaren
1993TV
Dame Edna Everage
RTL Samstag Nacht
1993TV
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993TV
Dame Edna
Selling Hitler
1993Movie
Rupert Murdoch
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
1992Movie
Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
1992TV
Dame Edna
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992TV
Dame Edna Everage
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
1991Movie
Les Patterson
Dame Edna's Hollywood
1991TV
Dame Edna Everage
Pebble Mill
1991TV
Self
Boulevard Bio
1991TV
Dame Edna
An Audience with Jackie Mason
1990Movie
A Night on Mount Edna
1990Movie
Dame Edna Everage
Single Voices
1990TV
Sandy Stone
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1988Movie
Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
1988Movie
Self/Dame Edna
The Dame Edna Experience
1987TV
The Marsupials: The Howling III
1987Movie
Academy Award Presenter
Les Patterson Saves the World
1987Movie
Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
1986Movie
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1984Movie
Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Royal Variety Performance 1984
1984Movie
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
1984Movie
Richard Deane
A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
1984Movie
Dame Edna/Sir Les Patterson
Wogan
1982TV
Self
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
1982Movie
Self - Various Roles
Shock Treatment
1981Movie
Bert Schnick
The Rocky Horror Treatment
1981Movie
(archive footage)
A Toast to Melbourne
1981Movie
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1980Movie
Dame Edna
Russell Harty
1980TV
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
1979TV
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1978Movie
Our Guests at Heartland
The South Bank Show
1978TV
Self
An Audience with...
1978TV
Dame Edna Everage, Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
The Getting of Wisdom
1977Movie
Rev. Strachey
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
1976Movie
Edna Everage
Saturday Night Live
1975TV
Dame Edna Everage
The Great MacArthy
1975Movie
Col Ball-Miller
Side by Side
1975Movie
Rodney
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
1974Movie
Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Percy's Progress
1974Movie
Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
1972Movie
Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
The Naked Bunyip
1970Movie
Edna Everage
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
1968Movie
Mr. Wainwright
Bedazzled
1967Movie
Envy
Omnibus
1967TV
Sir Les Patterson, Self
The Wednesday Play
1964TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962TV
Dame Edna Everage, Self
Le Bain Vorace (Dial P for Plughole)
1954Movie