Barry Humphries, renowned actor behind Dame Edna Everage, dead at 89

Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally famous for his garish stage persona as Dame Edna Everage, a condescending snob and imperfectly veiled character whose developing character has delighted audiences over seventy years, has died. He is 89 years old.

He died in a Sydney hospital, where he had spent several days with complications following hip surgery, his family confirmed.

“He was himself until the end, never losing his brilliant mind, unique intelligence and good spirit,” the family statement said.

“With more than 70 years on stage, he was an entertainer to the core, touring until the last year of his life and planning more shows that would never happen.”

Humphries has lived in London for decades and returns to his native Australia in December for Christmas.

She told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last month that her physiotherapy had been “painful” after falling and displacing her hip.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents. I was reaching for a book, my foot caught on the carpet or something, and down I went,” said Humphries.

He remains an active entertainer, touring the UK last year with a one-man show The Man Behind the Mask.

The character of Dame Edna started as Mrs. He describes the post-war suburban inertia and culture of blandness that Humphries discovered.

Edna is one of Humphries’ most enduring characters. The next most famous was Sir Les Patterson, Australia’s drunken, disheveled and depraved cultural attache.

Patterson describes the perception of Australia as a wasteland of Western culture that led Humphries along with many leading Australian intellectuals to London.

Humphries, a law school dropout, found great success as an actor, writer and entertainer in Britain in the 1970s, but the United States was an ambition he found stubbornly elusive.

The highest point in the United States was the Tony Award in 2000 for the Broadway show Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the famous comedian.

“For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone,” Albanese tweeted, referring to the melancholic and rambling Stone, one of Humphries’ most enduring characters. “But the brightest star in the galaxy is always Barry. A great tree, satirist, writer and absolute one-of-a-kind, it is both a gift and a gift.”

British television personality Piers Morgan also paid tribute. “One of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” Morgan tweeted.

“An intelligent, fun, daring, provocative, mischievous comedic genius,” Morgan added.

Married for the fourth time, Humphries is survived by his wife Lizzie Spender, four children and 10 grandchildren.