2023-04-22 17:01:25
Lila hair, butterfly glasses, lots of glitter and a very big mouth: Dame Edna was one of Australia’s biggest stage stars. She has performed worldwide: from London’s West End to Broadway. For television, she interviewed big stars like Sean Connery and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
The audience greeted the housewife from a suburb of Melbourne with “Hello, possums”, “Hello, possums”. Behind Dame Edna Everage was actor, artist and author Barry Humphries, a distinguished man with a pocket square and a gentleman’s parting. Edna was by far his most famous role. Humphries has now died at the age of 89.
He died at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney on Saturday evening (local time), a hospital spokesman confirmed to the PA news agency. The entertainer had been treated there after complications from hip surgery. According to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper and other Australian media, his family wrote in a statement that Humphries had remained true to himself to the end. He never lost his brilliant mind and unique wit.
Loss of a national icon
For Australia, his death means the loss of a national icon. A square in Melbourne was named after her while she was still alive, and she ended up on a postage stamp from the Australian Post Office on her 50th birthday. She was allowed to say anything. Why are Australians so good at sports? “Good food and nutrition, living in the fresh air, juicy steaks, sunshine – and the total absence of intellectual distraction”. She was shrill and outrageous, a sense of humor that the English also admired: there are pictures of Prince Charles standing ecstatic next to Edna.
When Humphries first played the female role in 1955, many didn’t know what travesty or “drag” was. Edna later appeared in films such as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, the title “Dame” was given to her spontaneously in the 1970s by then Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
Barry Humphries always appeared as a distinguished gentleman in private.
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Image: EPA
She had her first internationally successful stage show in London in 1976 with “Housewife, Superstar!”. In Germany, too, she entertained audiences when she appeared in the Hamburger Schauspielhaus in the 1990s: “Today I’m wearing my oldest dress. I see you too.”
Dame Edna called Barry Humphries a liar when he claimed she was his creation. He’s just an “entrepreneur” and her manager. Humphries lived a long life as a dry alcoholic, he was married four times, like Edna he had four children. Edna’s offspring had adventurous lives: one daughter was kidnapped and went to a monastery, one became a leather lesbian, both sons were gay, which the mother didn’t want to believe. Humphries was inspired for the role by his own mother.
Sometimes he also made himself unpopular, for example with statements about transgender people or about learning Spanish. The latter, according to Dame Edna, is actually only needed to talk to the staff. This annoyed Salma Hayek.
In 2012, Humphries announced the retirement of the lady with the purple hair. But there were still a few more appearances. In an interview with ABC television, Humphries described his golden rule of entertaining the audience as follows: “I’ve always thought that if I’m amused, then others will be amused too.”
Barry Humphries entertained people with “a galaxy of personalities,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Twitter. However, the brightest star in this galaxy was always Humphries himself. Australian actor Jason Donovan tweeted: “Australia has lost one of its greatest!”
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