Barry Humphries
Acting
Born: February 17, 1934 · Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia
Died: April 22, 2023 (aged 89)
Highest Rated
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
Finding Nemo
2003
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012
Mary and Max
2009
Spice World
1997
Immortal Beloved
1994
Ally McBeal
1997
Justin and the Knights of Valour
2013
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
2016
Nicholas Nickleby
2002
Bedazzled
1967
The Marsupials: The Howling III
1987
Shock Treatment
1981
Photos (3)
Movies (52)
Finding Nemo
Bruce (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Great Goblin
Mary and Max
Narrator (voice)
Immortal Beloved
Clemens Metternich
Spice World
Kevin McMaxford
Justin and the Knights of Valour
Braulio (voice)
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Charlie / Dame Edna
Blinky Bill the Movie
Wombo (voice)
Napoleon
Kangaroo (voice)
The Marsupials: The Howling III
Academy Award Presenter
Nicholas Nickleby
Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
Bedazzled
Envy
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Our Guests at Heartland
Jack Irish: Dead Point
Justice Logan
The Leading Man
Humphrey Beal
Standing Up for Sunny
Barry Humphries
Shock Treatment
Bert Schnick
Show of Titles
"Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
The Naked Bunyip
Edna Everage
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Edna Everage
A Night on Mount Edna
Dame Edna Everage
Parkinson at 50
Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
Kath & Kimderella
Dame Edna Everage
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
Welcome to Woop Woop
Blind Wally
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Mr. Wainwright
Da Kath & Kim Code
John Monk
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Richard Deane
Les Patterson Saves the World
Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
Royal Variety Performance 1984
1984
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Selling Hitler
Rupert Murdoch
The Getting of Wisdom
Rev. Strachey
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
Les Patterson
Percy's Progress
Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
Side by Side
Rodney
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Salvation
Client
Gaybo Laughs Back
Dame Edna
Little Britain Down Under
Dame Edna Everage
The Rocky Horror Treatment
(archive footage)
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Les Patterson
The Great MacArthy
Col Ball-Miller
An Audience with Jackie Mason
1990
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Dame Edna Everidge
A Toast to Melbourne
1981
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
Les Patterson/Dame Edna
TV Shows (23)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Dame Edna Everage · 1 eps
Saturday Night Live
Dame Edna Everage · 1 eps
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Dame Edna · 1 eps
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
2 eps
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Dame Edna Everage · 5 eps
The Wednesday Play
1 eps
Omnibus
Sir Les Patterson · 1 eps
The One Show
Dame Edna Everage · 1 eps
Parkinson
Dame Edna Everage · 3 eps
Ally McBeal
Claire Otoms · 12 eps
An Audience with...
Dame Edna Everage · 2 eps
An Audience with...
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson · 1 eps
RTL Samstag Nacht
1 eps
Boulevard Bio
Dame Edna · 1 eps
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
Dame Edna · 12 eps
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
1 eps
The Team: A Season With McLaren
Dame Edna Everage · 1 eps
The Dame Edna Experience
13 eps
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
Contestant (Dame Edna Everage) · 1 eps
The Dame Edna Treatment
6 eps
Magical Land of Oz
Narrator (voice) · 3 eps
Dame Edna's Hollywood
Dame Edna Everage · 3 eps
A Granny's Guide to the Modern World
3 eps
Self / Appearances (31)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self · 1 eps
The Graham Norton Show
Self · 1 eps
Hollywood Squares
Self - Panelist · 5 eps
The View
Self · 1 eps
QI
Self · 1 eps
QI
Self - Panellist (archive footage) · 1 eps
Wogan
Self · 2 eps
Omnibus
Self · 1 eps
The One Show
Self · 1 eps
The South Bank Show
Self · 1 eps
Q&A
Self - Panellist · 1 eps
The Osbournes
Self · 1 eps
Who Do You Think You Are?
Self · 1 eps
I'd Do Anything
Himself - Judge · 22 eps
Micallef Tonight
Self · 1 eps
Not Quite Hollywood
Self
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Self - Various Roles
The Last Impresario
Self
The Man Inside Dame Edna
Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
Self - Edna Everage
We Are Most Amused
Self
It Started with Swap Shop
Self
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Self
Brilliant Creatures
Self · 2 eps
Barry Humphries at the BBC
Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
Self (Archive)
Making Mary and Max
Self
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
Self/Dame Edna
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
Self
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
Self
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
Writing (9)
Les Patterson Saves the World
Writer
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Writer
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Writer
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Writer
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Writer
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
Writer
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Writer
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
Writer
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Writer
