Barry Humphries, AC, CBE, born John Barry Humphries, (17 February 1934 — 22 April 2023), was an Australian comedian best known for his drag persona, Dame Edna Everage.
Born in a "clean, tasteful, and modern suburban home", he would spend hours in his back garden dressing up as different characters to try and make people laugh. In his teens, he began to fight back against his conventional suburban life by becoming artistic - reading and collecting rare books, going to the theatre, and creating his first proper character, a dandy Dadaist by the name of "Dr. Aaron Azimuth".
After leaving university, he joined the Melbourne Theatre Company, where he created the character he would be most known for, Edna Everage, then known as "Mrs. Norm Everage" in 1955. During a period living near Bondi, Humphries met an elderly man with a high, scratchy voice who spoke in a pedantic manner. This was the inspiration for another classic Humphries character, Sandy Stone.
In 1959, he moved to London and appeared on stage in the West End, most notably playing Mr. Sowerberry in Oliver!, and also appeared in Bedazzled (1967). He returned to Australia in 1970 and created a film adaptation of his cartoon strip, The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie. In The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, he co-starred alongside Barry Crocker.
Barry McKenzie was followed by several more film roles over the next forty years, including Percy's Progress, The Great Macarthy, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (wherein Edna Everage received her damehood), Side by Side, The Getting of Wisdom, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Shock Treatment, Dr. Fischer of Geneva, Howling III: The Marsupials, Immortal Beloved, The Leading Man, Welcome to Woop Woop, Spice World, Nicholas Nickleby, Finding Nemo, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
He died at the age of 89 after complications from hip surgery.
Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:
Films- Bedazzled (1967) — Envy
- The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968) — Mr. Wainright
- The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) — Aunt Edna Everage/Hoot/Dr. Meyer DeLamphrey
- The Getting of Wisdom (1977) — Reverend Strachey
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) — Dame Edna Everage
- Shock Treatment (1981) — Bert Schnick
- Howling III: The Marsupials (1987) — Dame Edna Everage
- Welcome to Woop Woop (1997) — Blind Wally
- Spice World (1997) — Kevin McMaxford
- Nicholas Nickleby (2002) — Mrs. Crummles/Mr. Leadville
- Finding Nemo (2003) — Bruce
- Mary and Max (2009) — Narrator
- Kath & Kimderella (2012) — Dame Edna Everage
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) — Great Goblin
- Justin and the Knights of Valour (2013) — Braulio
- Absolutely Fabulous (2016) — Charlie/Dame Edna Everage
- Saturday Night Live, episode "Madeline Kahn/Taj Mahal" (1977) — Dame Edna Everage
- Top of the Pops, 1 episode (1979) — Dame Edna Everage
- The Big Breakfast, 1 episode (1996) — Sir Les Patterson
- The Tonight Show, 6 episodes (2001-11) — Dame Edna Everage
- Ally McBeal, 12 episodes (2001-02) — Claire Otoms
- The View, 2 episodes (2004-10) — Dame Edna Everage
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien, episode "Drew Barrymore/Dame Edna/Sarah Vowell" (2005) — Dame Edna Everage
- Kath & Kim, episode "Da Kath & Kim Code" (2005) — John Monk
- This Morning, 1 episode (2007) — Dame Edna Everage
- The Graham Norton Show, 1 episode (2008) — Dame Edna Everage
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 1 episode (2009) — Dame Edna Everage
- Chickens, 2 episodesshow list (2013) — Headmaster
- Bubble Guppies, episode "The Wizard of Oz-tralia!" (2013) — Bobby the Shrimp
- Kinect: Disneyland Adventures (2011) — Bruce
