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.

London and the 1960s

In 1959 Humphries, now in his early twenties, sailed to Venice and then settled in London where he lived and worked throughout the Sixties. He became friends with leading members of the British comedy scene including Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Spike Milligan, Dick Bentley, Willie Rushton and fellow Aussie expatriate comedian-actor John Bluthal. Humphries performed at Cook's comedy venue The Establishment Club, where he also became friends with and was photographed by leading photographer Lewis Morley, whose studio was located above the club. He contributed to the satirical magazine Private Eye, of which Cook was publisher, his most famous work being the famous cartoon strip The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie. The bawdy cartoon satire of the worst aspects of Australians abroad was written by Humphries and drawn by New Zealand born cartoonist Nicholas Garland. The book version of the comic strip, published in the late' 60s, was for some time banned in Australia.

Related Topics:
Venice - London - Dudley Moore - Peter Cook - Alan Bennett - Jonathan Miller - Spike Milligan - Dick Bentley - Willie Rushton - John Bluthal - The Establishment Club - Lewis Morley - Private Eye - The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie - New Zealand - Nicholas Garland

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Humphries appeared in numerous West End stage productions including the musicals Oliver! and Maggie May, by Lionel Bart, and stage and radio productions by his friend Spike Milligan, in particular The Bed Sitting Room.

Related Topics:
Oliver! - Maggie May - Lionel Bart - The Bed Sitting Room

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Humphries' first major break on the British stage came when he was cast in the role of the undertaker Mr Sowerberry for the original 1960 London stage production of Oliver! He recorded Sowerberry's feature number "That's Your Funeral" for the original London cast soundtrack album (released on Deram) and reprised the role when the production moved to Broadway in 1963, where it became the first London stage musical to be transplanted to Broadway and receive the same critical and audience reception it had received in Britain. In 1967 he starred as Fagin in the Piccadilly Theatre's revival of Oliver! which featured a young Phil Collins as The Artful Dodger. In 1997 Barry reprised the role of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's award winning revival at the London Palladium.

Related Topics:
Mr Sowerberr - Deram - Broadway - Fagin - Piccadilly Theatre - Phil Collins - The Artful Dodger - Cameron Mackintosh - London Palladium

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In 1967 his friendship with Cook and Moore led to his first film role, a cameo as "Envy" in the hit film Bedazzled starring Cook and Moore with Eleanor Bron, and directed by Stanley Donen. The following year he appeared in The Bliss Of Mrs Blossom with Shirley MacLaine.

Related Topics:
Bedazzled - Eleanor Bron - Stanley Donen - The Bliss Of Mrs Blossom - Shirley MacLaine

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In the late '60s Humphries contributed to BBC-TV's popular The Late Show (which also featured Oz magazine editor Richard Neville) but Humphries found his true calling with his one-man satirical stage revues, in which he performed as Edna Everage and other character creations including Les Patterson and Sandy Stone. He gained considerable notoriety with his first one-man revue Just A Show at London's Fortune Theatre in 1969. It polarized British critics but was successful enough to lead to a short-lived BBC television series The Barry Humphries Scandals, one of the precursors to the famous Monty Python series.

Related Topics:
BBC-TV - Oz magazine - Richard Neville - Just A Show - Fortune Theatre - The Barry Humphries Scandals - Monty Python

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