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