Barry Humphries was an Australian comedian and actor best known for his characters, the flamboyant Dame Edna Everage and the boorish Sir Les Patterson.
- Died: April 22, 2023 (Who else died on April 22?)
- Details of death: Died at a hospital in Sydney of complications from hip surgery at the age of 89.
- We invite you to share condolences for Barry Humphries in our Guest Book.
Barry Humphries’ legacy
Dame Edna was Humphries’ most enduring creation – a warbling housewife never seen without her lavender coiffure and her extravagant rhinestone glasses. Greeting audiences with “Hello, possums,” Dame Edna tossed gladiola stalks while keeping them in stitches with backhanded compliments. Humphries first developed Dame Edna in the 1950s, originally conceiving of her as a drab and mousy woman, but later leaned into her fabulousness as her popularity grew in the 1960s. Always referring to Dame Edna in the third person, Humphries noted that he did not consider himself a female impersonator or drag performer; he was an actor portraying a character who happened to be female.
Humphries took his Dame Edna act from comedy clubs to television, the big screen, and a recording career. He made frequent appearances on talk shows, as well as hosted his own – “The Dame Edna Experience” was a British TV hit of the 1980s, and he took the character to the U.S. for “Dame Edna’s Hollywood” in the 1990s. Humphries often brought on celebrity guests to appear alongside Dame Edna, giving each a name tag, for example giving Charlton Heston (1923–2008) one labeled “Chuck.” As Dame Edna, Humphries also appeared in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,” penned an advice column for Vanity Fair (which was discontinued after a culturally insensitive response advising a reader not to learn Spanish), and he wrote books including the memoir “My Gorgeous Life.” He portrayed Dame Edna for more than 60 years before her last appearance in 2019.
Humphries also played other characters, such as Sir Les Patterson, a drunken cultural attaché, and Sandy Stone, an elderly gentleman. He appeared as himself as well, playing the deadly sin Envy in “Bedazzled” and game show host Bert Schnick in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” sequel “Shock Treatment.” Humphries voiced the great white shark Bruce in “Finding Nemo” and played the Great Goblin in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” His other movie appearances included “Immortal Beloved” and “Spice World.”
Humphries on Dame Edna
“I’m, as it were, in the wings, and she’s onstage. And every now and then she says something extremely funny, and I stand there and think, ‘I wish I’d thought of that.’” —from a 2015 interview for ABC-TV
Tributes to Barry Humphries
Full obituary: The New York Times
