John Barry Humphries, famous for playing his alter egos ‘Dame Edna Everage’ and ‘Sir Les Patterson,’ began his acting career on stage with sketch and satirical revues, and also, London’s ‘West End’ productions.
Humphries’ first screen-appearance was in TV-movie ‘Wild Life & Christmas Belles’ (1958), followed by TV-series ‘Not Only….But Also’ (1965-1970), and as ‘Edna’ on ‘The Late Show’ (1966-1967). He made his film debut with cameo-roles in comedy-films ‘Bedazzled’ (1967), then ‘The Bliss Of Mrs. Blossom’ (1968). His successful one-man satirical revues across Australia and London theaters led to his own TV-series ‘Barry Humphries Scandals’ (1970).
‘Dame Edna’ appeared for the first time in Australian-movie ‘The Naked Bunyip’ (1970). His next, the hit film ‘The Adventures of Barry McKenzie’ (1972) was based on ‘Barry McKenzie cartoons’ created by Humphries; he was also co-writer of script. Further, he appeared in films, ‘Barry McKenzie Holds His Own’ (1974), ‘The Great McArthy’ (1975), ‘Side by Side’ (1975), ‘The Getting of Wisdom’ (1977).
Humphries had his own talk-show ‘The Barry Humphries Show’ (1976-1977), followed by guest-appearance as ‘Dame Edna’ in ‘Saturday Night Live’ (1977). He appeared as his other popular character, ‘Sir Les Patterson,’ in TV-series documentaries ‘Omnibus’ (1982) and ‘Arena’ (1984), and film ‘Les Patterson Saves the World’ (1987) amongst others.
As ‘Edna’ Humphries hosted successful talk-show ‘The Dame Edna Experience’ (1987-1989) which continued to enjoy repeat telecasts. He portrayed ‘Rupert Murdoch’ in miniseries ‘Selling Hitler’ (1991). His further TV-series include ‘The Life and Death of Sandy Stone’ (1991), series of chat-show specials ‘Dame Edna’s Hollywood’ (1991-1992), ‘Dame Edna’s Work Experience’ (1996) and others. His TV-movie ‘A Night on Mount Edna’ (1990) won him accolades.
Humphries’ film appearances include ‘Immortal Beloved’ (1994), ‘Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills’ (1996), ‘The Leading Man’ (1996), ‘Welcome to Woop Woop’ (1997), Spice Girls’ movie ‘Spice World’ (1997). As ‘Dame Edna’ he appeared in TV-series ‘Ally McBeal’ (2001-2002) and ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ (2002). He provided voice-over as ‘Bruce’ in ‘Finding Nemo’ (2003), and featured in TV-series ‘Parkinson’ (1978-2007).
After TV-special ‘Dame Edna Live at Palace’ (2003), Humphries anchored comedy chat-show ‘The Dame Edna Treatment’ (2007) with many celebrity guests. He played the ‘Great Goblin’ in first of Hobbit-trilogy, ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ (2012), and dual-roles in comedy-film ‘Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie’ (2016).