Barry Humphries, creator of Dame Edna, dies at 89 - Sydney Morning
Herald
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[April 22, 2023]
By Byron Kaye
(Reuters) -Barry Humphries, the comedian best known for his character
Dame Edna Everage who blossomed from an Australian suburban housewife
into a self-described gigastar, died on Saturday, the Sydney Morning
Herald reported. He was 89.
The paper said Humphries died at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, where
he had been treated for various health issues.
With coiffed lilac hair, oversized diamante glasses and an outlandish
wardrobe, the instantly recognisable Dame Edna would joyfully greet
audiences with her trademark "Hello Possums!".
Describing her shows somewhat accurately as a "monologue interrupted by
strangers" and herself as blessed with "the ability to laugh at the
misfortune of others", Edna would warmly skewer celebrities and audience
members alike.
"Tim, I could talk to you and about you and behind your back for ages,"
the character once said in typical fashion as she was wrapping up a
conversation with actor and comedian Tim Allen on one of her talkshows.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/22/images/ads/current/cindyscottage_sda_SHG_2023.png)
Edna's life as she told it would often leave stars in hysterics. She
taught Mel Gibson drama, Julio Iglesias' father was her travelling
gynaecologist and she spent the coronavirus pandemic hiding out with her
new lover, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in Texas.
Born and raised in Melbourne, John Barry Humphries was the son of a
well-to-do builder who persuaded his parents to buy him an assortment of
theatrical costumes to play dress up in.
Sent to a conservative high school, he was described by a friend as a
"spectacular misfit" who would turn his back on school football matches
to knit.
The creation that would define his career came early: at 21, he was part
of a travelling repertory company when he came up with a character of a
snobbish, inadvertently offensive housewife. In 1955, he stepped onstage
for the first time as "Mrs Norm Everage" from Moonee Ponds, admitting
only decades later that she was based on his mother.
He developed a host of other Australian caricatures including the
repulsive drunkard diplomat Les Patterson and the more subtle Sandy
Stone, a decrepit rambling senior. Humphries was also an actor, painter,
author and Dadaist performer of pranks.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/22/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
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![](../images/042223PIX/ent_c.5.jpg)
Australia's Barry Humphries poses after
receiving his Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from the
Queen at Buckingham Palace, London October 10, 2007. REUTERS/Steve
Parsons/Pool
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/22/images/ads/current/longview_lda_SFARM_2023.png) In one such prank, he would sneak a
can of Heinz Russian Salad on a plane, empty it into a passenger
sick bag and pretend to vomit into the bag mid-flight before
proceeding to eat the contents in front of bewildered passengers and
crew.
Bored with his home city, Humphries moved to Britain in 1959, part
of a wave of creative expatriates including humorist Clive James and
artist Brett Whiteley, showcasing the Australian voice: earthy and
irreverent but superficially polite.
"Edna has this way of doing things, it seems to take the curse off
it," Humphries told Reuters in 1998. "I get no complaints."
Although a household name in Britain and Australia, the U.S. market
proved hard to crack despite several attempts. That changed in 2000,
when he was 66, and his "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour" on Broadway
earned him a Tony award and role in the sitcom "Ally McBeal".
He also voiced the character of Bruce the Shark in "Finding Nemo",
wrote a satirical advice column, as Edna, for Vanity Fair, and
curated a cabaret festival where he rejected acts that involved
swearing - a decision he said would encourage creativity.
For years Humphries struggled with alcoholism that destroyed his
first marriage and nearly his life, but he gave up drinking in the
early 70s.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/22/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
His numerous honours included being awarded an Order of Australia in
1982, made a Commander of the British Empire in 2007 and featuring
on Australian postage stamps. But an outcry over a series of remarks
that were widely seen as transphobic helped prompt the Melbourne
International Comedy Festival to drop his name from its top award in
2019.
(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in BengaluruEditing by Edwina Gibbs and
Frances Kerry)
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