Outrageous comic actor and the creator of Edna Everage

As Australia’s best-known comedian, Barry Humphries was renowned for his caricatures and politically risque humour

- ANTHONY HAYWARD

Barry Humphries brought from Australia a biting humour that tied in with Britain's 1960s satire boom. His "housewife superstar” alter-ego Dame Edna Everage was later to become an institution in his adopted country.

Dame Edna, waving gladioli and replete with lilac wig, cat’s-eye winged glasses, knuckle-duster rings and red lipstick, was a vehicle for the comedy actor’s swipes at the Australian culture he had left behind – although the Melbourne housewife from Moonee Ponds became a celebrity in his homeland, too.

The transformation into this screen and stage persona was total, with Humphries making the character chillingly real. Far from just a drag act, he described it as an “evocation” rather than an impersonation of a real person. Over the years, Edna was transformed from a shy, mundane housewife into a dame, and became increasingly outlandish, with her drab clothes becoming more garish.

The satire also widened to embrace snobbery and the cult of celebrity. It became sharper in the 1980s in response to what Humphries called the “vindictiveness” of Thatcherism. Later, showing the “caring” side to which she often referred, a 21stcentury Dame Edna told audiences that she intended to adopt an African child for her loved ones from “that country where Madonna does her shopping”.

“Hello, possums!” was Edna’s welcome – and no theatregoer would dare walk late into a performance for fear of being picked on by the larger-than-life superstar, whose interaction with her audience was an important part of the show.

The character was born when Humphries was touring with an Australian repertory company in 1955. “She was a kind of party turn, a funny voice I used to do on the coach we travelled in between dates on tour,” he explained.