More Please: An Autobiography

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Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-01-11 14:02:02 Boxid IA40032108 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier The feral beast: Changing faces of Apollo". The Independent. London. 14 February 2010. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017 . Retrieved 28 February 2011. Esther Rantzen said “the world is just that bit sadder” after the death of her friend Barry Humphries.

Coleman, Peter (1990). The Real Barry Humphries?. Robson. ISBN 0-86051-678-4. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009 . Retrieved 26 February 2009. Humphries was probably best known for his persona Dame Edna Everage. [75] [76] [77] Originally conceived in 1956, Edna evolved from a satire of Australian suburbia to become, in the words of journalist Caroline Overington [78]: Humphries was a friend of the English poet John Betjeman until Betjeman's death in 1984. Their friendship began in 1960 after Betjeman, while visiting Australia, heard some of Humphries' early recordings and wrote very favourably of them in an Australian newspaper. Their friendship was, in part, based around numerous shared interests, including Victorian architecture, Cornwall and the music hall. [93]His family said he was “completely himself until the very end”. “Never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” they said in a statement. The evolution of Edna". The Age. 21 January 2006. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018 . Retrieved 7 July 2019. Adam Hills said Humphries was “one of the greatest comedians of our time”. He said it was “appropriate” that Humphries “took his final bow” on a Saturday night. Humphries did two more Australian tours before testing the water in London again. The first – in 1965 – was the triumphant Excuse I, which filled huge Australian theatres for weeks on end. No one-man show had ever done such business in Australia. It was on this tour that Humphries introduced the gladioli-hurling finale. The next tour – the 1968 Just a Show – introduced further variations. Edna now abandoned her dowdy appearance and came on stage smiling like a shark in a red Thai silk coat over a green dress. (“Am I overdressed?” she asked, looking around. “No, I don’t think so.”) She also began entering from the stalls chatting to her “possums”.

The couple divorced after two years, with Humphries going on to marry Rosalind Tong in 1959 and then Diane Millstead in 1979. From these two marriages he has four children: daughters Tessa and Emily and sons Oscar and Rupert. Humphries died following complications from hip surgery at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, Sydney, on 22 April 2023. He was 89 years old. [111] [112] He had suffered a fall in February. [ citation needed] Another artistic production undertaken at this time was a 1972 collaboration between Humphries and the Australian composer Nigel Butterley. Together they produced First Day Covers, a collection of poems about suburbia – read in performance by Edna Everage – with accompanying music by Butterley. [30] It included poems with titles such as "Histoire du Lamington" and "Morceau en forme de 'meat pie'". [31] Film roles [ edit ] Though he occasionally lapses into levity when we meet, he never once resorts to the mask of now-famous personae (Dame Edna, Sir Les Patterson, Sandy Stone). In a candid interview, over Japanese tea, he holds forth on his life as told in the new book, in which he is frank to a fault on aspects such as his alcoholism and sometimes troubled relationship with his parents.When asked how long Barry would be hospitalised for, Ford said things were "up in the air" and added: "There are very serious concerns about what happens next … it is a very tough time at the moment. Celebrity News, celebrity Gossip, TV shows, Movies". entertainment.msn.co.nz. MSN New Zealand. Archived from the original on 4 June 2013 . Retrieved 22 April 2018. But he's got great care, he's got fantastic medical team behind him. His family and friends – closest family – are rallying behind him."

a b "Barry Humphries dead: Dame Edna star passes away aged 89". Evening Standard. 22 April 2023. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023 . Retrieved 22 April 2023. The same show opened in the United Kingdom at the Milton Keynes Theatre in October 2013 prior to a season of shows at the London Palladium and a national tour. [72] Weimar Cabaret [ edit ] Humphries contributed to BBC Television's The Late Show (1966–67), 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 Sandy Stone. A Nice Night's Entertainment (1962) was the first such revue. It and Excuse I: Another Nice Night's Entertainment (1965) were only performed in Australia. In 1968 Humphries returned to Australia to tour his one-man revue Just a Show; this production transferred to London's Fortune Theatre in 1969. Humphries gained considerable notoriety with Just a Show. It polarised British critics but was successful enough to lead to a short-lived BBC television series, The Barry Humphries Scandals. [25] 1970s [ edit ] At the South Camberwell State School the young Barry became acutely aware of the difference between his own affluent, comfortable circumstances and those of his working-class schoolmates. He did not fit in.

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Later, they cloned the film. I always deeply resented the fact that I didn’t get the commission that I felt I was due particularly since I had abjured the alcohol and I thought it’s even more noble for me to promote this ghastly stuff since I don’t drink it even.”

Our Unofficial Optical Ambassador Retires". 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019 . Retrieved 7 July 2019.He writes with wry humour, “A doctor told me that my liver was inflamed and asked me how much I drank. It was a difficult question to answer. Did he mean, for example, before or after breakfast?” Like her ever-present bunches of gladioli, one of the most popular and distinctive features of Edna's stage and TV appearances was her extravagant wardrobe, with gaudy, custom-made gowns. Her costumes, most of which were created for her by Australian designer Bill Goodwin, routinely incorporated Aussie kitsch icons such as the flag, Australian native animals and flowers, the Sydney Opera House and the boxing kangaroo. Her outlandish spectacles were inspired by the glasses worn by the Melbourne eccentric, actor and dancer Stephanie Deste, as were many other aspects of Dame Edna's personality. [79] [80] [81] [82] Dame Edna Everage impressing on Lorraine Kelly her view of a TV chatshow as a monologue interrupted by total strangers He's been travelling around the UK last year doing a one man show, largely sitting in a chair and talking about the great characters he's created through the years.