Barry Humphries
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.
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
Self
Barry Humphries at the BBC
Self (archive material) / Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson
Barry Humphries - A Life of Laughs
Self (Archive)
Parkinson at 50
Dame Edna Everage (archive footage)
Show of Titles
"Anyone Can Whistle" Performer
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
Dame Edna Everidge
Standing Up for Sunny
Barry Humphries
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
Self
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Charlie / Dame Edna
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
Self
Blinky Bill the Movie
Wombo (voice)
The Last Impresario
Self
Jack Irish: Dead Point
Justice Logan
Justin and the Knights of Valour
Braulio (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Great Goblin
Kath & Kimderella
Dame Edna Everage
Making Mary and Max
Self
Mary and Max
Narrator (voice)
Salvation
Client
We Are Most Amused
Self
Gaybo Laughs Back
Dame Edna
Not Quite Hollywood
Self
The Man Inside Dame Edna
Self/Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Little Britain Down Under
Dame Edna Everage
It Started with Swap Shop
Self
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
Self
Da Kath & Kim Code
John Monk
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
Self - Edna Everage
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
Sir Les Patterson/Owen Steele/Sandy Stone/Dame Edna Everage
Finding Nemo
Bruce (voice)
Nicholas Nickleby
Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
Welcome to Woop Woop
Blind Wally
Spice World
Kevin McMaxford
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Bert / Lady Shopper / Manager
Sir Les And The Great Chinese Takeaway
Les Patterson/Dame Edna
The Leading Man
Humphrey Beal
Les Patterson 'Has A Stand Up' - Live & Rampant
Les Patterson
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
Self
Napoleon
Kangaroo (voice)
Immortal Beloved
Clemens Metternich
Selling Hitler
Rupert Murdoch
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
Dame Edna Everage
A Late Lunch With Sir Les
Les Patterson
An Audience with Jackie Mason
A Night on Mount Edna
Dame Edna Everage
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage
Barry Humphries: This is Your Lunch
Self/Dame Edna
Howling III: The Marsupials
Academy Award Presenter
Les Patterson Saves the World
Sir Les Patterson / Dame Edna Everage
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
Dame Edna Everage / Sir Les Patterson / Self
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna/Les Patterson
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Richard Deane
A Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna/Sir Les Patterson
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Self - Various Roles
Shock Treatment
Bert Schnick
The Rocky Horror Treatment
(archive footage)
A Toast to Melbourne
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Our Guests at Heartland
The Getting of Wisdom
Rev. Strachey
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Edna Everage
The Great MacArthy
Col Ball-Miller
Side by Side
Rodney
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
Aunt Edna Everage / Dr. Meyer Delamphrey / Offensive Buck-toothed Englishman / Senator Douglas Manton
Percy's Progress
Dr. Anderson / Australian TV Lady
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Aunt Edna Everage / Hoot / Dr. DeLamphrey
The Naked Bunyip
Edna Everage
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Mr. Wainwright
Bedazzled
Envy