INSIDE DAME EDNA'S SECRET LIFE

The comic legend's off-screen life was just as colourful as his famous characters

When he was a little boy, Barry Humphries' mother sternly told him not to draw attention to himself. Her floppy-haired, artistic son loved breaking the rules. But nobody could've guessed that a suburban misfit from Melbourne would go on to hog the global spotlight as superstar Dame Edna Everage and a host of other characters.

The world mourned when Barry-acclaimed comic, actor, writer and artist - died at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital on 22 April, aged 89, following a seven-decade career. Friend and fan King Charles III even sent the Humphries family a personal letter to convey his sympathies and was said to have called Barry before he passed away.

Ricky Gervais declared Barry a "comedy genius", while chat-show legend Sir Michael Parkinson said outrageous Dame Edna was his most popular regular guest. Sir Elton John said, "Barry was the funniest man ever and the sweetest man ever. What a sad day."

John Barry Humphries was born into a comfortable, straitlaced, middle-class family on 17 February 1934. A sport-loathing rebel at Melbourne Grammar School, he flunked maths but shone at art and English, and he always adored costume and disguise.

In his two years at the University of Melbourne - he didn't graduate - Barry's surreal pranks became legendary. He "beat up" a fake blind passenger on trams. On planes, he emptied canned salad into a sick bag, then pretended to vomit and eat it.