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.

Success in the United States

Barry Humphries finally realised his long-delayed dream of success in the United States when he took Dame Edna - The Royal Tour to Broadway in 2000, scoring a smash hit and winning rave reviews. As a result Humphries won the inaugural 'Special Tony Award for a Live Theatrical Event' in 2000 and two National Broadway Theatre Awards for "Best Play" and for "Best Actor" in 2001. Asked what ist was like to win a Tony award by an Australian journalist he said " it was like winning 1000 Gold Logies at the same time".

Related Topics:
United States - Dame Edna - The Royal Tour - Special Tony Award for a Live Theatrical Event - National Broadway Theatre Award - Tony - Logies

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Edna's new-found success in America led to many media opportunities, including a cameo appearance in the hit TV series Ally McBeal. Vanity Fair magazine then invited Dame Edna to write a satirical advice column but she unwittingly created a storm of controversy with a piece published in the February 2003 issue. Replying to a reader who asked if she should learn Spanish, she replied:

Related Topics:
Ally McBeal - Vanity Fair - Spanish

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"Forget Spanish. There's nothing in that language worth reading except Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take care of that ... Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to? The help? Your leaf blower?"

Related Topics:
Don Quixote - CD - Man of La Mancha

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Edna's satirical intent -- poking fun at the haughty attitudes of wealthy Americans who hire low-waged Hispanic domestic workers -- evidently went over the heads of some readers. Many who subsequently complained appeared not to realise that Dame Edna was merely a character and that 'she' was not really a woman. Members of the Hispanic community took the joke out of context, reading it as a deliberately racist remark, and complaints flooded in to the magazine. Hollywood actress Selma Hayek responded angrily, penning a furious letter in which she denounced Dame Edna. Death threats were even received and Vanity Fair was eventually forced to publish a full-page apology to the Hispanic community.

Related Topics:
Hispanic - Selma Hayek

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Humphries commented later. "If you have to explain satire to someone, you might as well give up." When questioned about the controversy (as Dame Edna) on the eve of her 2003 Australian tour, she retorted that Hayek's denunciation was due to "professional jealousy", and that Hayek was envious because the role of painter Frida Kahlo (for which Hayek received an Oscar nomination) had originally been offered to Edna:

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"When I was offered the part of Frida I turned it down, and she was the second choice. I said 'I'm not playing the role of a woman with a moustache and a monobrow, and I'm not having same-sex relations on the screen' ... I'm not racist. I love all races, particularly white people. You know, I even like Roman Catholics."

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