Barry Humphries

John Barry Humphries AO (b. 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, satirist and character actor best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife, and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to Britain. Humphries is also a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an "award-winning" author and an accomplished landscape painter.

Related Topics:
AO - 17 February - 1934 - Australia - Comedian - Television - Dame Edna Everage - Melbourne - Sir Les Patterson - Cultural attaché - Britain

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Barry Humphries was born in Melbourne. After education at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne he joined the Melbourne Theatre Group, and created the character of Edna Everage in 1956. In the early sixties he moved to London and appeared in several West End productions. He first brought Mrs. Everage to the British stage in 1969 for his one-man show Just a Show.

Related Topics:
Melbourne - Melbourne Grammar School - University of Melbourne - Melbourne Theatre Group - 1956 - London - West End

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Humphries' characters, especially Edna Everage, have brought him international renown, and he has appeared in numerous films, stage productions and television shows.

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His Barry McKenzie comic strips about Australians in London appeared in Private Eye magazine with drawings by Nicholas Garland. The stories about "Bazza" (also Humphries' nickname) gave wide circulation to Australian slang, particularly jokes about drinking and its consequences, much of it invented by Humphries.

Related Topics:
Barry McKenzie - Comic strip - Private Eye - Nicholas Garland - Nickname - Slang

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He was also the voice of Bruce the Shark in the 2003 Pixar movie Finding Nemo.

Related Topics:
Pixar - Finding Nemo

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Humphries has been married four times; his fourth wife Lizzie Spender is the daughter of British poet Sir Stephen Spender. He has two sons and two daughters from his third and fourth marriages, to Diane Millstead and Lizzie Spender respectively.

Related Topics:
Lizzie Spender - Stephen Spender

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