Barry Humphries

John Barry Humphries  (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian actor, artist, author, and comedian. He was best known for making up and portraying the characters of Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, who is a really rude "Australian diplomat". He was also a movie producer and scriptwriter, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and a landscape painter. 

Humphries spent two years studying at the University of Melbourne, where he studied Law, Philosophy and Fine Arts. During this time he was a Private in the Melbourne University Regiment, serving a period of National Service in the CMF of the Australian Army. 

He was on TV, in movie and on stage. He became popular in Australia in the 1950s, then Britain from the 1960s and finally in America in the 1990s. He has been called the most important comedian since Charlie Chaplin. He also voice Bruce in the Disney Pixar movie Finding Nemo.

Humphries died following complications from hip surgery at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney on 22 April 2023. He was 89. He had suffered a fall in February.

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Category:1934 births
Category:2023 deaths
Category:Actors from Melbourne
Category:Australian comedians
Category:Australian movie actors
Category:Australian screenwriters
Category:Australian television actors
Category:Australian voice actors
Category:Deaths from surgical complications
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:Australian television writers
Category:Writers from Victoria (Australia)