John Barry Humphries AO CBE (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was a comedian, actor, novelist, satirist, and drag performer from Australia. He was best known for creating and portraying Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson on stage and on television.
His biographer Anne Pender characterized Humphries in 2010 as not only “the most significant theatrical figure of our time… [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin” for his delivery of Dadaist and absurdist humor to millions.
Barry Humphries parents: Meet Eric Humphries, Louisa Humphries
Eric Humphries (1905-1972), a construction manager, and Louisa Agnes (1907-1984) are his parents. In the late 1800s, his grandpa, John George Humphries, immigrated to Australia from Manchester, England.
Barry grew up in a “clean, tasteful, and modern suburban home” on Christowel Street in Camberwell, one of Melbourne’s new “garden suburbs” at the time. His early home life shaped his subsequent theatrical career; his father, in particular, spent little time with him, and Humphries spent hours in the back garden dressing up.
His parents nicknamed him “Sunny Sam,” and his early years were cheerful and unremarkable. Humphries, however, began to rebel against the strictures of normal suburban life in his teens by becoming “artistic,” much to the chagrin of his parents, who, despite their wealth, distrusted “art.” When he was nine, his mother delivered all of his books to The Salvation Army, gleefully saying, “But you’ve read them, Barry.”
