Barry Humphries
Acting • Born 1934-02-17 – Died 2023-04-22
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.
Filmography
113 credits
Finding Nemo
Movie • 2003
Bruce (voice)
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Movie • 1972
Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Movie • 1974
Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Welcome to Woop Woop
Movie • 1998
Blind Wally
Mary and Max
Movie • 2009
Narrator (voice)
Shock Treatment
Movie • 1981
Bert Schnick
Immortal Beloved
Movie • 1994
Clemens Metternich
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
Movie • 2004
Self - Edna Everage
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Movie • 1978
Our Guests at Heartland
The Leading Man
Movie • 1996
Humphrey Beal
Da Kath & Kim Code
Movie • 2005
John Monk
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Movie • 2012
The Great Goblin
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Movie • 1984
Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Bedazzled
Movie • 1967
Envy
Barry Humphries at the BBC
Movie • 2023
Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
The Naked Bunyip
Movie • 1970
Edna Everage
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Movie • 1976
Edna Everage
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Movie • 1982
Self - Various Roles
Percy's Progress
Movie • 1974
Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Movie • 1995
Self
Justin and the Knights of Valour
Movie • 2013
Braulio (voice)
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
Movie • 2003
Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
Parkinson at 50
Movie • 2021
Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
Side by Side
Movie • 1975
Rodney
The Great MacArthy
Movie • 1975
Col Ball-Miller
Salvation
Movie • 2009
Client
Jack Irish: Dead Point
Movie • 2014
Justice Logan
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Movie • 1980
Dame Edna
Selling Hitler
Movie • 1993
Rupert Murdoch
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Movie • 1988
Dame Edna Everage
Les Patterson Saves the World
Movie • 1987
Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
Movie • 2023
Self
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Movie • 2019
Dame Edna Everidge
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Movie • 1997
Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
We Are Most Amused
Movie • 2008
Self
An Audience with Jackie Mason
Movie • 1990
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
Movie • 2006
Self
Blinky Bill the Movie
Movie • 2015
Wombo (voice)
The Getting of Wisdom
Movie • 1977
Rev. Strachey
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Movie • 1986
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
Nicholas Nickleby
Movie • 2002
Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
Movie • 2016
Self
Spice World
Movie • 1997
Kevin McMaxford
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Movie • 2016
Charlie / Dame Edna
A Toast to Melbourne
Movie • 1981
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
Movie • 2015
Self
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
Movie • 1992
Dame Edna Everage
Standing Up for Sunny
Movie • 2019
Barry Humphries
A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
Movie • 1984
Dame Edna/Sir Les Patterson
Not Quite Hollywood
Movie • 2008
Self
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Movie • 1968
Mr. Wainwright
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Movie • 1984
Richard Deane
Kath & Kimderella
Movie • 2012
Dame Edna Everage
Napoleon
Movie • 1995
Kangaroo (voice)
Howling III: The Marsupials
Movie • 1987
Academy Award Presenter
Making Mary and Max
Movie • 2009
Self
It Started with Swap Shop
Movie • 2006
Self
The Rocky Horror Treatment
Movie • 1981
(archive footage)
Show of Titles
Movie • 2021
"Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
Little Britain Down Under
Movie • 2007
Dame Edna Everage
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Movie • 1996
Les Patterson
The Man Inside Dame Edna
Movie • 2008
Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
Movie • 2023
Self (Archive)
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
Movie • 1997
Les Patterson/Dame Edna
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
Movie • 1991
Les Patterson
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
Movie • 1988
Self/Dame Edna
Gaybo Laughs Back
Movie • 2008
Dame Edna
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Movie • 1984
A Night on Mount Edna
Movie • 1990
Dame Edna Everage
The Tony Danza Show
TV • 2004
Dame Edna
Ally McBeal
TV • 1997
Claire Otoms
The One Show
TV • 2006
Self
QI
TV • 2003
Self
The View
TV • 1997
Self
The South Bank Show
TV • 1978
Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
The Dame Edna Treatment
TV • 2007
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Dame Edna
The Wednesday Play
TV • 1964
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
TV • 1992
Dame Edna
Pebble Mill
TV • 1991
Self
The Dame Edna Experience
TV • 1987
Russell Harty
TV • 1980
Betjeman and Me
TV • 2006
Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford
TV • 2010
A Comedy Roast
TV • 2010
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Dame Edna Everage
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Dame Edna Everage
Brilliant Creatures
TV • 2014
Self
I'd Do Anything
TV • 2008
Himself - Judge
Dame Edna's Hollywood
TV • 1991
Dame Edna Everage
Who Do You Think You Are?
TV • 2008
Self
The One Show
TV • 2006
Dame Edna Everage
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
An Audience with...
TV • 1978
Dame Edna Everage
An Audience with...
TV • 1978
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
Hollywood Squares
TV • 1998
Self - Panelist
Wogan
TV • 1982
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Dame Edna Everage
A Granny's Guide to the Modern World
TV • 2016
Micallef Tonight
TV • 2003
Self
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
TV • 2013
Contestant (Dame Edna Everage)
Magical Land of Oz
TV • 2019
Narrator (voice)
RTL Samstag Nacht
TV • 1993
Q&A
TV • 2008
Self - Panellist
Parkinson
TV • 1998
Dame Edna Everage
The Team: A Season With McLaren
TV • 1993
Dame Edna Everage
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Omnibus
TV • 1967
Sir Les Patterson
Omnibus
TV • 1967
Self
Boulevard Bio
TV • 1991
Dame Edna
The Osbournes
TV • 2002
Self
QI
TV • 2003
Self - Panellist (archive footage)