Barry Humphries
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.
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Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 8.281 |
Birthday | 1934-02-17 |
Place of Birth | Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia |
Also Known As | Dame Edna Everage, John Barry Humphries, Edna Everage, Les Patterson, Barry McKenzie, Sandy Stone, Bazza McKenzie, |
2003
Finding Nemo
7.819/19070
Nemo, an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef home to a dentist's office aquarium. It's up to his worrisome...
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Finding Nemo
1972
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
5.2/25
Barry McKenzie sets off for England with his aunt, Edna Everage, to advance his cultural education. Bazza is an innocent abroad, fond of beer, Bondi a...
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The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
1974
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
5.423/13
Barry McKenzie's Aunt Edna is kidnapped by Count Von Plasma, the vampire head of an isolated Eastern European dictatorship who mistakes her for the Qu...
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Barry McKenzie Holds His Own
1998
Welcome to Woop Woop
5.9/30
A con artist escapes a deal gone wrong in New York and winds up in the Aussie outback in a strange town whose inhabitants are an oddball collection of...
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Welcome to Woop Woop
2009
Mary and Max
7.847/1932
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year...
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Mary and Max
1981
Shock Treatment
5.8/87
Brad and Janet are now married and on the rocks. Denton, once The Home of Happiness, has been transformed into a giant TV station; residents are eithe...
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Shock Treatment
1994
Immortal Beloved
7.1/320
A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in...
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Immortal Beloved
2004
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
4.8/3
The Secret Policeman benefit shows for Amnesty International brought together comedy grand masters - from Python and Beyond the Fringe - and performer...
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Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
1978
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4.38/50
A small town band makes it big, but loses track of their roots, as they get caught up into the big-time machinations of the music biz. Now, they must...
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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1996
The Leading Man
5.2/19
Successful playwright Felix Webb has a new play, 'The Hit Man', in rehearsal. Directed by his old friend Humphrey, it is already being hailed as a mas...
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The Leading Man
2005
Da Kath & Kim Code
6.9/8
The squabbling mother and daughter, Kath and Kim, embark on an excursion into the unexplored crannies of life at Lagoon Court, Fountain Lakes.
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Da Kath & Kim Code
2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
7.357/18219
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit enjoying his quiet life, is swept into an epic quest by Gandalf the Grey and thirteen dwarves who seek to reclaim their mounta...
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
0/0
With her familiar greeting of "Welcome possums!" Dame Edna uses her purple possum picker to find three contestants from the all-female audience of her...
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Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch
1984
Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
0/0
Dame Edna shares her views and answers questions in front of a celebrity audience.
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Another Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1967
Bedazzled
6.177/150
A hapless loser sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for seven wishes, but has trouble winning over the girl of his dreams.
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Bedazzled
2023
Barry Humphries at the BBC
7.625/4
Alex Jones looks back at the highlights of Barry’s career on a selection of BBC shows, featuring some of Barry’s funniest, rudest and most revealing m...
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Barry Humphries at the BBC
1970
The Naked Bunyip
5.7/7
A shy young man is hired by an ad agency to conduct a survey on sex in Australia. The somewhat clueless young man investigates homosexuality, transves...
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The Naked Bunyip
1976
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
6.5/2
The first of the Amnesty International comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure (the show was performed at He...
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Pleasure at Her Majesty's
1982
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
6/4
Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese,...
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The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
1974
Percy's Progress
3.9/8
Percy, the man with the world's first penis transplant, discovers that there is a chemical in the world's water that makes men impotent.
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Percy's Progress
1995
Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
0/0
A documentary about the life of British satirist and founder of 'Private Eye' Peter Cook.
“marvelous, engrossing tribute” Allison Pearson, The Observ...
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Some Interesting Facts About Peter Cook
2013
Justin and the Knights of Valour
5.914/304
A heart-warming tale about friendship, honor & courage, which sees a young boy become a man as he embarks on a quest to become a knight.
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Justin and the Knights of Valour
2003
Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
0/0
Recorded live at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre on the 15th of August 2003. Contains the hilarious on-stage antics of Dame Edna Everage, Sir...
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Barry Humphries Presents Back to My Roots and Other Suckers
2021
Parkinson at 50
10/1
Sir Michael Parkinson looks back over his 50 years as a broadcaster, revealing some tricks of the interview trade and remembering some of his favourit...
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Parkinson at 50
1975
Side by Side
6.5/2
Glam Rock musical comedy about two clashing nightclubs
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Side by Side
1975
The Great MacArthy
5/3
Macarthy is a country town football champ who is kidnapped in a neon lit helicopter by tyrant Colonel Ball-Miller, the tycoon president of the South M...
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The Great MacArthy
2009
Salvation
5/3
Aging artist and scholar Barry is disenchanted with his existence - disillusioned by his sexless marriage to a televangelist, and repulsed by her bran...
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Salvation
2014
Jack Irish: Dead Point
6.9/30
Jack Irish is thrown into a world of club owners, drug dealers and killers when he is hired by a judge to find a mysterious red book.
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Jack Irish: Dead Point
1980
An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1/1
Dame Edna Everage takes questions from a celebrity audience about her life and career.
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An Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1991
Selling Hitler
7/2
In 1981, Gerd Heidemann, a war correspondent and reporter with the German magazine Stern, makes what he believes is the literary and historical scoop...
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Selling Hitler
1988
One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
0/0
The gloriously glamorous Dame Edna entertains a celebrity audience in this 1988 special.
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One More Audience with Dame Edna Everage
1987
Les Patterson Saves the World
4.8/13
Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson represents Australia at the UN where his fart literally incinerates an Arab ambassador. Patterson is reass...
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Les Patterson Saves the World
2023
Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
0/0
Intimate, upbeat and honest look back at the life and work of Barry Humphries - the legendary comic trailblazer behind Dame Edna Everage and other cha...
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Barry Humphries: The Last Laugh
2019
Dame Edna Rules The Waves
0/0
Filmed in front of an audience, Dame Edna will host a very exclusive evening with celebrity chat, staffed by some familiar faces.
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Dame Edna Rules The Waves
1997
Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
3.7/3
Pixie is cursed with turning into a Pterodactyl when her husband is caught messing with bones on an ancient burial ground. Her husband, children, frie...
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Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
2008
We Are Most Amused
7.2/2
We Are Most Amused was a gala event held at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 12 November 2008 in honour of the 60th birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales,...
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We Are Most Amused
1990
An Audience with Jackie Mason
0/0
The great American comedian Jackie Mason entertains a celebrity audience including Bruce Forsyth, Barry Humphries, Henry Cooper and Michael Winner.
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An Audience with Jackie Mason
2006
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
0/0
First there was ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’, then ‘My Brilliant Career’, and now best of all ‘The Getting of Wisdom’. It is incomparably moving and power...
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Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’
2015
Blinky Bill the Movie
5.4/38
Blinky Bill is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of leaving the little town of Green Patch and following in his...
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Blinky Bill the Movie
1977
The Getting of Wisdom
5.5/15
The Getting of Wisdom is based on the 1910 novel by Henry Handel Richardson (born Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson). Her novel is thought to be an a...
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The Getting of Wisdom
1986
An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
0/0
Comedy special, filmed in Australia
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An Aussie Audience with Dame Edna
2002
Nicholas Nickleby
6.9/166
Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life, struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his coldheartedly...
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Nicholas Nickleby
2016
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
0/0
This documentary showcases a number of new clips which have recently come to light from sketches which were thought to have been lost forever, some no...
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Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches
1981
The Rocky Horror Treatment
0/0
A 1981 documentary looking at the Cult following of the Rocky Horror show and introducing the sequel "Shock Treatment".
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The Rocky Horror Treatment
1997
Spice World
4.82/456
World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their...
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Spice World
2016
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
5.324/239
Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamor, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around Londo...
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Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
2015
Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
8/1
In this Christmas Day special, Michael presents leading comedians including Dara O Briain, the fabulous Dame Edna Everage, and ventriloquist and winne...
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Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show
1981
A Toast to Melbourne
0/0
Using archival film, aerial photography, stills, prints and contemporary footage, this documentary presents the city of Melbourne and its lifestyle. L...
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A Toast to Melbourne
1992
Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
0/0
Joan delivers her biting tongue to the Queen and her country.
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Joan Rivers: Abroad in London
2019
Standing Up for Sunny
5.8/14
An isolated guy with cerebral palsy is railroaded into helping an unassertive comedienne, and finds love and acceptance through stand-up comedy.
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Standing Up for Sunny
1984
A (BBC Arena) Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
0/0
As much a parody of the typical BBC documentary style as an extravagant curtsy to Dame Edna Everage, Housewife Superstar. The Dame is known mostly thr...
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A (BBC Arena) Birthday Tribute to Dame Edna Everage
2008
Not Quite Hollywood
6.845/87
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock...
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Not Quite Hollywood
1968
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
6.7/11
Harriet Blossom is married to Robert Blossom, a businessman who'd rather spend the night at his bra factory than at home with her. One day, Harriet's...
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The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
1984
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
6.75/3
Dr. Fischer has an unusual hobby — to expose human greed. How much humiliation will his fellow man endure enticed by valuable presents? Dignity for mo...
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Dr. Fischer of Geneva
2012
Kath & Kimderella
5.3/15
Kath & Kim turn more than just heads when they go on an overseas trip and end up being the centre of their very own fairytale.
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Kath & Kimderella
1995
Napoleon
6.091/82
The adventures of Golden Retriever pup Napoleon and his friend, the parrot Birdo Lucci.
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Napoleon
1987
Howling III: The Marsupials
4.525/118
A strange race of human-like marsupials appear suddenly in Australia, and a sociologist who studies these creatures falls in love with a female one. I...
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Howling III: The Marsupials
2009
Making Mary and Max
0/0
Comedic behind-the-scenes film for the production of Mary and Max, originally released as webisodes.
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Making Mary and Max
2006
It Started with Swap Shop
0/0
Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin, John Craven and Maggie Philbin reunite for a one-off edition of the Saturday morning classic Swap Shop to celebrate its 3...
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